<p>I had estimated two kids in college at 9,500 each for EFC. Then I thought only one child would be going and completed an EFC calculator for a college and it said EFC would be $27,000. I thought it would double but that is more than double be at least $7,000?</p>
<p>It looks like other child might get act together and go to college now. What should I anticipate my EFC to be then? $9,500 or half of $27,000 ($13,500)?</p>
<p>Does the child have income and assets? If so, this can really affect the EFC if above a certain amount. </p>
<p>If not, check your figures.</p>
<p>As suggested, you should check your numbers as perhaps a mistake was made. </p>
<p>The calculator should have included a question regarding the number of family members in college. Run it once with 1 child in college and then run it again with 2 in college and see what the difference is.</p>
<p>Either you made a huge mistake on one of your calculations or one child has lots of income/assets.</p>
<p>If your EFC is $27k for one in college, then your income may be around 120k. If your EFC should be $14k, then your income may be around $75k.</p>
<p>Ok, I think I figured it out. I was looking at Estimated Remaining Cost of $27,000 thinking it was too high but that was because this college doesn’t meet full need.</p>
<p>^^
If that’s the case, that can be an issue no matter how many kids are in college. Try the same Net Price Calculator with 2 in college and see what the remaining cost is. </p>
<p>When dealing with schools that don’t meet need, some families find that aid doesn’t change at all when adding add’l kids in college (when EFC is beyond Pell amounts…which yours is).</p>
<p>Having two in college makes it even more complicated in trying to figure out what colleges are going to give unless both schools guarantee to meet full need. Even then, you are dealing with each school’s definiton of need and how they take into account the other student’s costs.</p>
<p>I have a friend who had two in college. The older one went to a local state school and the one a year younger was accepted to Duke. She went to Duke on a very generous financial aid package that first year. The older one dropped out of college, so for sophomore year, the Dukie was the only one in college. Basically, she got no aid. This was despite the fact that the local state school to which her sister was commuting cost very little. Apparently, Duke used at that time, a set formula that assumed the cost of two in college to be about equal and gave a windfall of aid based on those assumptions even though in actuality the cost of the other student was much lower. I don’t know if colleges are now using actual COA numbers on the student other than the one in their schools costs or what. </p>
<p>If a school doesn’t guarantee to meet full need, they may throw little or nothing into the aid package with additonal kids in college, despite what it does to the EFC.</p>
<p>I have a friend who had two in college. The older one went to a local state school and the one a year younger was accepted to Duke. She went to Duke on a very generous financial aid package that first year. The older one dropped out of college, so for sophomore year, the Dukie was the only one in college. Basically, she got no aid. This was despite the fact that the local state school to which her sister was commuting cost very little</p>
<p>I think this happens a lot. If the older one is commuting to the local state school, and the second one is going to pricey private, then when Child #1 stops going, then the 60/60 split goes away…even if the family was never paying a “60 share” for Child #1.</p>
<p>Also, there was a dad who posted last year in frustration. His EFC was about $25k, so he let his older D attend the state flagship that had a cost of about $25k…which he could barely afford. Then, when D2 applied, he learned that he wouldn’t get aid for either child. He then regretted allowing D1 to go to a school without aid/merit because now he couldn’t afford for D2 to attend anything but a local CC or a much lower ranked school with big merit.</p>
<p>Well hopefully after 3PM today child one will have acceptance from Northeastern University and as a NMF he will then get full-tuition. So we are definetely looking at $13,000 for room and board for him maybe minus $2,000 for a stafford loan so $11,000.</p>
<p>The other child is looking at in-state and when I plug in our information it comes up with $11,000 remaining costs. So it looks like the same expense for each kid. That works out fair doesn’t it?</p>
<p>Fingers crossed for you, Bethorama, that it all works out well!</p>