When you first start attending college as a freshman, you don't consider what you would do if bad things happened.
We all dream about the friends we'll make and the good grades we'll receive, but what if the opposite happens? What happens if a parent loses their job and you can no longer afford to pay your tuition? What happens if you fail a ton of grades and feel like you can never recover?
Given my past experiences with college, I have had to find out the answers to all of these questions and realized that there are others in similar places that have no idea where to start.
You Can Appeal Your Failed or Withdraw Failed Grades
If you feel as though you have valid circumstances that caused you to fail a class, including mental health reasons, you may be eligible for an Academic Standing Appeal.
Your school should have paperwork located on their website that you and the professor from the class you failed will need to fill out before a certain date (try Googling your university name academic standing appeal or class appeal).
I know from experience that if you appeal for mental health reasons, your therapist will also need to write you a letter explaining how your mental health has prevented you from getting good grades and how you've improved since attending therapy.
You Can Appeal FAFSA
GiphyI know, you probably think I'm crazy for saying that you can actually appeal FAFSA but you seriously can. However, in order to appeal, you have to reach some kind of requirement.
Requirements for a FAFSA appeal includes the death of a parent, a serious illness in your family, parents getting divorced, loss of employment, a sibling has also enrolled in college and more.
If you feel as though you have a valid reason to need a FAFSA appeal, contact your school's financial aid office to find your financial aid advisor and schedule a meeting.
You will also need to write a one-page paper explaining your situation. If your paper is more than one page, they will have a lower chance of reading it. Keep it short and sweet.
You Can Actually Erase All Of Your Grades.
You're probably thinking "who in the world would want to erase all of their grades?!"
If you didn't adjust well, had some external problems in your life, etc. then it can warrant wanting to erase all of your grades. I personally have known several people who got straight F's their entire first year of college and benefited from a clean slate.
It doesn't erase your loans, however, so be careful.
This one is different for every school and every state, so contact your academic advisor to learn more.
