OP, could you clarify what your out of pocket cost is for each option (maybe number them private #1 or public #2 to make it clearer)? Are loans included and if so, how much and what type? Beyond that, what will you need to cover?
D received several FA offers last year from colleges that used the Profile to determine her net cost. The net cost (before any loans) varied by $13,000 a year from lowest to highest package offered by 4 “meets need” schools (one of the not-guaranteed-to-meet-need schools that had the Profile did fantastic, two more did terribly).
Yeah, for the most part, they do. Several sentences later you quote Brown University saying this:
“Most colleges and universities awarding institutional scholarship funds use some variation of the Institutional Methodology as established by the College Board.”
“Some variation,” meaning individual schools will change the formula to emphasize or de-emphasize certain financial factors to suit the school’s overall FA philosophy. Many Profile schools may start with an IM formula that looks similar, but they put their own spin on it and thus need to do their own calculations. And some Profile schools start with a formula that looks much more like FAFSA/FM.
Some Profile schools ask for different info on the form too. You see this when you do the Profile and add one of those schools. Like a supplement, additional questions can pop up. One school D applied to last year wanted to know what kind of car we drive and what we owe on it.
Like @OHMomof2, my daughter was admitted to 7 fifferent CSS Profike schools which all met 100% demonstrated need. We got 7 different answers with almost a 20k range from “best” to “worst” from loans to no loans in the financial aid package even among peer schools. D did not attend the school that gave her the “best” package.
Is there no savings at all for school? I think $6K is doable if the student works a couple of jobs in the summer and saves at least half that for school and then does work study for spending $$, books, etc. I would split the difference with my student if at all possible, bringing it to $3K each. What can you do without for the next four years? In my case, I stopped car payments and opted to drive a 2001 Jeep instead, paid for with cash. I also picked up more hours at work now that I’m empty nest and I dump that extra income straight into a 529. My situation changed a bit just after D started college and with a new job (unexpected) that requires traveling I needed to get back into a leased car. On the upside, the paid mileage is covering all expenses to this point.
to add to what these guys have said. you can run the collegeboard npc and see the difference in EFC calculated by different schools. There are definite differences. The Pell grant may stay the same, but the rest will vary.
I did not realize that EFC was determined differently by schools? I thought the FAFSA EFC was just one number for all schools, although I do realize that each school does base need on their own formulas.
Right; there’s a FAFSA EFC for determining federal and state grants and loans, and then most schools that provide institutional aid do their own calculations to determine institutional EFC, which usually is different than the FAFSA EFC (sometimes by a lot). Understandably, this can cause confusion to anyone trying to figure out how need-based aid works.
The above captures the situation with my nephew (STEM major, non-engineering). He attended a private university where the COA was ~$63K per year (~$45K tuition only) and he received a full tuition scholarship which requires that he maintain a minimum of a 3.0 GPA. Shortly after arriving on campus, he developed some very serious health-related issues. The end result was his GPA fell below 3.0 his first year. Luckily, his scholarship wasn’t cancelled. However, he completed 4-years at that university and did not complete his degree, being 3/4 courses shy of his degree). The upshot was, he had zero student loan debt. His best friend at the same university, an engineering major, completed his degree after 5 years and had over $220K in student loan debt (hard to believe, but true) and a job offer of less than $50K/year in an engineering field unrelated to his engineering major!
A large number of engineering students take more than 4 years to graduate and many do change their major from engineering to other non-STEM majors or dropout of college completely. So the OP should be cognizant of the merit award requirements (GPA, course load, etc.) and make sure there are contingency plans in place in the vent the student fail to meet those requirements.