Is the second child considered an independent student? Is parent income still required on his FAFSA?
It sounds like the second child will be in grad school (?). That may explain it.
The second child is not in grad school; He is not considered independent. Parental income is still required on his FAFSA.
Your net cost WOULD be higher at GWU which is in the top five most expensive universities in the country. Plus, I don’t believe GWU guarantees to meet full need for all, while Columbia and Wash. U both do.
Did the 2nd child get a bachelor degree?
Does second child have his BS/BA?
But child #2 has an undergrad degree? That does make a difference. That is one of the questions, are you seeking a first bachelors?
Either that or the information is not the same on the two forms. It can’t be and have that big of a difference if everything else is filled in the same.
The colleges on the FAFSA don’t matter at all. You don’t even have to list a school and an EFC will be calculated.
From another thread by the OP:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1861066-4-2-program.html#latest
Your child has an undergrad degree so he is considered independent. You might be required to provide info (many post-bacc programs do require this) but that doesn’t affect his FAFSA EFC.
The EFCs are different because one is dependent and one is independent. Simple as that.
I wish people would provide important info (such as a child will be graduating this spring) in their OPs.
One child has an EFC of $23k
Second child has an EFC of $15k (and will be graduating with a BS this spring)
@kelsmom When a graduating student (under age 24) is seeking a second bachelors, is parent info used for EFC calculation? If so, is it used in the same way calculation-wise?
If there is a FAFSA question about seeking first bachelors, maybe that wasn’t answered correctly?
@redridgie What were these students’ SAR EFCs last year?
Well @redridgie there you have it - the child with his first undergrad degree is independent for FAFSA and the younger one is considered to be the only child in the household who is in college.
^^^
That maybe so, but then the child who will be graduating would have a very low EFC…maybe 0
Right. Maybe the FAFSAs were both filled out wrong as far as number in college, and degree earned.
This still makes no sense. If the student filed as an independent and entered parent info, then the two fafsa’s should be similar unless one of the students earned or received a lot of money. If the independent student did not enter parent info and still got an efc of $15,000, it means he has a lot of money. Is there any money in a 529 that used to be in the parents name and is now in the student’s name?
I would check the two fafsas and make sure the numbers were all filled in correctly.
If the kid in the 4-2 program isn’t in a program that meets full need for second bachelors degree students…all bets are off on aid amounts. In other words…this student might not receive as much aid as the other student.
And as noted, likely independent for financial aid purposes. And also likely that most students in his program in those last two years are independent as well.
The FAFSA sometimes asks ‘if you want to fill in additional information’ such as if you qualify for simplified assets, you can fill in extra information but it is not used to calculate the federal EFC. Some states require additional information but agwin, no used for the EFC. That might have happened here with the grad/independent student. The parents filled out the fafsa, but the I formation was not used for the EFC.