Well, I was excited when we got 2nd DD financial aid package from her school of choice in April. She got grants and qualified for work study. We had to wait until today to get 1st DD who is a Jr’s financial aid. I guess I erroneously thought with the addition of a 2nd kid in college that our 1st DD would get something more than she had been getting, but that is not the case. Also, our efc wasn’t split in 1/2 for the 2 girls, it’s still the same for both of them, but DD2 got more help.
I was just surprised and thought I’d share our experiences with other parents wondering. Maybe since DD1 is a Jr and qualifies for more loan monies is probably a big reason. But there for a few months ,I got excited that she would get some grant money too.
Does the junior’s school meet need? Did both girls indicate on the FAFSA that 2 students were in college? If EFC is low enough the student might qualify for federal and state grants and work study, but the school is not obligated to give grants of their own.
Did you run net price calculators at both school websites with two in college to see how much aid might be given?
Also once older sister graduates, younger sister’s aid might go down.
You mentioned the EFC stayed the same for your junior D even with 2 in college? The FAFSA EFC would have been half as much as last year, if your income was the same and junior D didn’t have a lot of assets.
If The older daughter’s college doesn’t guarantee to meet full need for all, then it’s very possible that you would see no increase in need based aid.
It is also very likely that your second kiddo’s school has more generous financial aid awarding policies and/or deeper pockets.
Our first kiddo went to Boston University. He had a decent enough merit award. His sister was a freshman when he was a senior in college…so we submitted the Profile again. First kid’s EFC per FAFSA went from $45,000 a year to $25,000 a year. He got $250 added to his merit award, and not a penny of need based aid.
^^
Maybe…but the issue at hand is that DD1 didn’t get more aid, and she should have gotten a Pell or larger Pell grant with a lower FAFSA EFC. We’re trying to figure out why the FAFSA EFC didnt’ go down.
Where does OP say specifically that FAFSA EFC didn’t go down?
Actually, there are other parts of the post that make no sense. OP says that EFC is “still the same for both,” and yet one kid is an incoming freshman who presumably has never had an EFC before. How can it be “still the same” for this kid if it’s the first one?
The FAFSA/EFC figure I’m using is the one you get when you fill out the FAFSA and they send the confirmation, SAR?
DD1 for the '14-'15 school year was 5439 (with just 1 in college). Only got the sub & unsub loans. This year '16-'17 it’s 6596 (with 2 in college). She did have a job where she made about 6k. Again got sub & unsub loans. She also has a merit scholarship from her school, but we do still pay the EFC out of her 529 plan. This dd lives at home and commutes to her school
DD2 is 6525 for the '15-16 year with 2 in college. She also got the sub & unsub loans, plus merit aid, plus a grant that covers part of her living expenses. We also pay her EFC out of her 529 plan. This DD will be living at school. No income for this child. She will have income from working this year but that won’t be reported until her junior year with the new fafsa requirements.
Neither are at a school that matches full need. We didn’t really have a big change in our income either. I was expecting the EFC to be split, I’m not sure why it wasn’t we did report 2 in school on both forms.
Check those submitted FAFSA forms again. Then if you did indicate two in college, contact the financial aid department. It is possible there was a clerical error.
I’m looking at the forms, positive have 2 in college listed of both. 529’s are PARENTS assets, they are the beneficiaries.
DD1 has 600 in savings and she has 1300 in savings bonds in her name. I put that figure as HER investments, should I not have?
Someone asked about the school years. Sorry I wasn’t clear, I listed DD1 for her freshman year when she was the only one in school, and then again for the upcoming year when her sister will be in school also. Freshman year by herself our EFC was 5439 and now this year it went up to 6596.
Going to double check the form yet again on the 529 and where it is listed. Ok I did it right it’s listed under parents net worth of current investments. Everything we have is in retirement accounts so the 529 is all we list.
Any chance there is a mistake someplace else on the FAFSA? Could you have put in a wrong amount for income or assets on the forms?
^^ I used the IRS retrieval tool wouldn’t it be right using that?? I’ve looked it over real fast, we don’t have a lot to put on there so everything looks right??