<p>My race is white, middle class, only my dad works and he makes about $80000 a year. Next year, when I enroll in college my older brother will be in his sophomore year of college at a private school. </p>
<p>I'm not talking about merit based, just need-based</p>
<p>There’s more to aid then just income and number of siblings in college.</p>
<p>Much will depend on your stats and where you get accepted to.</p>
<p>Most schools do not meet need, therefore to get accepted to a school that would best help you with FA, then you’d need top stats.</p>
<p>However, if you have just “good” stats, and you will likely get accepted to a private that doesn’t have much aid to give, then you will get very little - no matter how much or little your family income is and no matter that you have a sibling in college.</p>
<p>You need to understand that most colleges are not able to charge a “sliding scale” based on income and number of siblings. Only the top schools can afford to do that. Most schools need families and students to pay most of the costs.</p>
<p>Where will you be applying?</p>
<p>What school does your brother go to and what kind of aid does he get? Did he have high stats?</p>
<p>How much will your parents contribute each year for your education? That answer and your stats will best determine where you can afford to go to school?</p>
<p>[Project</a> on Student Debt: What’s the Bottom Line?](<a href=“http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/ncoa_chart.php?sort=b.range_4]Project”>http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/ncoa_chart.php?sort=b.range_4)</p>
<p>Smack…</p>
<p>You have a few threads going but the info needs to be all in one thread otherwise the advice people will give you won’t make sense.</p>
<p>For instance, on one thread you express interest in big sports schools, and many OOS publics were mentioned. However, with the info from this thread it’s very likely that no OOS public would be affordable unless you can get big merit. Most OOS publics aren’t going to give you the FA needed to cover costs. </p>
<p>Using the info you’ve given and assuming minimal assets, 4 in family, 2 in college, $80k per year in AGI. </p>
<p>Your FAFSA EFC would likely be about $8000. However, for the suggested OOS publics that cost $30k - 50k per year, you’d likely get a $5500 Stafford loan, maybe $2000 in work-study, and a big gap. </p>
<p>What are your stats? Merit aid is probably the only way you can go to an OOS public with big sports. FA at top privates that meet need might also work for you if you have stellar stats.</p>
<p>If you have a brother in college right now then your family pretty much knows what their FAFSA EFC is. It will be divided between both of you next year + whatever individual income you and your brother have which will impact the individual numbers but that does not mean that all schools will meet your need. The vast majority of publics utilize the FAFSA only as means of distributing funds, so your family will know what federal funds you will most likely qualify for. In your case if your family is trying to minimize their financial exposure you should look for schools where you will qualify for merit money. Tell your parents that two for one is rare rare rare unless you have absolutely top notch stats and can parlay that.</p>