<p>If I'd like to request a review of my financial aid for possible adjustments, would submitting records of medical and surgery bills help me at all? I had emergency major surgery last year and my aunt paid for the costs that time, but I am repaying her little by little every month.</p>
<p>My surgery was done in another country, as I was there at that time. My aunt paid for all the bills incurred through her credit card. I have all the bills and statements with me together with doctor's notes and prescriptions.</p>
<p>While colleges will sometimes take medical expenses into account, it is usually for the student’s parents, who either have fewer resources (savings) because of large medical costs or they will have less future income available because of large medical debt or ongoing medical bills.</p>
<p>I think the fact that your aunt paid those bills will be less persuasive since your aunt is not considered responsible for paying your college expenses, and her income is not being considered in determining your financial aid.</p>
<p>If you have been repaying her, then it might be helpful for you to also have some documentation of that, but that would only have an effect (if it had one at all) on how much of your income they might consider available for college costs. Unless you’re an independent student, it won’t have any bearing on the amount your parents are expected to contribute.</p>
<p>Anyway, it’s worth a try. You won’t know if you don’t ask.</p>
<p>You can try, but the medical expenses are going to be viewed in light of your parents income. If you’re paying about 1200 a year to your aunt as reimbursement, then that probably won’t have an effect on your EFC. From what we’ve heard on CC, medical expenses have to be rather substantial and paying a couple thousand per year towards a medical bill is not substantial.</p>
<p>There is an income protection allowance for the parents that is established in the regulations. 11% of the IPA is for medical costs. Only unreimbursed medical expenses in excess of 11% of the parents’ IPA can be considered if the aid office is going to make any adjustments (which they do not <em>have</em> to do).</p>
<p>If a family earns $50,000 per year, then the IPA would be 11% of that…so, $5500 per year. So, the family/student would have to be paying over $5500 per YEAR in uncovered medical bills to seek an adjustment?</p>
<p>Can the uncovered medical bills be paid with pretax dollars? I was in this situation. I had medical bills which were 10 percent of my agi and my financial aid was not changed. I was told they only consider bills paid with after tax dollars which was only 4.3% of agi.</p>
<p>My advice to anyone who has a lot of medical bills is to put them together in an organized fashion and send them to the financial aid office with a summary of the situation. You never know what colleges consider what, especially from those schools that are PROFILE or use their own financial aid apps. Depending on the circumstances, something might be available.</p>
<p>I agree with cptofthehouse. At my son’s school they want an itemized list of medical expenses (including insurance premiums paid) every year, and there is no minimum threshold as to how much is relevant.</p>
<p>You have to go to the formula guide to determine the IPA, and then medical accounts for 11% of that number. Remember, though, that professional judgment can (or might not be) made within the guidelines established in the regulations … so your mileage may vary. If you believe you might benefit from requesting a special circumstances adjustment, it is wise to gather all of your documentation and make your request.</p>
<p>The topic of medical premiums has been covered before. This has always been a source of confusion for me. Medical premiums paid with pretax dollars are not considered because they do not show up as part of your earned income(W2). Therefore the medical premium dollars does not affect earned income dollars. </p>
<p>If medical premiums are paid with post tax dollar, then your earned income(W2) is affected by that cost and should be considered. </p>
<p>I agree with Smileygirl. When you fill in the PROFILE or CSS, they will ask for medical expenses based on your Tax return. If it is lower than a certain percentage, I think around 7%, then you cannot claim tax credit. Medical premium is already considered as pretax money and shouldn’t effect your award on FA. </p>
<p>I filed special circumstances letter to the college we applied for and not sure how much it will effect us. Ours is not only medical but additional onetime income and older parents’ expenses… So, I may not able to estimate how much the medical part has the effect on the FA. I wish I know. </p>
<p>Still waiting to see what is the outcome! Sitting duck right now!!!</p>
<p>No, that’s not right at all. IPA stands for income protection allowance. The 11% is the percentage of the income protection allowance that is considered to be for medical expenses, not a % of income. Income protection allowances are based on a family size and number in college. For instance a family of 4 with one in college gets about $24k in income protection. 11% of that protected income (the $24,000 in this case, not whatever actual income is) is considered to be for medical expenses.</p>