<p>Hey, everyone! </p>
<p>I'm just trying to gather all my options for paying for college and I thought of this one...Could someone tell me if it could work? (I might not do this, but it's good to know anyway...) </p>
<p>I was considering taking a gap year a bit, but really wasn't sure.
My brother is 2 years behind me (i.e. I'm a senior, he's a sophomore.) - and there's another kid 7 or so years behind me, but I don't care about him. haha. </p>
<p>If I were to take a gap year, my brother would only be one year behind me, and three years would overlap instead of two. And so, if our EFC is 50k, it gets cut down to 25k each, right? So then we save money like this: </p>
<p><em>If</em> we both attended ridiculously expensive schools ($40-50+), then this would a savings of $50,000 over four years. </p>
<p>I'm probably just going to look for some place that gives good merit aid, but I just wanted to see if this sort of harebrained strategy could work. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>There are several flaws:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>FAFSA EFC will be cut in half, but CSS schools (many of which fall into the “ridiculously expensive” category) don’t necessarily do this.</p></li>
<li><p>Having “need” based on your EFC does not guarantee that you will be given free money to meet that need. You could get only loans or get nothing.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>So, the answer is, it might work, but probably won’t.</p>
<p>Okay, that’s interesting! Thanks!</p>
<p>If you and your brother are both top students and can get into the handful of generous schools that meet 100% of need, it could work. </p>
<p>Do make sure, however, you’re not using the FAFSA EFC, for most families with a 50K EFC the institutional EFC will be higher.</p>
<p>The rationale does work to the extent that it gives you the POSSIBILITY of getting more financial aid dollars. The reality depends on which schools you and your brother attend. My friend who had 3 in college at the same time didn’t get anything out of the situation because two of the girls went to the state school and the other to an OOS school with a merit award. Even dividing the EFC into thirds did not make the family PELL eligible. The good news was that their college costs were affordable and they got them over and done with in 5 years. But they did not get anything in terms of financial aid. The oldest daughter had gotten her scholarship before the twins were in college, so that had no effect on anything. </p>
<p>Now had all three gone to a school with generous financial aid policies, they might have gotten money from the schools. But the net cost would have likely been much higher. The state school costs were relatively low and the merit award that the first gal got brought her cost down below that. I don’t think it would have been likely that they would have done better going to private colleges where the even the discounted cost to the parents would have been more than what they did pay.</p>
<p>Also, remember having two kids in college in the same time is going to be a strain on family finances even if the EFC comes down a little bit. There are so many other costs like travel during holidays, personal expenses etc. which are not covered and will need to be paid.</p>
<p>Also, what are you going to be doing your the gap year. If you are going to be sitting at home, it is waste of a year. If you are going to be earning, then your earnings count when your EFC’s are calculated. If you have to go on a mission or something like that for which you need to take a gap year, then it might be a good strategy. </p>
<p>Also everything depends on your scores, grades etc. Do you have a competitive profile.</p>
<p>Most of us live in the present. So when you have two college costs to pay, it makes things very difficult for that time. Especially if you have not saved in the past to defray those costs. What many have to do is borrow more during those years, when they may not have had to do so had the kids gone one after another. There is a point when the costs so exceed the family income that there is no way a family can pay out of current earnings regardless of payment plans. Those payment plans that spread a $50K bill really get to me. As if most folks can pay more than $4K a month out of current income.</p>
<p>!) Is that your FAFSA EFC or CSS EFC?</p>
<p>2) Can your parents afford your EFC?</p>
<p>3) Are both you and your brother tippy top students with likely super high test scores that would likely get into the few schools that meet need without big loans?</p>
<p>With an EFC of $50,000 I’m on the doubtful side that your parents would get away with a two for one payment situation. Since there is slightly more bountiful financial aid for freshman if I were your parents I would want the overlap year to be less rather than more…eg. two years of overlap instead of three. I’m sure you could attempt some sort of plan to minimize the costs, but we just went through that and did not find any combination that gave us a two for one price on college…just saying YMMV.</p>
<p>but we just went through that and did not find any combination that gave us a two for one price on college</p>
<p>I agree. I think that because FAFSA EFC gets roughly cut in half (yet most FAFSA only schools don’t meet need), many people assume that the same will happen with CSS schools. It’s rather meaningless for FAFSA EFC to get cut in half unless the students will now qualify for Pell or will be going to a rare FAFSA school that will meet need. </p>
<p>There probably are a few CSS schools that do roughly cut costs in half, but it just doesn’t make a lot of sense for these schools to do so…afterall, typically the second child isn’t going to the same school so why should they expect a lot less money from a family just so that they can better afford to send another child elsewhere? Why should Cornell cover more costs for a family so that they can send another child to - say - Vandy.</p>
<p>Perhaps another consideration is your total lifetime earning potential. You would be trading away a year of college-educated earnings for a gap year at zero or part - time minimum wage range earnings.</p>
<p>So what is a family to do? 2 boys, 2010/1011, ACT 28 & 30, GPA 3.6/3.9, and student loan payments that will literally put us over the financial edge…</p>
<p>Meh, dozens of threads on this with the general feeling that if finances are the number one consideration, build your list accordingly, if a parent – be open and forthright with the kids regarding finances and if a student – ask your parents what the budget is:
- Look at your state schools
- Look for schools known to give good financial aid to students with similar GPA/test scores
- Two years at a community college and then transfer</p>
<p>Family’s EFC - around $22,000
My personal EFC (sibling already in college) - $13,000 (yes, that’s right, it’s a little more than half.)
How much I am expected to pay, per year, to go to UChicago - $23,000 (vice $33,000 without my brother being in college.)</p>
<p>With a $50,000 EFC, your split EFC would be $30,000 or so a piece; if a school meets full need, that still means you might be paying $40,000 total per year, because of loans. But, hey, you’d save maybe up to $10,000 a year. And gap years are awesome, as long as you do something with them. Apply to colleges and scholarships NOW though. I deferred my enrollment at UChicago so that I could go to Japan, work, etc. Another school decided to just defer my enrollment anyway, though I won’t be attending. They want us to have life experience, at least some of the colleges.</p>