Can We Have a Policy To Not Perform Professional Judgment For Any Students?

No. Effective with the 2023-24 award year, Section 479A of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended, [20 USC 1087TT] prohibits institutions from having a policy that denies all professional judgment (PJ) requests. And, according to GEN-22-15 and guidance NASFAA has received from the U.S. Department of Education (ED), the institution must consider all PJ requests even if it eventually doesn't approve some of them and even if it will not change the student's expected family contribution (EFC) or Student Aid Index (SAI). 

This includes requests related to adjustments to:

• Cost of attendance (COA);
• Values of data used to calculate the expected family contribution (EFC);
• Values of data used to calculate the Federal Pell Grant; and
• Student dependency status.

Additionally, schools must make their PJ policy publicly available to inform students of their ability to request such adjustments. [20 USC 1087TT(a)(5)]

See also AskRegs Q&A, Can a School Have a Deadline For Submitting and Reviewing Professional Judgment Requests?

Note that while unaccompanied homeless youth determinations are not considered a PJ, the school must review the student's circumstances and make a determination on a case-by-case basis for any student who requests it. See AskRegs Q&A, Is an Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Determination a Professional Judgment Adjustment?

P&P Builder: NASFAA’s Policies & Procedures (P&P) Builder guides you step-by-step through the creation of a centralized, accessible policies and procedures manual. This is included in the cost of NASFAA Value Plus membership. There is an additional cost for other membership levels.