<p>i have a younger sibling two years younger than me. (we are the only 2 children)</p>
<p>i've got full tuition at a couple of top 20 schools, as well as admission to a top 10 school.</p>
<p>my parents make roughly 200k, so I am not qualifying for any need-based</p>
<p>if I go to a top 20 school with a full tuit scholarship, then my sister won't qualify for need-based. so if she goes to a school without merit scholarships, then my parents will end up paying for her anyway.</p>
<p>if I go to the top 10 school, my parents will pay a lot, and then my sister will get a lot of need-based financial aid.</p>
<p>so either way, my parents have to pay for one of us. am I making sense? The only other scenario is if both me and my sister go to schools on big merit scholarships, then my parents pay close to nothing. But if that is not the case, assuming my sister does not get a big merit scholarship, isn't is smarter for me to go to the top 10 school?</p>
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so either way, my parents have to pay for one of us. am I making sense?
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<p>There are only two years when you both will be in college at the same time. At best, your parents will pay full freight 6 of the 8 college years.</p>
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if I go to the top 10 school, my parents will pay a lot, and then my sister will get a lot of need-based financial aid.
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<p>Probably not. With an income of 200k your sister will probably not qualify for much need based aid even with you both in college.</p>
<p>FAFSA EFC for $200,000 (and no parent assets and no student assets) with 1 in college is @ $54k. With 2 in college it would be $27k. </p>
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if I go to a top 20 school with a full tuit scholarship, then my sister won't qualify for need-based
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She probably won't qualify for much need based aid anyway with a FAFSA EFC of $27k for the first 2 years and the EFC of $54k the 2nd 2 years.</p>
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so either way, my parents have to pay for one of us.
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<p>Either way it sounds like your parents will have to pay for both of you.</p>
<p>Sorry - I think your reasoning is off.</p>
<p>ok thanks for the posts. that's a good point that we'll only be in college simulataneously for 2 years.</p>
<p>just as reference, i've gotten my need-based fin aid packages from my schools, and a couple colleges gave me 5k, but almost everywhere else gave me nothing but loans.</p>