<p>This situation won't occur until my younger daughter is a sophmore in college, but I have to think about it in terms of what will happen to the EFC, and what we can afford to pay for college. </p>
<p>EFC for next year should be about $6100. So while both kids are undergrad, they split the EFC, correct?</p>
<p>When older d goes to grad school, are we better off having her apply for aid as an independent, or as dependent? Or, do we even have a choice if we truly do provide over half of her support?</p>
<p>Finally, if she goes independent, we can't claim her on younger d's FAFSA, correct?</p>
<p>Hope the question makes sense. I feel we need to consider this, as younger d has a couple expensive private schools on her list, and if her FAFSA changes dramatically, we may not be able to handle the cost of a private school.</p>
<p>Just to add--as theocmom says, she will automatically be independent on FAFSA once she gets her Bachelors.</p>
<p>If you're providing over half her support, you can still claim her as a dependent for tax purposes, but this is a different meaning of the term "dependent."</p>
<p>For FAFSA grad schools your student is independent for their own financial aid- even if they are still on your tax return, but for professional schools (MD, JD, MBA) most ask for parent financial info (more profile types fo questions than FAFSA- like HW counts)</p>
<p>However, your UG DDs school may still allow you to count the grad student as # of students in school. This is a school by school determination, for example UVA specifically told me the grad student would not count whilst UCB told me they would allow it. This was a couple of years ago when D2 was choosing a school and I called to ask how things would change in later years.</p>
<p>So, when we get down to two schools , it would be acceptable to call each of them and ask how they will count the grad student? I know some people call to negotiate financial aid offers so hopefully they won't mind if I call with that question. Thanks to all for your replies!</p>
<p>I think that grad schools would find it very strange if you call. It would be appropriate for your D to call since she's an adult. She also should be responsible for any attempts to negotiate.</p>
<p>When your older D gets to graduate school, she will be filing the fafsa based on her own income and assets as she will be an independent student for financial aid purposes. Like somemom stated, the exception would be medical/law school where she would still file the FAFSA and will be an independent student, but these schools would still expect an EFC from you.</p>
<p>For many schools as somemom stated your younger D's EFC will change (increase) once the older one is in grad school as older D as an independent student will have more resources as far as funding her education beginning with the fact that she will now be able to borrow up to $20k a year through the stafford loan process (which will be her first source of FA unless she gets into a fully funded PhD program).</p>
<p>When the student who is going to be the UG student gets their acceptances it would be appropriate to contact the finaid office and ask how they will handle the older sib. It is a school by school decision, and we took that into account on our spreadsheet between various schools as D2 was deciding betwen 6 schools. That is an especially important factor in a private (expensive school option- what if you feel the EFC is affordable adn it doubles for the last two years!?)</p>
<p>Thanks everyone- I wasn't clear. I have no intention of calling the grad schools. I would want to know how the undergrad schools count the older student. My younger daughter has applied to 4 schools and been accepted to 3 so far - all of which offered her merit money. For the 2 privates we are still counting on need based aid in addition to the merit aid. My concern is what will happen with the need based aid if she is not splitting her EFC. </p>
<p>It would be kinder and better to not let her start at a school that we wouldn't be able to afford after her freshman year.</p>