<p>foto2gem: Cross posted - read my above post. ^ ^</p>
<p>curm...I agree with your post....everyone thinks the grass is greener....and there truly are pros/cons of every situation. As I posted earlier, those who are self employed, for example, have to purchase health insurance....there are no benefits when self employed. </p>
<p>foto2gem, following up on what twinmom posted....our financial aid package with the first child shot up a LOT when the second one also entered college and the grant portion was significantly increased (the part you do not pay back). Colleges, particularly ones who have 100% need based policies, most definitely taken into account how many kids you have in college at one time and you have more "need." As twinmom wrote, you have to prove that you have two enrolled and where and there are forms that one school fills out that you submit to the other as proof of the enrollment. </p>
<p>My children are 25 months apart and were two years apart throughout K-12. However, my younger child wanted to graduate a year early and so she graduated after junior year and entered college just one year behind her sister. At present, my oldest is a senior in college and my youngest is a junior and so their undergraduate years have overlapped for three of the four years the oldest has been in college. In fact, my youngest one likes to tell us, "aren't you glad I graduated early? Look how much money you are saving because our FA went up! (more than if I had entered college at the normal time)" (cough cough) Also, next year, my oldest will hopefully be in graduate school and so for the fourth year of the youngest child's college, we still have overlap of two in school (we'll be applying for FA for grad school and pay our kids' education costs). I know twinmom mentioned NYU and it so happens that youngest attends NYU and won a significant scholarship there that is guaranteed all four years, so I alerady know the grant portion for next year for her and hopefully the grad school financial aid will be as good as that which my older one has been receiving at Brown while the two girls have overlapped in school.</p>
<p>So it would be possible to get some aid at that income level with 2 in? We pay full price at private Top 25 school for #1. Do you think the schools have any leeway with an athlete? Even though aid is need-based?</p>
<p>Soozie: I mention NYU only in terms of need-based scholarship, not merit-based. I do understand that their merit-based scholarships (which may intertwine with need as some schools do this) can be quite generous.</p>
<p>Foto2Gem: Being an athlete at schools that do not provide merit aid has no bearing at all. I like the Princeton University finaid calculator (although neither of my kids applied there!) as I find it to be fairly accurate. Plug in your numbers and divide by 2 (as instructed.) Your EFC will be cut in half!</p>
<p>Foto2gem...I can't answer whether you will get aid and I am not in your income bracket either. However, as twinmom indicated, if your child attends a school that only offers need based aid and not merit aid, being an athlete has no bearing on the FA. My oldest child at Brown is also an athlete and it has had nothing to do with her financial aid and she also wasn't recruited. However, she plays on varsity team there. But it is irrelevant at Brown. </p>
<p>twinmom, I understood what you meant about NYU as not a 100% need based school (and an expensive one a that!~) I was just commenting on that you never know because while my D did win a merit scholarship, the AMOUNT of the scholarship, I was told, took into account her financial NEED as well. I realize it may not be typical, but was just commenting that it is possible.</p>
<p>Besides being able to "afford" the EFC, there are also questions of prudence and efficiency.</p>
<p>Is it reasonable to risk an unknown financial future with 200,000 fewer dollars. Do I pay for the elite school or my parents nursing home? What does one get for 200,000?</p>
<p>beprepn...everyone approaches education differently. For me, I would pay the same price whether my kid went to an "elite" school or a less selective school. I am paying for their education. Education is worth it to me in and of itself. It is not measured by what income they may earn later. However, generally speaking, those with a college education often have more opportunities in life. So, any college was worth the money to me. And the tuition is worth it no matter what job they get in the future or what it may pay. </p>
<p>Also, in my family, the tradition has been to pay it forward. My parents helped me get an education and graduate school. They even help my kids. I won't be paying their nursing care. They saved for their own care. I now am paying for my kids and will not have my kids pay any of the college or grad school loans themselves. I hope one day my kids do the same for their children. That's not for everyone but I am explaining my view.</p>
<p>
[quote]
What changes once the 2nd child applies? We make in the $160-180,000 range. Any hope for us? Do the elite schools care where you are sending #1 and what you are paying there? Even with our salary, isn't $86,000 in college tuition a little much??
[/quote]
The parental contribution part of the FAFSA EFC is halved with two kids age 23 or under in college simultaneously. So if that part of your EFC was $50K with one, it will be $25K with two. </p>
<p>The practices of private colleges as to financial aid in that situation may vary. My daughter's college asked for verification of my son's attendance at his college, including COA figures, and they increased my d's grant by the full amount of my son's in-state tuition and fees.</p>
<p>I know the colleges claim need blind admission but is that really true? The first page of the common application asks the student to declare whether or not they will seek aid. Won't admissions people see that? Doesn't that inevitably make the application more complicated? By not seeking aid is there any advantage at all? Or does not seeking aid hurt the applicant because schools are so intent these days to report that they give aid to the majority of their students? We're in a gray area. Can pay for undergraduate private schooling for our kids but the thought of post-graduate makes us really tired. Our assets aren't huge but our income stream right now is quite good. The problem is we don't want to keep working forever. Don't mean to whine.</p>
<p>My guess is that if your income stream is quite good and you have the assets you are not going to qualify for aid. Then, again, you don't know unless you apply.
I believe that the need blind schools are probably truly need blind. I believe that schools that are not need blind look very carefully at that little box.
If you truly need the money, check the box. It's that simple.</p>
<p>Few schools are needs blind - - most say they are needs seensitive.</p>
<p>Even for need-sensitive schools, most are only concerned with the bottom line. If they check the FA status of a student, and find that the student doesn't qualify for FA, that student is treated the same as the student who doesn't apply for aid, since there is no impact on the FA budget. So there really is little downside to applying.</p>