<p>Our income may be too high for any aid via FAFSA, but in case it's not, I am wondering what happens in the case of twins?</p>
<p>When calculating the EFC, is this per child, or total split between the two students? Not sure how that works. </p>
<p>If the EFC is say $20,000, does this mean $20,000 for each child or $10,000 for each child?</p>
<p>The parent contribution portion of EFC will be split evenly between the two. The student income and asset contribution will be whatever each has and individually added to the parent contribution. So the EFC you see on each fafsa will be that student’s EFC. It’s no different than having 2 in school at the same time even if they are in different years.</p>
<p>The total EFC is split. If the EFC for a single student A were $20K it would be ~$12K each with two students in college. Some people have stated it’s actually a 60/40 split (not 50/50).</p>
<p>I think the posts Erin’s Dad is referring to have had to do with what profile schools tend to do with their expected family contribution.</p>
<p>Okay, so there is a student portion and parent portion?</p>
<p>I did a rough mock one, and it came out $20,000 - not sure if that asked for how many kids were in college at the same time or not. Just spit out the $20,000. I usually am looking at Net Price Calculators for one kid at a time, I put the $20,000 in the EFC box, and say 2 kids in college. Is that the right way to do it?</p>
<p>You will complete the FAFSA for each twin separately and each form will indicate the EFC for THAT twin. My son’s FAFSA EFC is a thousand dollars more than his twin sisters, due to having savings in the bank from his part time job.</p>
<p>No, put each kid’s EFC in the NPC and if they are looking at the same schools run the NPC for each kid. They want to know how many kids are in college for possible institutional funds.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the fafsa formula guide if you’re interested in the detail:</p>
<p><a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091312EFCFormulaGuide1314.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091312EFCFormulaGuide1314.pdf</a></p>
<p>Some clarification may be needed.</p>
<p>IF you are filling out Twin #1’s FAFSA, and you indicate that there will be TWO in college, and the RESULTING EFC is $20k…then that is $20k for THAT child. Which means that your “total family EFC” would be about $40k.</p>
<p>Each child has his own EFC after you submit. You don’t get an EFC and then split it.</p>
<p>I should add…</p>
<p>If your twins are applying to schools that don’t meet need, then your EFC won’t really matter much. Once you’re beyond qualifying for Pell Grants, you’ll likely have to pay more than your EFC.</p>
<p>Are your twins only applying to FAFSA only schools? FAFSA only determines elgibility for federal funds and loans. Some schools also use it to award their own institutional funds but generally these schools don’t have much to award. Schools with bigger endowments and more funds to award generally have their own additional financial aid form or use the CSS profile for awarding institutional money.</p>
<p>That is helpful. Our combined income is likely above the line for federal aid (est $150-160K total from both parents), so my guess is the EFC calculation asked for by certain NPCs is what you are describing as for their own endowments, etc.</p>
<p>From what I am finding, it appears the money we will be able to receive from the most likely schools they will attend, is simply OOS merit reductions for certain GPA/test scores. Even then, it’s not much. Private schools with big endowments are likely out of their academic ranges.</p>
<p>We are talking about kids in the low 3s for GPA and 23-26 for ACT. Doubtful that private schools with higher price tags would gift a whole lot to make it comparable with the lower-priced schools we are considering.</p>
<p>Mom2 is correct…I just did the FAFSA and will have 2 in school next year. The EFC generated belongs to student #1…and the other EFC generated belongs to student #2. You add them together to get a total minimum amount you might pay for you (and your spouse if married).</p>
<p>You obviously do not want to play with and tweak the actual FAFSA to see what happens with one child vs two, but you can do that with the online EFC estimator tools.</p>
<p>I used AIDCalc and the estimate was almost spot on to the FAFSA EFC. I then wanted to find out what it would look like if D2 were entering school as well and found that yep, it takes that original number and halves it, splitting between the two. </p>
<p>If there is a substantial difference in the students assets (large inheritance for one who was named after a favorite aunt?) then I assume that show up as a difference in the EFC for the two.</p>
<p>*That is helpful. Our combined income is likely above the line for federal aid (est $150-160K total from both parents), so my guess is the EFC calculation asked for by certain NPCs is what you are describing as for their own endowments, etc.
