<p>Kid #1 got accepted to several top 30 LACs but the highest need based aid that s/he got was $5K. The $50K+ per year is much more than we can afford. Using the school's Net Price Calculator's I find that our EFC goes significantly down if we had another kid in college. The new EFCs would be around $30-35K, which is something we could manage. Kid #2 is going to college in two years. Has anyone had experience in getting some guarantees or assurances from colleges that kid #1 would get need based aid when kid #2 goes to college?</p>
<p>The new EFCs would be around $30-35K</p>
<p>Wouldn’t that be “per kid”? </p>
<p>Family Contributions at CSS schools tend to split 60/60…so if you owe $50k for one child, you’d owe about $30k for EACH child when you send two</p>
<p>So, then you’d be paying $60k per year…not $30k.</p>
<p>You do realize the EFC is per child, right? So if the FAFSA EFC with ne child is 50,000, then each child’s EFC when 2 are in school will be 25,000 (parent part of EFC divided equally between # kids) . So still a total family EFC of 50,000 meaning you would still have to come up with at least that (possibly more depending on whether you have schools that promise to meet need without loans - very few do)</p>
<p>(I am assuming the 30-35k is a CSS figure as CSS does not divide the EFC equally between kids).</p>
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<p>Yes I realize that. What I am saying is that absolute most that we (the parents) can afford per kid is $120K for all years of college. It greatly affects kid #1’s college decision if the total cost of college is $200K (4<em>50) or $160K (2</em>50 + 2*30).</p>
<p>When is kid #2 graduating? If it is soon after kid #2, kid #1 might want to consider taking a year or 2 as a gap year. </p>
<p>I know it is not ideal, but this kid #1 can earn some college money while working during gap years. Otherwise your only choice is to find more affordable school for kid #1.</p>
<p>P.S. I understand your frustration. There are many things about financial aid I find unfair. However, it is what it is and you have to just figure out what works for you and your family.</p>
<p>The question is:</p>
<p>Has anyone had experience in getting some guarantees or assurances from colleges that kid #1 would get need based aid when kid #2 goes to college? </p>
<p>Knowing the expected costs for all four years has a great impact on kid #1’s choice of colleges.</p>
<p>*> So, then you’d be paying $60k per year…not $30k.</p>
<p>Yes I realize that. What I am saying is that absolute most that we (the parents) can afford per kid is $120K for all years of college. It greatly affects kid #1’s college decision if the total cost of college is $200K (4<em>50) or $160K (2</em>50 + 230).</p>
<p>First of all, this only works out if BOTH kids get into “full need met” schools AND they use a similar formula.</p>
<p>Also, as soon as #1 child graduates, then the cost for #2 child’s tuition will go up to full price (and at that point you’ll have one less person to count in the household). </p>
<p>$120k per kid means $30k per year. A total budget of $240k for your kids.</p>
<p>So, if your kids are spaced 2 years apart (as you mentioned), this might be your situation.</p>
<p>year 1 $50k
year 2 $50k
year 3 $60k
year 4 $60k
year 5 $55k (at least!)</p>
<h2>year 6 $55k (at least!)</h2>
<p>$330k ($90k over budget)</p>
<p>I think you’ve forgotten that Child #2’s costs will go up once Child #1 graduates.</p>
<p>If Child #1’s school promises to meet need, then you will get more money when #2 enrolls.</p>
<p>I’ve known people who have had two kids a year apart and had the older one take a gap year to get two in college. Yes, you can pay less that way.</p>
<p>However, in order for it to work optimally, both kids have to be in schools that guarantee to meet need, and the cost of the schools to be equal.</p>
<p>I have two in college this year. At our income level, if both kids had picked top priced colleges and if each of those were colleges that met full need, we would have ended up with about $10K maybe in defined need, I think a little less than that,because I am going 50/50 and PROFILE schools tend to split 60/60. (in other words the you pay 60%$ of the total calculated family contribution generated by PROFILE per kid, not half as FAFSA splits the EFC). Unless both kids were going to schools that didn’t include loans in the package, they would get subsidized loans on the Stafford, from what I have seen of such situations. Now if they were both at Harvard, that would be a whole other story, but I am talking about top priced, top 50 LACs that guarantee to meet full need or close to it…</p>
