Special Circumstances

Paying for College
1

<p>Colleges asks explanations of how certain circumstances may affect the application for financial aid. I know there are a few examples of special circumstances as:</p>

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<p>What else could be? A major illness of parents? Need to support a family outside country? Need to support parents outside country?</p>

<p>Any suggestions / advises?</p>

2

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<p>I do not believe this is considered a special circumstance unless the student has NO contact with the non-custodial parent and does not know that person’s whereabouts…AND this can be verified. Of course if you go to a FAFSA only school, your non-custodial parent income isn’t considered.</p>

<p>Supporting anyone outside the country (while a nice thing to be able to do) is considered a choice…not a special circumstance.</p>

<p>Major medical expenses that deplete and use family resources is another special circumstance.</p>

3

<p>Here’s a nice long list of special circumstances:
[FinAid</a> | Professional Judgment | Special Circumstances](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/educators/pj/specialcircumstances.phtml]FinAid”>http://www.finaid.org/educators/pj/specialcircumstances.phtml)</p>

<p>It does include elder care, using the example of nursing home fees.</p>

4

<p>two other special circumstances that I know have been used in the past:</p>

<p>Parental Student Loans
Consumer Debt that was acquired to pay for food and housing during income loss</p>

<p>They do require documentation of your special circumstance – lots of it!</p>