*</p>
<p>With that income, with one in child in college, your EFC would be about $50k. With 2 in college, it would be about $25k each. </p>
<p>Yes, that income is way too high for federal grants, even with two in school. EFC has to be around $5k to get a federal grant. </p>
<p>*
From what I am finding, it appears the money we will be able to receive from the most likely schools they will attend, is simply OOS merit reductions for certain GPA/test scores. Even then, it’s not much. Private schools with big endowments are likely out of their academic ranges.</p>
<p>We are talking about kids in the low 3s for GPA and 23-26 for ACT. Doubtful that private schools with higher price tags would gift a whole lot to make it comparable with the lower-priced schools we are considering.*</p>
<p>You’re right. The privates that would give you need based aid would likely require high stats for admission. The privates that would accept your students likely do not give much institutional aid. </p>
<p>If your state schools cost around $25k, and you can pay that for each child, then that may be your affordable choice. if that’s too much money, then you could have each child take out a $5500 student loan, contribute some summer earnings, and reduce what you have to pay. </p>
<p>If the cost is still too high, then your twins could either commute to a local state school or start at a CC and then transfer for junior and senior years.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>I did a rough mock one, and it came out $20,000 - not sure if that asked for how many kids were in college at the same time or not. Just spit out the $20,000. I usually am looking at Net Price Calculators for one kid at a time, I put the $20,000 in the EFC box, and say 2 kids in college. Is that the right way to do it?
*</p>
<p>With that high of an income, if you got $20k, then that was with TWO in college. Once you’re above $100k in income, EFC quickly becomes about 33% of income. If your income is $150-160k, then your EFC will likely be around $50k for ONE in college, and about $25k for two.</p>
<p>That said, most schools do NOT meet need. Schools don’t have to do ANYTHING with EFC except to see if you qualify for any federal aid. There are no laws that state that if your EFC is XXX and the school costs YYYY, then the school needs to give you the difference. That’s why most schools “gap” and expect you to pay more than your EFC.</p>
<p>Your twins are only sophomores. You have time to:</p>
<p>get them to work on their GPAs, improve test scores, and find schools that will meet your financial situation. </p>
<p>Let your kids know NOW, how much you can spend on each one for college. That lets them know what THEY have to do in order to attend a pricier school.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all this help. Given their abilities and how much we can afford, it’s a very tough uphill battle for us. We are hoping not to do the CC route, because my wife and I both went away to school, and feel it’s a priceless experience. </p>
<p>Regarding loans, you mention the $5500 - but once that is exhausted, and there is still a gap, what other loans are available? At that point, are you restricted to personal loans?</p>
<p>We do, thankfully, have one other source of aid. My parents are going to help us out. They won’t just give us tens of thousands of dollars so we can pay for a more expensive school though - in fact they won’t tell us how much they are willing to contribute. So what I have been doing is looking at other creative ways to get the cost down FIRST, and then hopefully the gaps will be smaller. </p>
<p>Things like using the Midwest Exchange, schools that reduce tuition OOS at lower levels, stuff like that. It’s freaking tough.</p>
<p>For example, my one son wants to go into Conservation Law Enforcement - and Mississippi State has a degree in that through their forestry school, and they offer the possibility of paying in-state tuition at 3.0/26. Northern Michigan reduces their OOS tuition by $4,000/year at 3.0/19, and their OOS tuition is already very reasonable. These are the “loopholes” we have to use. It really eliminates a lot of options, but not all of them.</p>
<p>As a twin it is necessary to fill out two fasfa forms?</p>
<p>Yes. Each student has his own form and FAFSA with his name on it. If only one FAFSA is submitted, it will have that student’s name on it and his school will determine his FA pkg. </p>
<p>the other twin wouldn’t have an EFC since no FAFSA would have been submitted in his name.</p>
<p>Similarly, each twin submits his OWN applicantions to colleges, each twin submits his own FAFSA.</p>
