Professional Judgment
As outlined in the U.S. Department of Education (ED) regulations, an institution can exercise the process of Professional Judgment on a case by case basis for students that have special circumstances.
Overview
Student Financial Aid initiates the Professional Judgment Process when all documents are received and all configured conditions for Professional Judgment have been met. For most Professional Judgments the student must have a Valid ISIR; however, Student Financial Aid will proceed with the Professional Judgment Process with an Invalid ISIR for a Parental Non-Disclosure, a Selective Service Override, and a Dependency Override request. If your student has been selected for Verification, the ISIR must complete the ISIR Verification Process and clear the Verification prior to the Professional Judgment Process.
- Dependency overrides are a separately regulated area within the scope of the PJ process and cover its own examples and scenarios.
- PJ adjustments are valid only if a school is making such adjustments, not the student. The school submits a PJ change electronically, via FAA Access to CPS Online or via third-party software (e.g. Student Financial Aid), and may do so without a signature from the student or parent. When a PJ is made, the next ISIR will indicate Professional judgment processed.
- If an EFC change takes place as a result of PJ, the resulting EFC must be used consistently for awarding of all funds.
Examples of when a PJ may be required:
- Divorce or separation.
- Death or disability of a wage earner
- Loss of employment (involuntary), income (income or benefits), underemployment, dislocated worker.
- Medical or dental expenses paid or committed during the current year that is not covered by insurance.
- Unusually high childcare costs.
- Nursing home expenses not covered by insurance.
- Unusually high dependent care expenses.
- A student who is a dislocated worker.
- Parents’ refusal to complete a FAFSA (sub-scenario within PJ regulations: DCL GEN-08-12).
- IRA conversion into Roth IRA.
What Student Financial Aid Does Automatically
SFA automatically does the following things:
Initiates the Professional Judgment Process
SFA evaluates the student record and makes sure that the student has resolved any ISIR codes, ISIR discrepancies, completed the ISIR Verification Process (if applicable), met all configured conditions, and submitted all required documentation in addition to any initiating documents (i.e. Professional Judgment Request Form). Dependency Overrides, Parental Non-Disclosures, and Selective Service, Professional Judgment requests are considered special cases and SFA proceeds with the Review Professional Judgment task, even when the ISIR status is Invalid. For all other Professional Judgments, the ISIR status must be Valid and when all Professional Judgment criteria (based on configuration) have been met, SFA initiates the Professional Judgment Process by creating a Review Professional Judgment task.
Dependency Overrides, Parental Non-Disclosures, and Selective Service PJs move to the PJ Review task queue, even if the ISIR is in an invalid status.
Requests documentation to support the Professional Judgment Process
To make sure you have all the documentation you need to approve or reject a Professional Judgment request, SFA requests documentation to support the Professional Judgement before creating the Review Professional Judgment task. If your student provides documentation that results in an additional document request (based on configuration), SFA requests the additional documents.
Professional Judgment PLUS Request
In the following scenarios, the following documents are required to complete the Professional Judgment Process:
- If the Professional Judgment PLUS document shows that the parent has a fixed income, SFA requests a fixed income document
- If the Professional Judgment PLUS document shows a bankruptcy, SFA requests a proof of bankruptcy document
- If the Professional Judgment PLUS document shows an incarceration, SFA requests an incarceration record document
Transmits ISIR corrections for Approved Professional Judgments
SFA submits ISIR corrections after you update the ISIR field(s) as a result of an Approved, Professional Judgment
Sends student notification for Professional Judgment updates
SFA informs the student about the progress of the Professional Judgment Process by sending the student notifications when the process is initiated, documents are required, put on hold, approved, denied, or canceled.
Processes Special Cases
SFA does not require a Valid ISIR for PJs that are considered to be special cases. SFA determines if all initiating conditions have been met, initiating documents received, requests additional documents if necessary and begins the PJ Process per the PJ Type once all required documents and conditions have been met.
Configurable Attributes
Configure the different types of Professional Judgments
SFA enables the institution to configure different types of Professional Judgments based on business process.
Examples may include but are not limited to these:
- PLUS Request
- Needs Analysis
- Dependency Overrides (Special Case)
- Selective Service Overrides (Special Case)
- Parental Non-Disclosure (Special Case)
Configure how the Professional Judgment Process is Initiated
The institution decides which initial and/or additional documents and conditions are required to be met prior to initiating the Professional Judgment Process for each type of Professional Judgment. This ensures that specific information and/or documents are available within SFA prior to the Professional Judgment being requested.
Configure the logic for required documentation to support the Professional Judgment Process
To make sure there is adequate information to make a Professional Judgment Decision the institution can configure what documents are needed initially, and additional documentation requests depending on the student/spouse/parents information received through documents, ISIR fields, and student record information.
Required Role Permissions
The user must have a role with this General Permission through Roles Management to view required role permissions:
- Student
See Set General Permissions Matrix for additional information.