Medical expenses as an extenuating factor for financial aid

@twokids2go - this is a classic ‘it depends’. The impact of the $13k in medical expenses (I assume this is out-of-pocket) will depend on your financial situation and the school’s aid program. Also, most schools are ‘need blind’, so your financial situation should not impact admission. When the initial aid offer comes in, that will be the opportunity to bring this information to the attention of the FA department.

First - your financial situation - I am not suggesting you respond on CC with your numbers. Also, these numbers are relative to your location. An income of $105k is considered working poor in San Francisco. In the Midwest, you are upper middle class. I would suggest if your EFC is over $25k, you most likely have sufficient income to absorb the $13k in the eyes of most Financial Aid departments. An EFC lower than $25k, I would definitely submit the information to the FA department. If any of the schools your D20 gets accepted to use the CSS Profile for financial aid, there is usually a question about unusual circumstances you feel they should know about.

Second - the school’s aid program. For a state school, your one time medical expense will likely not matter. For example, my DS was accepted to a UC school and we got zero aid, even though his EFC was roughly $12k and COA is $30k. On the other hand, private schools tend to have different aid formulas due to the higher COA. Many of them also promise to meet demonstrated financial need. These schools will use the CSS Profile to gather more financial information from you. They will take your medical expenses into consideration for aid. The level of impact will be dependent on your financial situation.