<p>As it is, neither kid’s college guarantees to meet needs, so they could just throw up their hands and say, “tough beans” but there would still be the subsidized interest on the Stafford, right? Except kid #1 has a merit award that brings his cost down below what our expected 60% would be for him. That’s pure money, so how can I complain? He’s had it from day 1 from that school. And Kid 2 is going to an OOS public where the cost is $5K mrore than half of what a top priced private school would be. So the costs of the two kids combined is under what our EFC and what most any college would calculate as what we should pay. So, we luck out, as we are paying less than what we would be even if both kids were getting aid at full need met schools. ALso, the younger one is continuing 3 years solo since the older one is graduating this year. The older one also won some awards and research money in the last few years that have reduced his costs further and has a nice paying job at the college tutoring center. It’s still a lot of money for us, but still costs less than if we’d gotten the max out of the way the system works.</p>
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<p>No, I haven’t forgotten that. Kid #1 will likely go to graduate school, but how that works with financial aid is a subject for a different thread …</p>
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<p>Right, so that is my question: Has anyone had experience in getting some guarantees or assurances from colleges that kid #1 would get need based aid when kid #2 goes to college? </p>
<p>I realize the answer is talk to each school’s Fin Aid office about my specific situation. I just want to know what people’s experience in doing this.</p>
<p>I have frustration that kid #1 opens an acceptance letter for college XYZ and sees a price tag of $50K, while two years later kid #2 will get an acceptance letter from the same college XYZ and see a cost of $30K. Yes, I realize that kid #2 will be paying more the last two years. It is human nature that kid #2 is more likely to attend college XYZ than kid #1.</p>
<p>This is a good question and I have asked similar questions before but have not had much definitive response. There must be many people in this situation out there. More anecdotal examples would be a lot more comforting. Anyway, I’ll let you know in a few months on the question with Kid#1. As for Kid#2, I have been told that the some schools do take grad school of siblings into account when calculating aid but some schools do not. You need to do research on the school and make sure what policy the school has.</p>
<p>I am in a similar situation. D1 is a junior in college at a meet full need/no loan school, D2 will be a freshman in the fall at an OOS does NOT meet need. I expect that D1’s school will provide a larger package due to D2’s attendance in college and my FAFSA EFC being split. Both schools use the CSS Profile.</p>
<p>I would suggest you run the NPC for the school with each scenario - that is a place to start. My D1’s school’s NPC has proven to be accurate over the last 3 years.</p>
<p>D1’s school always considered D2’s private HS tuition and now I expect they will consider D2’s college attendance as well. In my case it will not be a huge difference since there were always 2 tuitions that were considered in the FA formula (College & HS now College & College).</p>
<p>I did grill D2’s FA Office about what happens when D! graduates - it will be ugly in my case since D2’s school does not meet need and as my need goes down (EFC will double when D1 graduates) they meet a smaller percentage of remaining need. But I am fully aware of this going in so it is fair.</p>
<p>Lastly D1 may well attend grad or law school - this will not at all be considered for D2. Of course law school will want me to be considered on the FA apps! I think D1 will make out better all around due to there always being a “second” child with tuition being considered and D2 only had older sibling tuition considered for HS and 1 year of college.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>I have two in college, a year apart. S1 is full pay at a public, in-state. S2 is at a private that doesn’t say they meet full need, but they’ve been very generous. He has a small grant on top of his merit aid. The college is meeting S2’s EFC which is 50% of our total family EFC.</p>
<p>When S2 was considering this private, I’ll called the FA office and asked (nicely) for them to predict if the grant would go away once S1 graduates and our per-child EFC effectively doubles. Their response was that unless anything else changes with our situation, the grant would most likely remain the same.</p>
