however,	complete	verification	and	then	make	the	PJ	adjustment	on	the	same	transaction.
You	do	not	have	to	verify	information	that	you	will	entirely	remove	due	to	PJ.	For	example,	if	a	dependent	student9s
parents	have	separated	after	completion	of	the	FAFSA	form	and	one	parent	is	no	longer	in	the	family	size,	you	may	decide
to	use	PJ	to	remove	that	parent9s	income	from	the	FAFSA	form.	You	do	not	have	to	verify	that	parent9s	income	prior	to
removing	it.	Also,	using	PJ	does	not	require	you	to	verify	a	student9s	application	if	they	were	not	already
selected	for	verification	by	the	Department	or	your	school.
Finally,	a	school	is	not	permitted	to	make	a	professional	judgement	for	a	student	after	that	student	has	ceased	to	be
eligible,	including	when	a	student	is	no	longer	enrolled.
The	verification	page	on	the	FSA	Assessments	site	has	guidance	to	help	you	review	your	PJ	and	dependency	override
procedures;	see	Activity	2.
Professional	Judgment	During	a	Disaster,	Emergency, 	or	Economic
Downturn
The	FAFSA	Simplification	Act	codified	previous	guidance	from	the	Department	(as	issued	in	earlier	Dear	Colleague	Letters)
to	use	statutory	authority	to	exercise	professional	judgment	during	a	disaster,	emergency,	or	economic	downturn.
During	a	qualifying	emergency,	financial	aid	administrators	may:
determine	that	the	income	earned	from	work	for	an	applicant	is	zero,	if	the	applicant	can	provide	paper	or	electronic
documentation	of	receipt	of	unemployment	benefits	or	confirmation	that	an	application	for	unemployment	benefits
was	submitted;	and
make	additional	appropriate	adjustments	to	the	income	earned	from	work	for	a	student,	parent,	or	spouse,	as
applicable,	based	on	the	totality	of	the	family's	situation,	including	consideration	of	unemployment	benefits.
Acceptable	documentation	of	unemployment	should	be	submitted	not	more	than	90	days	from	the	date	it	was	issued.
However,	institutions	may	use	discretion	to	accept	documentation	older	than	90	days	under	their	general	professional
judgment	authority	if	they	do	not	have	reason	to	believe	there	is	conflicting	information.
Further,	the	Department	will	adjust	the	program	review	selection	model	to	account	for	an	increase	in	the	use	of
PJ	Examples
AVG,	Chapter	5,	Example	1:	A	student9s	parent	had	income	earned	from	work	of	$50,000	in	2023	but	is	no
longer	employed.	After	receiving	documentation	confirming	this,	the	FAA	at	the	student9s	college	decides	to
adjust	the	AGI	reported	on	the	student9s	FAFSA	form	for	the	student9s	parents	to	account	for	their	reduced
income.	The	FAA	also	reduces	the	income	earned	from	work	for	the	student9s	parent	to	zero.
AVG,	Chapter	5,	Example	2:	In	2023,	a	student	had	$4,500	in	medical	expenses	that	were	out-of-pocket	costs.
The	student	is	married	and	has	two	children,	so	their	IPA	is	$69,670.	Because	the	student9s	expenses	were	less
than	the	amount	for	medical	expenses	already	provided	for	in	the	IPA	(11%	of	$69,670	is	$7,664),	the	aid
administrator	chose	not	to	adjust	the	student9s	FAFSA	form.
AVG,	Chapter	5,	Example	3:	A	student9s	parents	were	married	when	they	completed	the	FAFSA	form	but	have
now	divorced.	The	parents	filed	their	taxes	jointly	in	2023	but	separately	in	2024.	The	student	receives	more	than
50%	of	their	financial	support	from	their	mother,	even	though	they	do	not	live	with	their	mother	due	to	college
enrollment.	The	FAA	at	the	student9s	college	determines	that	the	mother9s	income	and	asset	information	should
be	reported	on	the	FAFSA	form.	The	FAA	decides	to	collect	the	mother9s	2024	tax	return,	since	it	only	contains	the
mother9s	income	information,	and	use	it	to	update	the	2025-26	FAFSA	form.	The	FAA	also	updates	the	parent9s
marital	status	to	<Divorced=,	family	size	to	reflect	that	the	second	parent	is	no	longer	in	the	family,	and	tax	filing
status	to	accurately	reflect	the	mother9s	2024	tax	return.
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