FAFSA/EFC and how many kids you can claim in college in a divorce/remarriage/step kid situation

Paying for College
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You can set all your EFC worries aside - none of the school listed will care if your EFC is $15k or $30k as they won’t grant extra need based aid.

I can only speak to Wyoming and a little bit to CSU. Wyo doesn’t give WUE to everyone, but does have Rocky Mountain scholars and the award can be about the same (150% of instate tuition, which is very low). Engineering has extra awards. COA for OOS is about $25k, so with either WUE or Rocky Mtn Scholar the cost can come down about $16k. My daughter originally went as a theater major so there is, IMO, a pretty good program. New theater w/ $5M addition. Not much rain, not many trees, not much of a town but plenty to do. Almost everything at the school is free with a student ID, including football, basketball games. My D loves it. I wouldn’t call it liberal or conservative but because it is a small state many of the politicians make frequent stops to the campus. Plenty of outdoor adventures, skiing, hiking, hunting going on. Environmental engineering program is pretty good.

CSU and Fort Collins is much more of a town/city. Not more rain or trees. Wyo and CSU are rivals and share much in common. Engineering at CSU is more focused on ag and industrial. Kids who go to CSU really like it.

Many more trees at Western State, but Gunnison is like Laramie and not much of a wild time going on. And it is really hard to get to Gunnison.

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@twoinanddone none of the schools on the list will care about EFC as we removed any that would :slight_smile: zero LAC’s on the revised list so it is a non issue and those that had been on it, were reach schools anyway as well as not ideal program fits. If we come back from spring break and have entirely dropped engineering (which I don’t expect but you never know) then it may be back to the drawing board to an extent. It may not. It will be a much greater issue with his little brother so just having a greater understanding of the picture has been helpful, if momentarily upsetting. As I said, I’ve moved on.

For S17 Western State didn’t have an engineering fit and the ENVS options were heavily water focused and he didn’t love the location of it. He’s not looking for a wild time.

Cost for U of Wyo including Rocky Mountain looks like $24k all in (tuition,r&b, books, fees, other) and Colorado State which has a similar Dean’s scholarship below the WUE level that S17 would qualify for is $36k all in. And you are right, WUE is limited so even if he gets the ACT up where it would need to be, and/or the GPA, he might not get it. Not something I am counting on for sure. I’d vastly prefer to focus on schools I know I can pull off and any extra money…is gravy and savings. Wyo has a very cool sounding Sustainable Energy Engineering that is fairly unique but also has Environmental as well as ENVS so he will get to meet with all 3 programs. From a pure program offering standpoint, as well as cost, it seems to have the most depth. Humboldt, U of Wyo, OIT and Western are all within 2K of each other. Montana is higher, in the 33k range.

In both cases (Laramie and Fort Collins), snow is frozen rain so it’s acceptable lol. At least in concept. The fact that my MIL is in Denver is a huge plus for both. CSU is the largest sized school and on the very edge of his comfort level so it will be interesting. Biggest concern with Laramie, and to a lesser degree FC is will it be too cold and windy for him. CSU may simply be too large. From a pure location standpoint he is enthralled with the idea of Humboldt and it’s redwoods but school wise it is not my top pick (though the environmental program is strong) and I’d like Evergreen off entirely.

Great to know on the theater side, he’s been in tech for years and works sound a variety of places as a paying side job or volunteer and while it is not his intended major, it is who he hangs out with (music and theater kids), more often than not. Most of the kids cross over into his classes as well but he will need to find some of that wherever he ends up. Far more important than a wild time. We know no one that has gone to Wyo, looks like 5 kids from his HS have applied/been accepted over the past 3 years but none went so we are really walking in pretty cold on that one.

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http://www.environmentalscience.org/top-schools

found this link, might be useful to see what programs are offered where

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Thank you @mommdc we have that list as well as several others that were cross referenced.

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There is a website I like called diycollegerankings and here is the link :http://diycollegerankings.com/public-universities-with-lowest-out-of-state-tuition/978/

The person who runs it has some good list and you can access them if you just sign up. We used it to find affordable colleges for our children.

Don’t forget test optional colleges. Some may need a test score for merit awards and some may not. Any time you visit a college or interact with an admission rep be sure to ask about your situation and ask if there is any merit money available. We found out about some scholarships that were not on the college’s website, plus it seemed that colleges where my children had developed a dialogue with the admission rep were more generous to them.

I know your son isn’t interested in the midwest, but college in that area of the country seem more generous since the population is decreasing.

Also look at http://www.collegemajors101.com/ for ideas with some colleges. My DD really liked Oregon State and the price point would be in your range. You are smart to focus on WUE schools too, just remember that it is important your son applied early to those schools since it has been my experience that WUE schools are more generous in the early action admission rounds.

