<p>Our D has been accepted to both Carnegie Mellon and RPI to study Engineering and we are trying to figure out each school's aid package. We also have a S who will be a senior next year at Clarkson so our aid package for 2014-2015 will be much different this year than the following 3 years for my daughter. </p>
<p>At RPI my D received the Medal Scholarship which for her is $20k/year. She also was offered $5k this year in grant money. The rest of her package was $8.5k in Fed loans. RPI showed an EFC of $30K and a total cost of $64k to attend.</p>
<p>At CMU my D received a grant for $31.5k for this year along with $5.5k in Fed Loans. No merit scholarships. CMU showed an EFC of $35.5k with a total cost to attend $64k.</p>
<p>Our FAFSA EFC this year is $27k but last year with only our S attending college it was $48k. My wife and I live in NY if that makes a difference.</p>
<p>My D would rather attend CMU but not if the 4 year cost is significantly more than RPI. Any suggestions on what to do? Or are the aid packages offered the best we are going to see?</p>
<p>CMU only guarantees to meet need if you apply ED. Actually you got a great package for this year but I would not expect any or little FA next year when you only have one in college. </p>
<p>It’s up to you to decide if CMU is do-able. CMU will consider offers from like schools. I’m not sure if they consider RPI a competitor. The problem is next year, I would talk to the FA office and see if they have any insight on this. </p>
<p>yoshimom, her FA package for CMU was online. </p>
<p>deb922, thanks for the insight. I know that RPI is a peer school to CMU so I was wondering how/if they would match RPI’s FA offer of guaranteed money. CMU is actually giving more $ this year in grants but RPI is offering more guaranteed money over the next 4 years. I don’t want to end up sending her to a school that we can’t afford after her first year.</p>
<p>You can talk to Admissions at CMU and see if they can come up with some merit money. They do have some engineering/tech scholarships for females in STEM. Because you got financial aid from CMU, absolutely the amount will plummet when your EFC goes up from you other student graduating. That’s just the way it works. CMU will negotiate, and invites it, so give it a go. With a female engineer, and the RPI merit offer, they might come to agreement. </p>
<p>I agree. Contact CMU. When our kid went to visit the school, they were clear that they would reconsider aid offers. NOTE…reconsider! No guarantees, but well worth trying.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I always thought that having 2 kids in college would be tough financially (don’t get me wrong it is) but it seems that if you have 2 kids in college at the same time it might be more beneficial from a FA point of view. Having your kids only 1 year apart in age compared to 4 years or more apart means for 3 years your EFC is much lower for both kids as opposed to 8 straight years of a much higher EFC for both kids. </p>
<p>But only if they get accepted to a school which meets needs and which calculates your aid package as having 2 in school. I had 2 in school and one met our FAFSA EFC and one didn’t care at all. So we felt fortunate that one school did give us a break. Honestly, I think we were lucky to have this. </p>
<p>My D did not apply to CMU so I don’t know but she did go to a school with need based aid. When I no longer had 2 in college my contribution doubled. But it was offset by her living off campus which was cheaper and she made more money each year which helped also. It was more but by having one in school and cutting back we made it work. </p>