wakka

Okay, I really really want to go to Vandy. We did some fin aid estimator and my family is expected to pay almost everything (65K). However, it didnt ask if I had a twin applying to the same colleges...Just asked if I had a sibling in college.. I know you guys don't really know the answer, but can anyone tell me around how much my parents have to pay for both of us? How much financial aid did Vandy offer to you?

Income: Almost 200K
That's the problem. My dad makes a lot, but we are really frugal and we are saving up for college. But even with that income, sending both twins to private universities that are around 60K a yr for one person is quite concerning. I really want to go to Vandy and not a state univeristy

silversparkles18

I would say that your EFC would be split in half between the two of you. You will be required to pay a total of 65K a year. If your parents have been saving for college, then you are kind of screwed. That will be reported on the FAFSA. It's almost better to not save for college, as you would then get more Financial Aid (I know makes so much sense, right?). Vandy has their "no loans" program, which is completely useless in my book. They gave me less money this year and gave me a work study instead of loans. Problem is, you have to pay the work study money upfront, whereas you can pay back loans later. Fin Aid is a huge hassle. I would encourage you to apply though, and you can always try to up your offer by calling the fin aid office. Vandy isn't very responsive to this, but it never hurts to try.

the o dad

Vanderbilt tipically offers more than the FAFSA indicates. We were in a similar situation with our first child(same income) and Vandy gave a grant of almost 50% of the bill. When the second started our total contribution did not go up (two for the price of one). Since they don't disclose the methodology, it is impossible to tell what exactly they will offer.
Good Luck!

dshinka

Yeah my Vandy EFC was lower than my FAFSA EFC.

Your EFC is cut in half-ish for every additional sibling you have in college. It's not exactly in half, though, because every time you move a sibling from the set of people residing with your family, then that amount of money allocated towards supporting your family is less because there's less people in the family, meaning your family has more money to spend on college (ideally - in an ideal world where people are assumed to be ideal spheres and can be represented by finite numerical representation).

So if your parents were to adopt a kid that started going to college then your EFC would be litearlly cut in half. When you have someone move from your "family" to a "college" kid, though, it's not quite cut in half. It's a small technicality.

riceeater

so if your FAFSA EFC is 5000, vandy covers the rest with grants,scholarships, and work study right? the new program says no loans will be given out right?

kelsmom

Not exactly. Vandy uses Profile in addition to FAFSA. The FAFSA info is used to award federal aid. Vandy uses the Profile info to award their own aid. Profile collects more info than FAFSA, including the worth of your home, retirement accounts, etc. Some people find that their EFC is higher with Profile than with FAFSA. Others don't see any change.

In other words, you can't know for sure what will happen until that financial aid letter comes to your house. However, Vandy does have very generous need based aid. Let's say your Profile EFC is the same as your FAFSA EFC. The answer to your question in this case is "yes." You could take out an unsubsidized loan to help with the EFC, if you want.