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CSU is really very small. I know it seems big, but it is not at all and the town is small too. Laramie is very cold and windy, but when I went to pick her up in December when it was about 20 degrees out, I saw more than just a few kids walking or riding bikes back to the dorms in shorts or no coats, probably coming from the gym or library. Doesn’t phase the kids at all and they ride bikes year round. The FB page often posts things like “Woke up to 10” of snow. Happy Monday" or even “Record cold today. Bundle UP!”

If he’s looking for cute and funky like Portland, he’s not going to find that in Laramie. It’s much more like Corvalis, but there are good things about small towns too. Movies are $6, ice skating about $4. Ft. Collins is more like ‘old western town cute.’

I think your COA estimates are high. Full OOS tuition is about $15k, r&b about $9k, but you can get a lot of aid. so if you can knock $5k off in scholarships you’ll be way under your goal. And that’s everything besides books. Everything else is practically free for students, including sports, on campus activities. Even the outdoor activities like mountain biking and kayaking are subsidized. My daughter played club hockey and I’ve never paid so little for her to participate in hockey since she was 8 years old! Small town living is cheap.

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@itsv that is an interesting site! Not one of S17’s schools were on it though, which makes sense as they are all either instate or WUE. OSU is a great school but is in the mid 40’s and not WUE. I believe it was at one time. It falls into the “too big/greek/football” category, as does U of O, Co-Bo, etc. Since they are out of my price range, that’s ok. He loves Portland but even a little bit outside of it other than Klamath Falls (which is so far it doesn’t count) got a big fat no. Reed is his dream school but it’s a reach in every possible way ($$ and academics) imaginable and not the best program fit for what he really wants to do (or thinks he does).

If we step away from the engineering side, specifically environmental and energy then there are a few others that can be considered like Boise State.

I don’t think for any school we’ve looked at, either in the price range, or without, were test optional. Agreed on the Midwest and there are some programs that would work there, or elsewhere in the country fit his program needs and I have floated many by him. No bites. Only Colorado State has early action on the list so far (but we will definitely apply early should it be one he wants to apply to. It is also the only one with direct admit into Engineering and his stats do qualify him for that. Of course it’s also the most expensive one on his list. Either way I hope to have him done with all before Thanksgiving at the latest.

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@twoinanddone I didn’t see your earlier post, sorry for not fully responding. My stepson did have some need met at his LAC for all 4 years but it was relatively small (maybe 1500?) the first 3 with a work study option (3K if memory serves) to supplement which he didn’t do, don’t get me started on that one lol. His final year that overlapped with his sister did have a significant uptick in the award amount but my husband has never provided financials to the ex or to the school. It is not a profile school and is mid tier tuition wise. As I’ve no clue on his mom’s financials I cannot say whether it was full need or not. Solo no, I would not qualify for Pell and am just over the AOTA. You are correct that in a FAFSA only school, all it would do is show a need/shortfall, versus not showing one. It would not be a guarantee of any kind of aid though theoretically and improved chance at scholarships that had a need requirement and qualifying for subsidized versus non subsided student loan for my son.

S17 loves the feel of the LAC’s. Loves it. There are schools he would love to attend although program wise they are turning out to not be the best fit. Certainly the lack of funding with my ex is well documented through the courts. The EFC differential only matters in the event of an LAC application at a school tha meets full need. At any rate, I’m over it and don’t need to vent anymore. There were 2 long shot LAC’s that might have been doable in a full need scenario if we could claim 2 kids and need was met/offered. Both are Profile schools. Based on those schools net calculators and their common data sets it seemed that it might be possible. We can’t and that’s that. Not the best fit anyway based on current major plans anyway it is just sad that there really is no point in even considering either, even as a reach. That’s just reaching too far on every level for the work entailed in the application process. It does give me concern for his brothers options but we will just need to get creative and better to know now. Venting won’t change it.

My COA is including transportation, books and general cost of living. The “other” may be overstated to be sure, although flying the shuttle to Denver to get back to Seattle is an extra $300 per ticket so that would add up. Driveable some of the time for sure but in winter, I wouldn’t be all that keen on it. This is what I have.

15,631.00 Tuition
10,037.00 R&B
1,200.00 Books
3,040.00 Other (cell phone, transportation, entertainment etc)
(6,000.00) Rocky Mountain

23,908.00

That price tag is livable and certainly lower is always better. I do not expect him to hit the WUE threshold on the ACT so this is likely what we are looking at.

Love that on the club hockey, DSD plays club at Cal Poly and it’s not cheap. Cheaper than club in HS was though! That is amazing about the outdoor activities being subsidized, I hope that comes up on the tour, S would be all over that. I actually think S would like Corvallis, his issue is more with the school than with the town. On the flip side I can’t remotely see him in Ellensburg (Central WA) or Pullman (WSU) so it really will be interesting to see how both towns feel to him.

What is your daughter majoring in now? Sounds like she started in theater but changed?

Much as he loves Portland, I think he’d be fine in a small town, and ultimately like it better if there was enough culture (music/theater/outdoors) and decent food. He is very concerned about food. Luckily the boy can cook just fine. He bemoans our lack of snow all the time.