cptofthehouse

You have to call the financial aid office of the specific school, Lacrossemom and ask specifically. THese school guard their formulas more carefully than Coca Cola does, when you try to get the whole thing, but often you can get specific answers to directed questions. Sometimes specific questions are asked, but the info not used. However, colleges are getting more and more exacting in getting such info and adjusting not a penny more but many dollars less.

lookingforward

Looking for the right merit possibilities is always wise. Then, when offers come in, you have that as a back up, in case others are lacking. This is also why it's so important to find schools where your D is a great fit- not only to you, but to them. A friend's twins: one is at a Fafsa-only state school that gave him a 2k grant and Stafford freshman year. (No grant expected for soph year, because of budget cuts.) The other is at a private that went to bat to get him with merit awards-- and has assured that the numbers should remain pretty stable. Remember that fit is far more than stats.

Laxmom, if you liked the NPC projections, I don't think your FA offers will themselves suffer because you already have another in school. It's not that they will somehow penalize your 2nd child. They'll offer what they consider the right package, per their policies. The problem is more that they won't add to grants becase S is at a public that leaves most of the costs to the family or "uses up" most of your resources.

Even under the best curcumstances, most schools don't offer packages that leave you with your Fafsa EFC as your final costs, not even the "meet full needs." You do want to go back over your data to ensure you don't report a single thing wrong on the CSS. Eg, don't report retirement funds as assets, don't over-estimate your home's market value. Etc.

veritas77

I continue to be a bit unclear about a couple of specific aspects of this issue.

First, when the school currently being attended by my older child recalculates the EFC, based on my second child entering as a freshman at another private liberal arts school, do they (in order of increasing specificity of approach) a.) simply look at the fact that a second child is now at a private college, b.) look at the tuition and expenses of the second school specifically, c.) look at what the EFC of the second school actually is, or could be calculated to be?

Second, if my second child is at a school that meets need but partially with loans, do loans "count" in the same way a grant does, so that my older child's school will assume, if they get to this level of detail, that the loan component reduces EFC the same way a grant does?

I know this is complicated, but since we are on the edge in being able to fund the EFC of our oldest child, having some sense of where things will be with two at private LACs (the second still to be determined) is critical.

Thanks so much to anyone that can provide a bit of clarification.

kleibo

I don't think they look at the school of the second child. When you are filling out your Fafsa and CSS profile for child #1 it would be Feb, Mar - most likely you wouldn't even know where your child #2 would be going.

I think it's just a formula - child #2 in college lowers the EFC regardless of the college and cost of the college of Child #2.

It's not an exact science and each school will handle it differently.

cptofthehouse

It depends on the school, and schools are changing the ways they are doing this all of the time, so you do have to call the specific schools.

The way it used to be done, and is still done at schools, is that they use a chart for a second child being at college. They do call and verify the enrollment of that child many times. I have known families who have gotten nice windfalls when one child had good merit awards or went to a less expensive school than the chart of the other school used to give "credit" for the other college.

However, I have also heard that colleges are being more picky about this and are digging deeper, asking for releases on info on the other students costs at his/her college.

Though you may not know where the second student will end up, you can certainly call the aid office of the first student and find out precisely how they calculate the need when there is a second child in college.

veritas77

The challenge is that, as others have said, the schools are incredibly vague about the calculation, and whether they use the actual amount paid at the second school, or just more generic or categorical figures. I am also unclear whether, if they use the actual amount paid, do they count loans the same as grants, and thus loans from the second school could reduce the aid level at the first school, but still have to be paid. My first child's school gives only grants, and so I am unsure of the effect of loans, and whether they are considered to meet need.

happymomof1

Again, each institution sets its own policy about loans. There is no simple way to predict it.

Start with C1's college, and find out how they handle things. Then when C2's aid packages start to come in you will have some kind of criteria to work from.

mom2collegekids

Maybe others can clarify....a CSS school will verify that the other chid is in college, but they don't look at what that other child's FA pkg is.

For instance....if child #1's school gives a free ride or gives little, that doesn't change what the school for child #2 will give. (however, I think if child #1 is at a military academy, then that child doesn't count as being in school.)

Correct me if I'm wrong.

soxfan99

I may be remembering this incorrectly, but I do believe some forms of the CSS will ask "how much are your parents paying towards your sibling's college education." The CSS can vary from school school, so not all schools may include this question. My DD is an incoming freshman and I seem to recall that question when doing the CSS for her, but I am not sure which school triggered the question (she applied to 5 CSS schools). My DS is finishing his 1st year and that question did not appear on his CSS profile, so I know his school does not ask for this in the CSS profile.

arabrab

The reality is that there is no uniform way that this is handled in terms of aid that each institution awards. Other than the situation where you have two kids both going to colleges with very expansive financial aid (say, Stanford & Harvard) -- where you would expect the number to come in at about 120% of your current expected contribution for each kid -- you really don't know. And even there, if one school includes some home equity and the other school doesn't your numbers could vary quite a lot.

If your younger child goes to an OOS public university without merit aid, there's likely to be little to no financial aid other than loans. So even if the expensive university the older child attends cuts the family contribution by 40%, you might end up paying fully out-of-pocket for the younger child.

Apply widely, and make sure younger child has some good options that your family can afford. (From an equity perspective, you might want to consider if older child should be asked to take on some earnings or loan responsibilities to free up some cash for the younger child's schooling.)

cptofthehouse

Mom2college, they have started to contact the second student's college, I know. Friends and acquaintances have told me that much. What specific info they get from the college, I don't know. It used to be it was a set amount by schedule, but I don't know if it was a standard one used by many colleges or one each college concocts itself.

mom2collegekids

I may be remembering this incorrectly, but I do believe some forms of the CSS will ask "how much are your parents paying towards your sibling's college education."


That could be all over the place. If the family declines student loans and/or work-study for Child #1, is Child #2's school supposed to give more aid because the family is opting to pay out more?

cptofthehouse

It doesn't matter what a family declines, that the schools use. There is a maximum assumed figure which is assumed. But some colleges are honing in further, looking to see what the actual costs are and using the lesser of the two. The max figure would have a built in reduction for what a college would ideally do to reduce the costs for a second child. The reduced figure would take into account whether the school costs less than the categorized average number, if that sibling has outside scholarships, ROTC or merit aid, rather than using a standard figure for everyone. Some colleges are asking for consent to get info from the other college, I know. How closely they inquire, I don't know, and I think it varies from school to school.

lacrossemom

Good to hear that some schools do not do anything with the fact that FAFSA school may offer scholarships. We will still apply to our full list and see where she gets in and what is offered.

soxfan99

^^^I agree that the CSS Profile question could result in many interpretations. My interpretation at the time, based on the wording, which I am sure I do not have correct in the my previous post, was that they wanted to know how much the parents were responsible for. To me this meant how much were we (the parents) paying out of pocket or had taken out in loans (again, the parents not the student).