<p>I don't know how to answer this question about my twin brother on the CSS profile.</p>
<p>"What will be the total cost of attending the educational institution (school, college, or university) this person will attend during the 2011-12 academic year?"</p>
<p>We're both applying to colleges this year and thus, have no idea what school we are going to or how much we'll being paying for it. What do I write?</p>
<p>What about putting down the COA of the highest price school.</p>
<p>I had a similar issue (not twins, but 2 kids applying to different colleges at the same time) – and I think I left that field blank (if the system let me) – or entered in meaningless information and then used the part at the end of the form to explain that the cost was as yet unknown. It’s possible that I entered in an arbitrary but reasonable number. It really didn’t matter because when it came down to it, based on my explanation, the colleges appeared to understand exactly what was going on.</p>
<p>In my case, my daughter was applying to colleges as a freshman the same year that her older brother, who had been out of school for several years, was applying as a transfer. My son did not live at home and I did not even know for certain where he was applying, or whether he would in fact attend school, or continue to work. </p>
<p>But my experience was that the colleges had their own forms to verify the enrollment and COA of the sibling. This appears to be common practice, because the verification had to be made by the financial aid office of the sibling’s school, and my son was able to easily arrange this even though he was NOT receiving financial aid at the time. (Son was at a pubic u., and his earnings and savings disqualified him from aid for the first year he was there – his EFC simply was higher than the COA).</p>
<p>Thanks you guys :)</p>
<p>I was also wondering about parents’ home value. We currently owe more on our home than it is worth, not unusual in CA, but the application thinks it is a mistake and won’t let me submit it that way, what do I do?</p>
<p>Negative home equity is not considered. Enter zero.</p>
<p>Really? That’s odd. Should I explain it in the explanation section?</p>
<p>You can, although you certainly won’t be the only one in this “upside-down-mortgage” situation this year. Finaid offices will see a lot of it.</p>
<p>So, do I put “0” in both sections: “What is the current market value of your parents’ home” and “What do your parents owe on their home”?</p>
<p>I just want to make sure I do this correctly. :)</p>
<p>No. The 0 would apply to home equity. Market value is what the home would sell for today, not the profit or loss you’d take from the sale. Parents owe whatever the mortgage statement says they owe at this point. If your home, for example, would sell for $500,000, but your parents owe $550,000 on it, then it will be clear you have negative home equity.</p>