I read about families who have special circumstances that they might want to point out to the financial aid office at the chosen school. I’m wondering if the situation of having much larger than normal medical bills last year would be an example of this. We had over $15000 in medical/dental bills after insurance paid, so we have that much less money available from last year’s income to use for upcoming college expenses. That would have come close to paying the cost of attendance for the first year, but it’s gone now due to these bills. Is this one of the cases where I should mention it or isn’t that what they mean by getting special circumstances reviewed?
You can mention it and the school will do a calculation. I don’t remember what it is, but they first take a % of income and subtract that from the $15k. Then the remaining amount is used in a calculation for adjustment, but it is NOT dollar for dollar.
@kelsmom knows the calculation…hopefully she’ll provide better numbers and info.
Yes, this sounds exactly like the special circumstances you would want to ask to be considered.
How much was the inheritance as compared to the medical bills?
If you are asking for special consideration on the medical bills, but had an inheritance-I wonder if that could backfire on you.
Medical bills little over $15000. Inheritance $5100.
The ethical thing to do is mention both assets and liabilities. The large medical bills are a special consideration but if your EFC is still doable ith your overall income/assets, be reasonable about your expectations.
For the 15-16 school year, medical expenses are included at 11% in the Income Protection Allowance. Now the amount that is already protected will depend specifically on how many in the household and how many are in college. Let’s say for example there are 4 in the household and 1 in college. The total IPA is $27,040. 11% of the allowance for medical expenses is $2974.40.
Clearly $15,000 is much higher than the amount already protected according to the formula in the example above. The figure will depend on how many are in your family and in college. You will want to follow up with the school to get guidance on their special circumstances process.