<p>Does anyone know, in financial decisions, whether medical costs not covered by insurance, are considered, or is it just parents' annual income. Do they consider unusual circumstances that are ongoing that you have to always use a chunk of your income for? Thanks for any nfo or links to sources of info.</p>
<p>FAFSA does not have a way of entering anything like medical costs. However financial aid officers can make 'special circumstances' adjustments based on things like medical expenses, loss of income, loss of benefits etc (not consumer debt like credit card debt). We did that this year as we had large medical expenses last year and loss of income. The income proection allowance includes an element for medical expenses (I think @ $2000 but would not swear to it) so the medical expenses must be over that for them to consider an adjustment. If your medical insurance is over the protected allowance (as long as it is paid with after tax money) it may be considered for an adjustment. If an adjustment is approved the financial aid office will actually go into your FAFSA and adjust the figures you entered - in our case our AGI was reduced by several thousand dollars to reflect our medical costs.</p>
<p>One thing we learned is to make sure you have all the supporting documentation together (receipts, doctors statements, prescription charges) as early as possible. The finaid officer will require documentation supporting the expenses or income losses. We submitted FAFSA quite early but did not have all our documentation together (we did not know in advance we could do this) so by the time we got all the info together and submitted and they reviewed it they show our FAFSA as completed late March (2 months after we submitted it online) which meant our D did not get a SEOG grant as they are limited.</p>
<p>Also each school decides for themselves how to handle each situation. Some may be more willing to make adjustments than others. </p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>Finaid has some information about the above
<a href="http://www.finaid.org/educators/pj/specialcircumstances.phtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.finaid.org/educators/pj/specialcircumstances.phtml</a></p>
<p>Thanks so much for this info. I didn't know this at all. We easily spend in every year a huge chunk of our earnings on med expenses for one kid.</p>
<p>bookcases,
we have the same situation and found that colleges were very receptive to our situation, increasing our Fin Aid. The schools that meet 100% need were the best. The finaid dept will cross check with your tax rtn to verify that you claimed those medical costs as a deduction... we update a spreadsheet throughout the year so at any point we know how much we've spent. In fact, I met with my son's fin aid officer this spring break and I needed to know how much we've spent so far THIS yr. Luckily I was prepared.</p>
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The finaid dept will cross check with your tax rtn to verify that you claimed those medical costs as a deduction...
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<p>We did not claim our medical costs as a tax deduction as our income was so low last year so don't be concerned if you did not do this - you can still ask for an adjustment.</p>
<p>agree with swimcatsmom -- our income is too low to deduct, but we keep excellent records and have been able to get an adjustment on the EFC.</p>
<p>Do they give any allowance for a younger siblings astronomical orthodonture bill, with crazy overlapping teeth?</p>
<p>I'm glad to know that there can still be accommodations even without having claimed the deductions. My father is a second-time cancer patient, my grandmother (a legal dependent of my parents) is in a nursing home, and I have my own share of medical expenses, so I am pretty much relying on assistance because of those factors. There's just no way I will be able to pay myself, and my parents can't really offer any help, especially where Dad is going to be out of work for a while. As a transfer, this is even worse for me. :/</p>
<p>Can anyone give insight on exactly how "they" determine how much of a break to give? I am wondering if I am looking at only a couple hundred dollars of help or what. Are some colleges better about this than others?</p>
<p>we included all medical, dental and optical bills along with prescription meds and necessary equipment/appliances (prescription glasses and orthodics). This included my son's wisdom teeth removal. The school seemed fine with all this -- nothing was really elective or anything. I think ortho is pretty standard and could be included -- but I think you would be pushing it to include a bill for breast augmentation (but someone has probably done it before).</p>
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Can anyone give insight on exactly how "they" determine how much of a break to give? I am wondering if I am looking at only a couple hundred dollars of help or what. Are some colleges better about this than others?
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<p>It would really be based on how much you have in the way of eligible expenses/lost income. It is not a dollar for dollar adjustment (the financial aid officer is not allowed to change the FAFSA result - the EFC - only the input information - income). For FAFSA they adjust the figures you input to FAFSA and that results in a change to your EFC. So if your parents AGI was say $40,000 and the financial aid officer confirms you had uncovered medical expenses of say $15,000 (over the allowance built in to the protected income for medical expenses) he would go into FAFSA and reduce the AGI to $25,000. Then FAFSA would run your numbers through the FAFSA formula and produce a new EFC on which your financial aid would be based. (the difference would depend on the income as the % of available income used for the EFC varies depending on the amount of income - the higher the income the higher the percentage). </p>
<p>If you are talking about a FAFSA school run the numbers through an EFC calculator (like the one on finaid) first without the potential adjustment then with it and it will give you an idea of what difference it might make.</p>
<p>I don't know how profile schools would deal with it.</p>
<p>Thank you! Always good to have a parent explain these things. :) Financial issues just make my brain boggle, so I appreciate you taking the time to explain that a bit.</p>
<p>This information is very valuable, and I don't know how else I would have located it. Those of us with very major family medical expenses and kids headed toward college, find ourselves in a dilemma: earn money so they don't have to go to poor performing high schools, and live in areas with poor medical services, and then find ourselves using huge chunks of income for med bills, and then realize that we're really not at the income we thought we were, because it gets lopped off by those necessary bills. So we're really not "middle income" at all, nor should be considered as such, because so much gets chopped off the top of our income. there isn't any "discretionary" income left. We use our money for disability expenses, while some others can use it for vacations, eating out, child care, electronic gadgets etc. I think I just realized this at this level, as we look ahead to college, because up to this point we've been nose to the grindstone trying to keep our heads above water every single second. The fellowship of medically involved families, recognizable by the little dents on their noses, and the the dark circles under their eyes. Bill Gates, we need a scholarship program for those families who end up, in real, bottom line terms, with about as much to work with for college as the "low income" students in your program!</p>
<p>I agree. I hate that I am disqualified for a lot of aid, especially need-based scholarships, because people don't understand the difference between income and what you really have to spend. At least my community college's foundation has been generous with me, since they are more used to dealing with circumstances like my family's.</p>
<p>For juniors out there who have had to overcome obstacles, apply to the Discover Card Tribute Scholarship. My son was a state winner last yr and received a $2500 scholarship. I believe the national winner gets $10,000. Wish the scholarship was renewable (only applies to 1st yr of college) but that's ok, every bit helps.</p>