<p>It is not apparent to me how this works and maybe I should ask the school Financial Aid office about this. So if we have 2 kids with 2 years overlapped and the younger one receives a good Financial Aid offer that has 1/2 of it in grant and 1/2 of it in merit aid. What happens on the third year of the younger kid when the older kid finishes school and our EFC certainly will rise? Does the grant go away or both the grant and the merit go away based on the EFC? I am asking whether it is possible that we become a full pay or closed to it after getting very good aid the first 2 years.</p>
<p>Grant will probably go away. Merit will likely stay since that was based on stats. But, do call.</p>
<p>Each year is evaluated on its own merits. You will fill out the FAFSA in January 2014 for Fall 2014 classes based on the 2013 income tax numbers but will be asked “how many will be in college Fall 2014?”. If that is the fall that the answer = 1 then you can expect EFC will be for that 1 (instead of EFC/2 = per student). </p>
<p>Good for you for looking down the road. The smart thing to do is to save in your name (not the student’s) as your small stocking will be assessed at a lower rate than anything in the student’s name. </p>
<p>A fin aid officer is likely to only give you the briefest of generalities at this point because they are up to their necks in getting packages together to tempt the new class and to serve current students for the fall. Since you have some time, why not wait until late May/early June and send along a pleasant email asking for clarification? </p>
<p>Meanwhile, ask student to check in to any departmental awards. Often there are some small bits for upperclassmen – and juniors and seniors can sometimes get the better on campus jobs/internships. Stay tenacious!</p>
<p>It’s difficult to say, as it varies from school to school and it depends on the awards as well. If the award is pure merit that is renewed each year, for example, there would be no change. My friend’s younger daughter got a very nice $20K merit award which more than covered the $10K need that was calculated for this family with 2 in college. And she continued to get the award even after her sister graduated and the family had zero need by fin aid calculators the last two years of the younger one’s college.</p>
<p>But had she picked a school that would have given her $5K in need, which is exactly half of the $10K need for the family, she would not get that award renewed when her sister graduated. Complicating things is the fact that most PROFILE only schools don’t go on a 50/50 split, so her need would have only been $ 4k under such a formula, and then she would have gotten that only if the school guaranteed to meet full need or decided to do so. There is no obligation unless it is a full need school. A lot of times you can get nothing more with a second child entering the picture. If one of the other school does not guarantee to meet full need, it makes no difference if the need increases.</p>
<p>“Good for you for looking down the road. The smart thing to do is to save in your name (not the student’s) as your small stocking will be assessed at a lower rate than anything in the student’s name.”</p>
<p>Don’t worry, there will be nothing left by that 3rd year of our younger one. The only thing left will be a balance on our home equity loan. Thanks everyone for the comments. I think I’ll try to get the school to assure me that the merit will never go away, otherwise, other cheaper school might come into play.</p>
<p>Most of the time, merit awards, unless they are merit within need , are for 4 years. My kids’ were. But ask to make sure.</p>