<p>Does anyone here have any experience with the changes in FA when a second child is applying? The weird thing is that even though our income didn't change that much from last year, of EFC went up a few hundred dollars. I'm not worried about that per se, but I am curious about what to expect. I imagine that my son's award will stay the same, but who knows about daughter? The amount that we put for what we could pay was the same as last year. </p>
<p>Anyone with this experience?</p>
<p>neato,</p>
<p>Though not from experience, I imagine that the second school (even if it’s the same school) would look at whatever the parents are paying for the first child as part of their overall financial picture. The school would consider that tuition expense as part of the parents’ expenses/debt (just like any other) when compared to income and award FA accordingly.</p>
<p>The calculation formula could’ve been modified from last year’s</p>
<p>Neato, we saw FA alter with 2nd child and are now waiting to see what picture will look like with a 3rd BS child, plus 4th child at parochial (day) school. Ee gads.</p>
<p>It did when I was in BS. At one point my siblings and I were all in different schools.</p>
<p>But then again - that was back when the Flintstones were still living so it could have changed since then.</p>
<p>Actually - honestly we have one in college in one in BS and the FAFSA seems to take that all into account. I suspect you’ll see a change. Fingers crossed.</p>
<p>Do you think having one child already receiving aid affects attractiveness of second child to schools (since more aid is needed for #2 then)?</p>
<p>^I think it’s unlikely if the kid is qualified on his/her own merits. The school ‘routinely’ gives out substantial to full aid anyway. Wouldn’t they rather give it to someone who has a better chance of accepting their offer? Just a thought.</p>
<p>Yep. I’m with DAndrew.</p>
<p>As parents, all we see from SSS is the EFC sheet. What do the schools see?</p>
<p>Schools see the entire PFS, a version of the report you can see when you’re online, and the software where they can make adjustments as needed (correcting estimated information once you submit your tax documents, applying professional judgment decsions that might be unique to an individual school that isn’t standardized by SSS, etc.).
As far as having 2 children in BS/tuition schools, if you used to have one and now you have two, the EFC should have been cut in half (3 kids, thirds, 4 kids, quartered, etc.). Whether or not a school can afford to bump your current students’ award in addition to offering that larger award to your younger child is entirely dependent upon each school’s budget and policies. Some schools have policies that favor siblings or provide a lesser percentage for each subsequent child, some schools treat each applicant entirely on their own merits and how they will fit into their schools programmatic needs in that given admission year. Talk to the financial aid office and ask them how they treat it. ALSO - if your EFC didn’t change by much (and nor did your income) but you went from one to two in tuition-charging schools, it sounds like something is wrong with the data entered potentially (confirm that it now says “2” in school).</p>