<p>Last year I sold my house and had the proceeds sitting in the bank when I filed FAFSA in Feb 2012. This brought my son’s EFC up well beyond the COA. He still got his grant, although slightly reduced from last year.</p>
<p>Next year when S1 graduates, I won’t be surprised if the grant goes away. However based on how generous S2’s college has been in the past, I think there’s a chance that they’ll award the grant for one last year. </p>
<p>Moral of the story: it really depends on the college.</p>
<p>*> I think you’ve forgotten that Child #2’s costs will go up once Child #1 graduates.</p>
<p>No, I haven’t forgotten that. Kid #1 will likely go to graduate school, but how that works with financial aid is a subject for a different thread …</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Well, maybe not. Since you’re concerned about staying within your $240k budget. Many schools don’t take grad students into acct because many grad programs are funded. At that point, your concern will be how Child #2’s school will consider a grad student. </p>
<p>And, even if a school will give “some” consideration to having a grad student who isn’t getting funding, I don’t think they treat that child the same as an undergrad…because the system has really been devised with the philosophy that parents pay for undergrad, not grad school.</p>
<p>If your contribution must be limited to $30k each year in order to make your family budget function, one must ask whether or not your child applied to any institutions that are affordable once the Stafford Loan and your child’s potential summer and school year earnings are added in. If not, well then, why not?</p>
<p>It appears that the time has come for you to get real about your ability to pay, and your dreams of “Top 30” educations for your children. Sit down with your spouse and your children, and talk about the options that truly are workable. Perhaps you can pull the money from somewhere, and the “Top 30” institutions will work. But if they won’t work, once the box of tissues is empty accept the truth, and move on.</p>
<p>I was wondering the same…or the kids should apply to schools where merit awards would get the remaining costs to be $30k per year or less. That way, no one is wondering what various schools policies are (or might be after a change…which schools do!)</p>
<p>happymomof1:</p>
<p>We are blessed to be in a very good situation. Kid #1 received a significant merit scholarship from a top 50 LAC. Other than being too close to home, the school is a great match for kid #1 (excellent programs in her area of interests, kid #1’s personality matches the campus vibe). So I’m not complaining too much. I just feel that kid #1’s options just seem more limited than if s/he had been kid #2.</p>
<p>Why would the second child’s options be better than the first child’s? When it comes for time for the second child’s college, he will go where ever you can afford to pay. Would you be able to pay for a $60K a year school for him? Such a school, if it guarantees to meet full need will expect you to pay 60% of what would be expected were he the only one in college PLUS it will adjust for what the first one is getting in merit. These PROFLIE schools go for the filling in your teeth when it comes to defining what your contribution should be. Unless you have an EFC of zero, it’s not as though it’s going to make a huge difference. in aid, and even then, it’s just the PELL that is cash money. The rest is loans and whatever a school might have, and FAFSA only schools do not tend to be generous.</p>
<p>Take it from a number of members here who have had multiples in college.</p>
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<p>One other point about this. The majority of money used for kid #1 and kid #2 will be from college savings. Given that our assets will be significantly decreasing, kid #2’s EFC after kid #1 graduates will be much lower than kid #1’s EFC before kid #2 attends college.</p>
<p>Your assets are usually hit at 5.6%$. So if you had $100K in the bank for college, your expected contributions is about $5600 from that asset. If you spend $80K of that on the kids college, you will have $20K left, and that amount would be hit up to the tune of $1120, so yes, your EFC would decrease, but it was never that big of a factor and with gaps in need, you probably have to use more of the savings than the formulas say you must.</p>
<p>Isn’t 5.6% is only true for FAFSA? I have a feeling the specific school Profile calculator gets you for a lot more than that. I really have hard time with only $5600 is required from $100k money in the bank.</p>