2 kids in college is 29137 EFC for BOTH or ONE of them???

Paying for College
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<p>Help me please.</p>

<p>Next year I will have two students in college. My oldest never filled out a FAFSA and I have been paying his expenses (state university) 100%. Now #2 is looking at an expensive private school and we just did the fafsa and the EFC was 29137.</p>

<p>Does that mean 29137 for one student or both? I can probably (just barely) swing $29000 for both of them but there is NO way I can come up with $58000. Please tell me it is for both of them.....</p>

<p>I am waiting my older son to call me back with his drivers license number so we can fill out a FAFSA for him...</p>

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<p>$29K is the Expected Family Contribution for kid#2's education.</p>

<p>When you completed his FAFSA, did you indicate that you had two kids attending college in 08/09? That makes a big difference- the formula cuts the parent's contribution to the EFC in half when you have two in college.</p>

<p>Do the FAFSA for the older kid, and you'll get another EFC, probably similar (could be a bit more or less depending on each kid's income and assets).</p>

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<p>I did indicate on the fafsa that there would be two in college in 2008-09. </p>

<p>This cannot be right. 29K PER KID? I am having a heart attack now...</p>

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<p>Im sure there is a place on FAFSA to indicate other siblings attending college.
But yes if the FAFSA was just for younger child, that will be younger childs EFC, not both.</p>

<p>It is usually worth it to fill out a FAFSA for a student even if you expect that the EFC will be more than the cost of college.</p>

<p>They need to be in the system to qualify for Stafford & Perkins loans as well as work study.
I wouldn't pay 100% of the cost for an adult student to attend school.
Even if you feel they would not qualify for need or merit based aid, most students can contribute $3,000 from summer jobs, $2,000 from school year jobs for personal expenses and books, and qualify for Stafford loans of $3,500 freshman year.</p>

<p>I'm also wondering- during the 2008- 2009 school year, you will have one freshman & one sophomore in college?
Be sure that your younger child checks the financial requirements at teh private school, often times they also require PROFILE to determine need.</p>

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<p>^^ Yeah EFCs suck... learned that really quickly when my mom's was 1/4th of her income counting child support... (not even her take-home income, I mean before taxes)</p>

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<p>ok, just finished for child#1 </p>

<p>His EFC is 28639</p>

<p>So, I am really supposed to be able to pay $57,776 per year for college</p>

<p>That is $4,800/month!!!!!!!!!! </p>

<p>This has got to be wrong. Yes, it is about 25% of gross income, but it is 52% of my take home pay. (I do put 10% in a retirement account, but the rest is taxes)</p>

<p>Of course, it is a federal calculation.</p>

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<p>The 10% you put into your retirement account is expected to go toward college costs (don't shoot me ... I'm just the messenger!). EFC is "usually" about 20-25% of gross income.</p>

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<p>Mine is 23%, if that makes you feel any better.</p>

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<p>^^ Yeah, 50% of take-home pay is about right, it was the same with my mom...</p>

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<p>If you make 200K+ (remember that the average family income is around 47K)-- you're in the top 5% or so of income earners- congratulations.</p>

<p>But whose taxes did you think were going to subsidize your kid's educations?</p>

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<p>collegepoormom:</p>

<p>Buckle your seat belt. It might actually get worse. S1 goes to a full need school. Year after next, two more will be going to college. Full need school tells me that they will expect a family contribution of 40% of EFC (rather than 33%).</p>

<p>I can only repeat what I have said at other times. Private colleges are a luxury item. Nobody is holding a gun to your head. If you think that the private college costs too much, tough as it is, you should tell S2 that he needs to go elsewhere.</p>

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<p>I don't want someone elses taxes to pay for my child's education. Although I am paying enough to send two of someone elses kids to a private school every year. </p>

<p>I am getting close to retirement and cannot borrow from retirement savings without massive penalties. Not to mention that then I couldn't retire. </p>

<p>Yes I have a good income. I graduated from the same private school S2 wants to attend (but the tuition was 1/10th of what it is now) and I got my masters. I worked hard to save for college for my kids and save for my retirement. However DH's income was way up this year and will be going back down. My car has 106000 miles and S1's car has 160000 and S2's car has 102000. We do not have piles of disposable cash sitting around.</p>

<p>What gets me is that now everything is based off this efc. Work study is out, so are loans (except non need based). The whole thing is skewed.</p>

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<p>My mom's best friend (who lives 4000 miles away from here) recently passed away. She had been flying back and forth for these past 6 months to take care of her friend, then come home and take care of her kids. Those trips cost about 40000 in total (also helped pay for friend's treatments). That money was her entire paycheck for the YEAR, but the fafsa doesn't care about stuff like that, esp. because her friend wasn't a family member. So now my EFC's 15,000. yikes.</p>

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<p>collegepoormom, there's nothing wrong with blowing off steam. Perhaps you need a moment to compose yourself.</p>

<p>If your husband's income fluctuates, and last year was a good year, it is possible to make this case to the school financial aid office.</p>

<p>You may not want to hear this, but as sblake7 pointed out, you are very fortunate to have such a high income. You are right, the whole financial aid thing is skewed...skewed to assist low and moderate income families afford college. You really don't fit that category. Through savings, current income, and parent/home equity loans, your family can afford to send two students to college.</p>