<p>Once the family’s info is put into the FAFSA form, at the end of the process, the family is asked if there is another child. If so, then anther FAFSA is opened and the parents’ info from the first FAFSA is transferred over to save time.</p>
<p>The FAFSA EFC, for the most part, are for federal and in some cases state eligibility for their funds. You make way too much for PELL, so unless your state has some funds tied in with FAFSA, for which your kids may be eligible for, it’s just loans they are able to get from the government. For freshman year, the Stafford Direct loan amount is up to $5500 with up to $3500 possibly subsidized (no interest until graduation and a lower interest rate thereafter). Also as parents, the FAFSA allows you to apply for PLUS through Direct Loans which is a quick and painless process that you can do on line at home. The interest rates are not particularly favorable for them, but you can put off payment until your students have graduated (Warning: the interest will accumulate) and there are flexible repayment plans. If you get turned down, your student can get an additional $4k that year in PLUS. </p>
<p>There are a number of schools that do use FAFSA only for financial aid. Most do not guarantee, nor do they usually meet the need. They ususally gap because they do not have enough money to give every one what comes up as need. However, they do meet the needs fo the kids that they most want. A young lady on this board recently sported a very nice aid package from a FAFSA school that appeared to have generously met her full need. Some kids do get their best deals from schools that do not tend to meet full need, but did for them. So if your kid is in the top of the student pool, very top, of certain schools, it is possible to get a great package from them through merit or need. There is no hard and fast rule that can eliminate all schools.</p>
<p>The schools that tend to meet most need also tend to ask for PROFILE or other such additonal form. Those schools define their own need and it can differ widely from school to school… One may cap home equity, another may not. Some have higher required student contributions than others. Some may put more self help in their packages than others, meaning loans and work study, which means that you can’t use the Staffords towards the EFC and work hours available for extra money are used up as part of the aid package. So it can vary greatly from to school to school.Most PROFILE schools multiply the parental contribution by .6 rather than by .5 per kid when there are 2 kids in college.</p>
<p>A piece of advice: open up a joint account with each kid with YOUR SSN and name primary and have your kids reimburse you for expenses by putting their money in that account. The reason being that every dollar your kid reports as an asset gets directly hit 20 cents towards his EFC whereas at worst, you are hit 5.6 cents. Big difference with a few thousand in savings per kid.</p>
<p>Regarding loans, you mention the $5500 - but once that is exhausted, and there is still a gap, what other loans are available? At that point, are you restricted to personal loans?</p>
<p>After that, YOU can take out Plus Loans (for parents) or you can co-sign loans that they’re responsible for.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t burden kids with extra loans. Paying back the Stafford loans will be tough enough. Newish grads just don’t earn enough to pay back big loans AND pay for their living expenses. </p>
<p>Yes, going away to school is a nice experience, but it is a luxury experience. I would treat it as such with my kids so that they will feel that they have to really work to get that experience. If they think it’s a “given” then where’s their motivation to get better grades or practice for the SAT and ACT (have them take both)???</p>
<p>I say the above after going thru a similar experience with my friend and her D. Friend had recently gotten an inheritance and her D assumed that the money could be used for her college costs. The D was lazy about studying for the SAT/ACT, etc; she kept saying, “we can use Nanna’s money.”. Once my friend made it clear to her that she would only spend X amount per year and that if the D wanted to go to X or Y schools, then she needed XXXX SAT or YY ACT to get some merit to afford to go there. Her D ended up getting the ACT needed to get the merit at her desired school.</p>
<p>In the meantime, I would try to nail down how much your parents are going to help out. With two in college and going for 4 years, if they give $5k each per child, then that’s $40k. If that’s something they can do, then you need to know that so you can plan accordingly. If they can’t do that amount OR if they can do MORE, then that also needs to be known.</p>