Students may request reconsideration of decisions regarding their Financial Aid assessment. The request for reconsideration system provides recourse for students who have experienced exceptional or changing circumstances or who have extraneous factors that are not accounted for in their financial aid calculation.
Reconsideration Process
You can request a reconsideration of your financial aid assessment within thirty days of receiving the notice of assessment from the Financial Aid Office. Requests for reconsideration may also be submitted any time during the academic year if your financial situation has changed.
You should start the process by contacting financialaid.law@utoronto.ca. A staff member of the Financial Aid Office will discuss your circumstances and answer your questions.
If your situation requires a hearing by the Financial Aid Committee, staff of the Financial Aid Office will guide you on preparing a reconsideration request letter in which you will need to outline the basis for the request and the specific relief sought. Specifically, in this letter you will need to explain why a departure from the financial aid policy is warranted. Citing specific aspects of the financial aid policy, including references to the rationales for these policies, will provide the strongest grounds for a reconsideration.
Once submitted, the Committee will consider the request for reconsideration. The Committee is co-chaired by a faculty member and by the Assistant Dean, J.D. Program; other members include three faculty members, the staff of the Financial Aid Office and three Students’ Law Society (SLS) student representatives. Faculty and student members of the Committee have regular voting rights. The Assistant Dean, J.D. Program holds a tie-breaking vote.
Request for reconsideration letters are anonymized and redacted before being presented to the Committee. Voting Committee members will recuse themselves from the discussion of requests for reconsideration that pose a conflict of interest or where they know or have identified the requesting student. The Committee meets monthly during the academic year and reviews reconsiderations on an ongoing basis. The Committee makes a special effort to meet in September to consider requests for reconsideration as early as possible in the school year.
