Early Action Financial Aid Question

<p>My son was admitted early action with the Distinguished Scholars Award ($25K) and an invitation to Honors program. His brother is a Tulane alum, as well as a current 3Y Tulane Law School student, so we know the school well. </p>

<p>S2 has not accepted yet, mostly because while we have done the Net Price Calculator, and Tulane is doable for us next year while our daughter will be in her final year at Vandy, the NPC indicates a good deal of loans along with his scholarship and a grant, and I only imagine the loan component would increase in S2's sophomore year, when he will be the only family member attending college. We are just over the $75K AGI cutoff for no-loan after EFC, and I need to have an idea of numbers for his 3 years after freshman year before he makes a decision.</p>

<p>If S2 had his way, he would enroll at Tulane now; I would like him to apply to a couple other schools (one a reach, one a fit), whose NPC's indicate more substantial grant and scholarship amounts - including no-loan after EFC programs - than Tulane does at present. For example, my daughter got into Vandy (which was her reach school), and they have been extremely generous, to the tune of about $50k in grants each year. They are a no-loan after EFC school. </p>

<p>Has anyone had experience with Financial Aid in trying to gauge the difference in future years, when a 2nd child in college drops out of the picture? This is crucial to our decision; as much as my son loves Tulane and wants to be in the same city as his brother, the prospect of taking on tens of thousands more in debt - especially when he is interested in medical school after his bachelors - is daunting, and a major consideration for our family finances.</p>

<p>To be honest, I did not even think that Tulane considers kids in graduate school as being part of the finaid equation. I am in the same boat. My oldest son just started law school at Penn and did not get any fin aid from Penn. My daughter is a freshman at Tulane this year. I told them Tulane that my son would also start law school in Fall 2013, but they did not count that at all. I will see what happens when we apply for 2014 FinAid, but I am not getting my hopes up. We should see a little more since we will have to undergrad students, but I don’t think they will now count the law student. We will see.</p>

<p>You are correct, a sibling in law school is not considered in the financial aid equation. My daughter however will be in her senior year at Vandy next year when my youngest son is a freshman. It is trying to see what will happen after that that makes me concerned.</p>