<p>If my dad makes an annual income of around $120,000 (probably a little lower but whatever) and mom doesn't work, can my family expect reasonable financial aid if I also have a twin brother going to college at the same time?</p>
<p>I'm a high school senior. Obviously, so is my twin brother.</p>
<p>And what is the likely of a financial aid package with minimal loans?</p>
<p>use finaid.org to estimate your FA. I think with an income like that your EFC is likely to be 35-38k. This would be split besteen the two of you but the scholls determine what they give. If money is a problem, it may be more affordable to attend a State school where the annual cost is around 20k</p>
<p>It will totally depend on where you and your brother go. If you’re both able to get into colleges that meet 100% of need, you’ll be in good shape with your family’s contribution probably being little more that they’d pay for one. At schools that don’t meet need, there’s no way of knowing.</p>
<p>As for packages with minimal loans, only a few schools offer that (no loans that is) and a few more capping loans. Again, it’s top colleges that do this.</p>
<p>Have your parents said how much they can spend each year for the 2 of you? Find out if you don’t know. Each efc may be $17k each, but if they can’t pay that much that will affect where you can afford. What are you and your brother’s stats?</p>
<p>apparently my mom did some calculamatory thingie this afternoon and according to the FAFSA thing we’d get 20K each and according to the CSS thingie we’d get 10K each. of course these are just estimates as my mom simply put in numbers off the top of her head from last year. we’ll see</p>
<p>calculamatory. I love that word. Really.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>*apparently my mom did some calculamatory thingie this afternoon and according to the FAFSA thing we’d get 20K each and according to the CSS thingie we’d get 10K each. of course these are just estimates as my mom simply put in numbers off the top of her head from last year. we’ll see *</p>
<p>LOL…love that new word…add it to Urban Dictionary!</p>
<p>So, what was your mom’s feeling about those numbers. For instance, if they have to pay $15k-20k for EACH of you, are they ok with that? </p>
<p>If not, then you need to apply to some schools that will work for you.</p>
<p>no she’s not “okay” with that unfortunately… and my bro asked how much would they be happy/ satisfied/ complacent with and naturally she responded</p>
<p>“as much as possible” -_-</p>
<p>anyway, thanks for all the responses.</p>
<p>It is normal for teens and parents to be worried at this point in the process. Go ahead and apply for some of the local scholarships (Rotary, PTA, etc) because that is a great way to shave dollars off the price tag, no matter what the EFC ends up being. </p>
<p>You aren’t going to know the real costs until 1) the FAFSA is completed (hopefully in January) and 2) it is late March/early April and you are opening your college acceptance packet. Try not to worry too much in between times.</p>
<p>*
according to the FAFSA thing we’d get 20K each and according to the CSS thingie we’d get 10K each. of course these are just estimates as my mom simply put in numbers off the top of her head from last year. we’ll see </p>
<p>no she’s not “okay” with that unfortunately… and my bro asked how much would they be happy/ satisfied/ complacent with and naturally she responded</p>
<p>“as much as possible” -_-*</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>I don’t think you understood those numbers. Those aren’t “how much you’d get.” FAFSA doesn’t tell you how much you’d get. Neither does CSS</p>
<p>You need clarification from your parents. You need to ask them what is the MOST that they can pay for each child. Tell them that you’re going to try to minimize that amount, but you need to know the MOST that they can pay for each child.</p>
<p>Do YOU realize that many schools that give good scholarships have Dec 1st scholarship deadlines???</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>What are your bro’s stats?</p>
<p>You are just looking at calculating an EFC now? It is almost December! </p>
<p>If FA is of concern this should have been taken into consideration before you and your twin brother started applying to schools. You may end up being very disapointed around April 1st if your parents have to tell you both that they can’t afford the school(s) you really want to go to. </p>
<p>If you have applied to schools with price tags of 50K-plus who are noted for “gapping” then you should seriously consider a couple of financial safety schools, before the application deadlines arrive.</p>
<p>Agree, hopefully you and your brother have some good financial safeties in mind - your state publics are a good start. After that you’ll need schools that you are statistically likely to get aid in the form of merit scholarships. It would be wise to take a very good look at your list now and make sure it will yield reasonable possibilities come spring or edit/add to yield some reasonable results.</p>
<p>looks like some people are desperate to help -_- …</p>
<p>and i see that we’ve deviated from the original point of the thread</p>
<p>it’s all cool everyone. we’ll figure something out.</p>
<p>@SLUMOM- i’m not calculating EFC, my mom did. she knows what she’s doing. she’s been through it before. and i have applied to random scholarships stuff.</p>
<p>i reiterate- we’ll figure something out if it comes down to a situation of more dire urgency. oh well.</p>
<p>and if it helps my stats include a 2260 SAT, 790 Math II, 760 Bio and two 730s and a 720 SAT II. i’m probably in top 5% of class (gpa is irrelevant since it’s weighted differently than any other school), most likely top 4% (our school is terribly vague on this stuff, don’t rank), with many ap courses i guess, stuff like that. i’ve gotten two B’s as final grades up through junior year.</p>
<p>btw- mother dealing with FA, not me. she’s fillin out FAFSA and CSS and other shizz. i trust her to deal with it if she says she will. if there is a problem, i trust her to tell me. we got a smooth machine runnin ovah here.</p>
<p>i hold optimism for the future. hope the rest of you do too and this process doesn’t drive you guys to insanity.</p>
<p>may the Force and the strength of the Eldars be with you</p>
<p>peace out.</p>
<p>LOL…you were summoned and you returned! :)</p>
<p>Ok…good that you think your parents have all the costs figured out and you believe that they will pay whatever is expected for you and your bro!! :)</p>
<p>That’s better than your earlier post that sounded like your mom was worried. Many people see FAFSA EFC numbers and think that is going to tell them how they’ll have to pay and how they’ll get. Wrong. Very wrong.</p>
<p>I hope we’ll see happy posts from you in the spring!</p>
<p>Ditto, glad to hear all is under control… we parents don’t like the “I’m having a nervous breakdown” posts come spring.</p>
<p>oh well, my name refers to my constant worry-type personality. my mom says i worry too much and isn’t afraid to tell people about it 
and since i’ve been asking my GC bunches of question SHE even said i worry too much.
can’t help it.</p>
<p>Glad to hear it is all under control! </p>
<p>Just remember, the “random scholarship stuff” you have applied for, if you should win anything, it will be treated as an “outside scholarship” by the school you eventually enroll at & FA office will no doubt reduce the amount of your grant dollars by that amount.<br>
So have your Mom check out the “outside scholarship” policies on each school you and your brother have applied to! Sometimes the “outside scholarship” benefits the college! </p>
<p>Good Luck to you and your twin brother!</p>
<p>and…also…remember that outside scholarships are usually only for freshman year, so don’t base affording a college based on those.</p>
<p>gotcha</p>
<p>thanks for all the replies</p>
<p>good luck to all</p>
<p>I would just say one last thing, if you don’t have a very good financial safety school on your list that you know with certainty you can afford, I would take the time now and identify and apply for that school. The economy is still really, really tough and the publics have very little aid outside of a few scholarships and what they can disbuse via federal aid and the privates are probably looking very hard at their financial aid packages. Every single potential college student needs to have one financial safety school in their hip pocket. Hopefully your parents are counseling you and your twin in this regard if they are not currently planning on being full pay for both of you.</p>