This still makes no sense. If the student filed as an independent and entered parent info, then the two fafsa’s should be similar unless one of the students earned or received a lot of money. If the independent student did not enter parent info and still got an efc of $15,000, it means he has a lot of money. Is there any money in a 529 that used to be in the parents name and is now in the student’s name?
I would check the two fafsas and make sure the numbers were all filled in correctly.