<p>My family was recently victim to identity theft and someone had anonymously bought a house using our credit card information. And we know it’s going to take forever to sort out. </p>
<p>We also have a relative who has an chronic illness (treatment worked!) and we helped pay for their hospital expenses. Which were extensive to say the least.</p>
<p>Should I notify my college about my situation to see if I qualify for more aid? Or would this information make my college less likely to help me? My family is not in a good financial situation right now since my parents are planning to send both my sister and me to two separate private schools this coming fall and it will be hard to pay for both our tuitions since we are lower middle class. </p>
<p>My college is known to not give much merit scholarship.</p>
<p>Helping a relative that isnt in your household may be a nice thing to do, but colleges will think that your parents first obligation is to you. If your colleges gave you more money it would be as if the colleges were paying for this medical treatment. </p>
<p>BTW…how did your family pay for an expensive treatment for a relative if they are lower middle class???</p>
<p>Identity theft is a pain, but it doesnt sound like it is costing you money…it just needs to be sorted out </p>
<p>how does someone buy a house with credit card info anyway??? </p>
<p>you say that your parents are “planning” to send you and your sister to private colleges, but they cant pay because you’re lower middle class. It sounds like you and your sister need to go where your family can afford to pay or where you’d get enough aid. </p>
<p>how can your parents send you and your sister ANYWHERE if the money isn’t there??? It sounds like they may have had some money saved, but then the money paid for a relative’s medical treatment??</p>
<p>Oops it was identity theft not credit card theft* sorry that was a mistake on my part. </p>
<p>Yes we had savings but they were used up after we had to pay for our relative’s treatment. My parents are pretty insistent that I attend my number 1 choice since they are aware of an imminent job promotion coming up. </p>
<p>Taking care of the identity theft is going to take longer than usual in our situation because of citizenship issues. </p>
<p>My family has no problem paying for my sister’s tuition since her school covered the majority of the cost. But the college my family wants to send me to does not offer that much in merit/aid. </p>
<p>If I cannot receive enough aid from my top choice then I’m going to go attend my second choice since they offered to pay for the majority of my tuition. That’s obvious. I received a few thousand in scholarship from my top choice but I wanted to know if I qualify for more before making my final decision.</p>
<p>It sounds like it is extremely unlikely that they will give you any money because of a relative’s cost of treatment. It s only when there is an immediate family medical issue that schools will consider it and then it isn’t guaranteed. This college isn’t giving you much money in the first place. Sounds like the other college is a better idea for now. If finances improve maybe you can consider transferring to the full pay school. You may not want to. But the only way to know is to ask, no one here will know for sure.</p>
<p>I can’t tell what the identity theft has to do with paying for college.</p>
<p>Interesting…you are wondering if the school will give you more money now (your reasons sound like that is highly unlikely to me…but go ahead and ask).</p>
<p>But do tell me, if your parents get that imminent promotion with higher salary, will you tell,the school,that you no longer need any extra money? Of course you don’t have to…until next years financial aid forms. But I do find it interesting when folks want more money from schools, but would never think of saying they need less. Just saying.</p>
<p>As noted above, helping a relative is not going to matter. That was a family choice. Having identity theft is a pain,but it is NOT costing your family money for that home…YOU are not paying those bills. </p>
<p>Additional aid would be because of excessive expenses your family has incurred. What are those?</p>
<p>If your parents apply for the PLUS loan and the identity fraud is preventing that approval, they might consider the fraud a factor, but that’s all I can see changing.</p>
<p>You can always ask for reconsideration. But the cases you have presented do not look good to me for you to prevail. Medical expenses for a legal dependent by IRS definition is usually a consideration. Otherwise , it’s a personal choice. Sometimes, if it’s grandma or grandpa, it might fly. But even then, it’s usually not a go. But ask. You can ask You would be expected to show complete documentation such as the bills, and that your parents directly paid them. Payments to others who had medical need isn’t going to fly. But you can ask. </p>
<p>Do be aware when your parents do get more money with higher pay, etc, you will get less aid for that year. Aid is based heavily on income.</p>
<p>Actually, for USC they did give me more aid for providing evidence that we paid for a relatives surgery. Maybe you should try appealing your aid.</p>