<p>My daughter has received her financial aid offer from a small private. It's about what we expected, and doable, for this year. But we are wondering about the 2nd-4th years. I'm hoping some of you might be able to give me some idea of what to expect. </p>
<p>Next year, we'll have two students in school. Each of their EFC's is $9700 for 13/14 school year. So, between that and the extra income we're earning this year, my daughter's EFC will be roughly $23000 for her 2nd year. </p>
<p>Her scholarships are renewable, so that's easy to understand. But the loan package, included $11,500 in grant money. What will happen with that then? Since the EFC will go up $13K/year, does that mean that (typically) she probably won't get ANY grant money for the 2nd year? </p>
<p>This year's net price ends up being about $21000 after grants/scholarships. That's manageable, but not sure that $32,500 (if we get no grant $ the following year) is either manageable (or even justifiable). </p>
<p>Also, before we got the FA offer, an adcom at the school told her that she could probably get her merit award increased if she wrote a letter of appeal and included new merit related info (which she can do). Now, I'm wondering though--if they increase her merit $ 6K (as he suggested) are they going to reduce her grant $?</p>
<p>Need based aid is computed annually. If your EFC goes up, your aid goes down…in most cases.</p>
<p>Merit aid is NOT dependent on EFC. You might want to get the maximum merit possible as usually incoming freshmen are given the merit money which then is renewable.</p>
<p>Thanks Thumper. I get the difference between need based and merit based aid, but I’ve also learned on cc that in the case of a lot of private schools, total aid is computed and offered in a way that makes the net price for private schools competitive with public school tuition. In your experience, is that true? This is not a meets-full-need school, if that makes a difference. </p>
<p>Between the two privates that my older son applied to and this one, our experience is that the private FA offers gave us a net price that was within $300 of the cost of our state flagship. Don’t know if that’s just coincidence or not, but it does make me wonder more about what we can expect for the second-year price tag, and whether or not our costs will be increased dollar for dollar to match our higher EFC.</p>
<p>Scuba, I think it’s a coincidence that your private school net cost was similar to what you would have paid at your instate public.</p>
<p>Since your child’s schools does not guarantee to meet full need, there is no good way to predict what your need based award will be in the future. Since the school didn’t meet full need this year, it is possible that even with a reduction in EFC, your aid won’t change. Likewise, if your EFC goes down, there is no guarantee that the school will increase your need based award.</p>
<p>OK…thanks…I am hoping that in a phone call on Monday, they might give me some idea what we can expect next year. But, I’m concerned they will only tell me that they’re not gonna give us any information about next year, even if we have a pretty clear idea about what our EFC will be.</p>
<p>Scuba…they will NOT tell you what your aid will be for subsequent school years. The school has NO WAY of knowing that. They can’t known about any income changes you might have, or changes in awarding their need based aid. What they will likely say is “if your situation doesn’t change, your aid will be ABOUT the same”. But you are asking them to give you information where there IS going to be a change…one less kid in college. They won’t be able to give you a hard and fast number.</p>
<p>Now…if this were MERIT aid, that would not be dependent on financial circumstances…thus my suggestion to maximize merit aid.</p>
<p>I have no advice, but I can say that I had an overlapping year with S1 and S2 and I looked very critically at the composition of the aid packages. I’ll have an overlapping year this year with S2 and S3. I looked mostly for more renewable merit and less “grant” because I knew the grant would reduce after the overlap kid graduated and I also knew the “grant” money from the privates was compensation for having two in college. I looked to see if I could afford the private schools if the grant money was removed in subsequent years.</p>
<p>I think if your D is seriously considering the private college calling the finaid office is probably the best move. It’s hard to say what they might do for you, but the privates are generally small schools and we’ve found the finaid officers to be very friendly and as helpful as they are able to be.</p>
<p>Finally it’s never a good idea to send the students off to college in a situation where you are shaking the couch cushions looking for spare change. That is far to stressful in my opinion.</p>
<p>Thumper, my husband and I are state workers. We know exactly, to the penny, how much money we are going to make THIS year. I know they won’t tell me what we are going to get next year, but one (a regional public) school has already told me what a family with a 23K EFC would have gotten this year, which was VERY helpful. That’s all I’m hoping for on Monday. </p>
<p>But, we’ll definitely get the merit award appeal in on Monday. Hopefully an increase in her merit won’t result in a reduction in her grant aid, but after running their net price calculator with next year’s numbers, I’m thinking that is exactly what is going to happen. The good news is that even with more than double the EFC, their NPC indicated that the net price would only go up about $1400.</p>
<p>I would swap merit aid for grant aid in a heartbeat if I could. At least you know what you are getting and it is ‘guaranteed’ as long as grades are maintained. I am going to call one of our schools next week and see if I can get merit increased even if the grant is reduced. I am almost positive we won’t get the same grant for the remaining 3 years - so I need to see if I can find a way to lock in what we would get.</p>
<p>Run the NPC with one and two in college and compare the answer. I was somewhat disapointed that the NPC for my older sons need-not-met school indicated there would be no increase in aid for two in college. Try to get the merit up as much as possible, even if it lowers the grant for this year, because merit won’t be lowered in years 2-4.</p>
