Hi, my family has very high medical expenses and I was wondering what colleges give good financial aid to families with those expenses? I know some colleges don’t factor it in much
No one can answer that w/o more info.
How much of the medical expenses WERE NOT covered by insurance each year?
How much is the family income?
In the online net price calculators, look for a line item asking “How much did your parents pay for medical and dental expenses that were not covered by insurance?” You also should see one that asks, “How much did your parents claim in itemized deductions?” So you should be able to account for high medical expenses in building your net price estimates.
Beyond providing all requested information in the NPCs, you may want to focus on overall levels of need-based or merit aid (as appropriate). If your stats are high, your family income is below ~$200K/year, and your parents are willing and able to cover the Expected Family Contribution, then here are colleges that give especially good need-based aid:
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2016-09-19/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need
Other schools may be more generous with merit scholarships:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Others can chime in here, but I don’t think medical insurance premium payments are included.
Colleges look over the actual uncovered medical bills (bills that insurance wouldn’t pay for), and then they look at income. ANNUAL medical bills that total roughly about 10% of income are ignored. So if a family has a $150k income, then the first $15k of uncovered medical bills are ignored. Then if there are any more uncovered medical bills FROM THE SAME calendar year, then that amount is used in a calculation (not dollar for dollar) to reduce what the family would be expected to pay.
For FAFSA only schools, it may not make a difference. For CSS Profile schools, it could make a difference if the numbers are high enough in the past year.
Question…even though prior-prior income is used, which year’s of medical bills would be used? For instance, when 2016 income is used, then would only the uncovered medical bills from 2016 be considered?