<p>If you have any doubts about it, I'll trade places (at least income wise) with you any day, and then you can have the joy of trying to figure out how to send four children to college on a five figure income. </p>

<p>You mentioned that your EFC for the two children means you are expected to pay $4800/month, which is 25% of gross income and 52% of take home pay, to pay for college. Well, no, this is not right, because you haven't accounted for savings and loans. With an income like yours, paying for college isn't something you are expected to do over just four years....it's more like a 12 year experience for you...by saving for at least four years before college, the four years during college, and about four years after college by paying off parent/home equity loans you may have needed to bridge the gap if you didn't save enough in the years before college. Keep in mind, unless there are unusual circumstances, the financial aid office can expect your $200k+ income to continue after your children graduate, so you can't really expect them to give you grants just because you may not have saved enough beforehand...that's what they think parent/home equity loans are for.</p>

<p>Putting $20k/year + into a retirement account is a luxury. We all realize reducing your retirement savings may put a crimp in your retirement expectations. But as EMM1 pointed out, private colleges are also a luxury, so it's a question for you which luxury is more important.</p>

<p>By tapping into savings and loans, it's easily possible for you to send both children to school without exceeding an outlay from your current income of about $40,000/year. That's $3333/month. If you pay $1,000/mo of that by reducing your retirement savings by half, that means expenditures out of what you consider your "take home" pay would be about $2,333, which would represent about 25 percent of your take home pay of over $9,000/month. After college expenses, and after contributing about $1,000/month to retirement, you'll still have over $6,000/month of take home pay. Your take home pay, after college expenses and retirement contributions, will still exceed the gross median household income in the US.</p>

<p>While your children may not qualify for work study, there is nothing stopping them from working during the summers and during school to contribute at least $5000 each towards their expenses. With two children contributing $10,000/year, that would reduce your outlay by about $800/month. So having your children work will further reduce your contribution below 25% of your take home pay or continue to allow you to contribute to your generous retirement savings plan.</p>

<p>You are very fortunate to have so many options.</p>

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<p>deleted double post</p>

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<p>Hi Collegepoormom. I love your screenname...it suits me too. Our EFC and yours sound about the same....with it being about 25% of our gross income and about 50% of take home pay. It's not pretty, but at least it's doable. My WHOLE (every nickel) take home pay does nothing but pay college bills. And some of my husband's gets added in too. We'll just "limp along" for the next two years. Then we'll feel like we won the lottery each month.</p>

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<p>I have posted in several locations my frustration with EFC; I guess I'm "blessed" in that our EFC is a little over 1/3 of our take home pay. Better than those of you at 1/2. What is truly amazing to me is that some how, some way it became a given that parents would save/pay for their children's entire 4 year education, or close to it. That parents would sacrifice putting money into their retirements (which ALL financial planners tell you not to do) to send their children to college and it is also assumed that parents would use their home equity to put their children through college. Many of us need that equity to "downsize" as the price of a home is ridiculous in the part of the country we choose to live in. Perhaps the home equity is also part of the "saved" retirement. Lastly, that parents would take out a PLUS loan to pay for school if they needed is absurd, more debt being incurred in bad economic times! Have you checked out a PLUS loan, it's hardly a deal or anything along the lines of "financial aid". It is a typical consumer loan, which is also available to the student under the disguise of "a student loan". Nothing like the federal student loans that come in a financial aid package. Sadly the cost of college for public and private has increased astronomically. Yes, your child can choose the local public school, but in our case the EFC covers the cost of that and we don't have it! He's attending a private school now which is darn close to the cost of the local university after his "financial aid" package. Either way all the money saved for college is gone and he's only 1/2 way done. A number of things need to be changed, and I'm not sure who or what has the ability to make that happen. Even the federal student loans are not adequate for the cost of a public university. The maximum amount a student is allowed to borrow doesn't even make a dent in the overall cost.</p>

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<p>Know what college poor, I have absolutely no sympathy for you. You gross almost $17000 a month and you cannot forego your designer gowns to put your children on a road to success? That is absolutely appalling.</p>

<p>My parents, although they could have helped a bit, were certainly not in your enviable position to be able to afford to give their children a full ride, refused to help at all. I am paying for that to this day, hence my name on this site.</p>

<p>Although I managed myself to become a licensed Architect in NY in 1990, through a combination of experience and education I paid for myself, I still need to go back to school to finish the requirements to get licensed in almost any other state.</p>

<p>I have struggled my entire life, and you are worried about your retirement more than the fate of your children in their embarkment on a life.</p>

<p>I pity you, hopefully your children will grow stronger by your lack of support, and in your old age will treat you as you treated them as they developed.</p>

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<p>College is a privilege, not a right. It isn’t the government’s job to pay for college in this country (should it be? well, that’s another debate). It isn’t the college’s job to pay tuition for you. It is the student’s and the parents’ job to pay for a college education. If you want to buy a car, you either have to have cash in the bank, be willing to take out loans, or be able to do a combination of both. If you want to buy a college education, you have to have the money in the bank, to be willing to take out loans, or to be able to contribute with a combination of the two. The government provides public transportation and public education. It’s not ideal, but at least there IS a choice. Similarly, there are government and private programs out there to those who are deemed “in need”.</p>

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One way we saved is that neither of my kids had cars. No cars, and no insurance costs (since our car insurance covers them for free if no vehicle and away at school). You can figure that that saves at least $6000 per kid per year.</p>