<p>Thanks Sportlich…I did that but in our case we are going from 2 tuitions the 1st year, to only one the 2nd year. We got the same results as you…very little difference, but in our case this might be good news. (as long as the NPC is accurate, which was the case this year).</p>
<p>Just remember…the NPC are accurate estimates for incoming freshmen…not for upperclass returning students.</p>
<p>^ahh…yes…I’m probably making a dangerous assumption there. So I’m back to the original question then. If the FA office won’t tell, how do families who have 2 kids I college, with the younger one starting out at a private, know how much year 2 is going to cost?</p>
<p>Sue, you can ask the financial aid office what will happen when child 1 is not any longer in college. The reality is child number 2 will likely have an EFC that is DOUBLE what it is now. So if your child’s EFC is $15,000 this year, it will be about $30,000 next year.</p>
<p>Will this impact your aid? Ask the financial aid office that question. </p>
<p>When our second kiddo was enrolling in college, her older sub was a college senior. One school that was FAFSA only gave DD a $5000 grant. They were VERY clear with us…when big brother graduated, it was gone! This school did not meet full need.</p>
<p>Does your child’s private use the Profile? Does the school guarantee to meet full need? Even if that is so, your need will be reduced when the older kiddo is no longer in college.</p>
<p>This is a FAFSA only school, and no, they don’t meet full need.</p>
<p>Scuba, a FAFSA only school does not have to meet full need. In addition, these schools typically have more shallow pockets with regard to need based aid. The school is not likely to be able to tell you what you will be paying in subsequent years if you are talking about need based aid. This is computed annually. Your aid for the 2014-2015 school year will be based on 2013 tax information, AND the schools policy and ability to award need based aid NEXT year. I know you say your income is able to be predicted, but the financial situation in terms of awarding need based aid at the college cannot be.</p>
<p>As I said earlier, your child’s EFC will likely double. That is about all that can be said.</p>
<p>Yes, we’ve known since before we applied that the school doesn’t meet need. No problems there. And, we know, within a few hundred dollars, what our EFC will be for next year (See original post) IF there aren’t major changes in the tax law OR EFC formula. I’ve “done” next year’s taxes, and the FAFSA formula worksheets. Our EFC is going to MORE than double. </p>
<p>I know there are thousands and thousands of other families in our situation (two kids in college for one year, then only one kid for years 2-4) I just find it hard to believe that there is absolutely no way to give us ANY idea what their typical FA policies are. I understand that, if the school does tell us what the FA would have been if this was, hypothetically, my daughter’s 2nd year, they are not making a commitment of any sort, and I have no problem with that. </p>
<p>What I’m hearing you say though is that really no one, 2 kids or not, public or private, has ANY idea at all what their 2nd-4th year costs at a are going to be, since EFCs change and school FA policies change and that even if a family’s financial situation remains relatively unchanged, there can be wild swings in FA awards and net cost. Is that right? </p>
<p>Again, back to my original question: what is typical? Do schools usually reduce grant aid dollar for dollar as the EFC goes up?</p>
<p>I did NOT say that folks don’t know their 2-4 year potential costs. Your situation is changing dramatically for the subsequent year. You will have one less kid in college. That is what is making it difficult for the school to give you a cost for the next year.</p>
<p>If your EFC goes UP, then your grant money usually goes down…because you have less need. Grant money is used to meet financial need.</p>
<p>Schools that do not meet full need make their own decisions from year to year about need based institutional awards. </p>
<p>My son went to a school that did not meet full need. When he was a senior, his sister was a freshman. His EFC went from over $40,000 a year to $22,000 a year. Cost of attendance was $50,000 give or take a few dollars. His school didn’t give him one NICKEL of increased need based aid, not even a partially subsidized direct loan. He did get an additional $250 in scholarship money. That did NOT fill the gap. </p>
<p>In the meantime, his freshman sister got a subsidized direct loan and work study, both need based awards, in addition to her smallish merit award.</p>
<p>Sometimes what is awarded to new freshmen is not what upperclass students see.</p>
<p>What I’m trying to tell you…your daughter’s potential school is going to tell you that if all things remain the same, your aid will be similar (we heard that a LOT). But in your case, your situation will NOT be similar. You will have one less kid in college, so your daughters EFC will effectively double.</p>
<p>Thumper, thank you. Really. I know you’re trying to keep us from ending up in a situation we can’t handle. I’ve learned a TON on this website in the past 5 years and I know the difference between merit money & grant money, how EFC is calculated, the difference between FAFSA and Profile schools, etc. I know our EFC is going to go up and that grant aid likely will be reduced. </p>
<p>What I was wondering about is what is TYPICAL? Does grant aid typically get reduced $ for $ to match the increased EFC? (This was your experience, for example, as your DDs school did tell you ahead of time that the grant would be canceled the following year.) </p>
<p>I know each school has their own policies and that whatever is typical may or may not apply to us, but still I’m curious about what others have experienced when EFCs increase.</p>
<p>The school I was referring to my DD did NOT end up attending. Her EFC for that freshman year was about $24,000. They gave her a $4000 grant. When her EFC was going to rise to $48,000, they told us the grant would go away…and that was that.</p>