What kind of EFC can I expect with three kids in college and an income of approx. $75,000? No assets, aside from the home we live in. Oldest will be a freshman in college next year, other two are a year behind that. EFC for the oldest was much higher than any estimator or calculator that we used with the same data. So I am pretty scared.
Assuming the income and assets of all three kids are negligible, take the EFC you got for the oldest and divide by three. Or, you can plug hypothetical situations into the actual 2019-2020 FAFSA EFC formula:
https://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/1920EFCFormulaGuide.pdf
Actually, your EFC can be calculated…BUT your bigger question should be about the net costs for three kids to be in college at the same time. The EFC is calculated using the FAFSA financial data, but it’s the minimum you will be expected to pay when your kids go to college.
Does your oldest have an affordable college option or two in his application list?
We are pretty much looking at state schools for all three kids but my husband and I really don’t want to go into debt for them to go to college. We had kids while we were fairly young and super fast, have never made enough money to have a savings account of our own, let alone for their college fund. We need to start saving for our retirement but I am worried that college will make that impossible. Just in the past year or so have we even been making over $60,000. I don’t know how anyone in our income range can afford to even send their kids to an “affordable” college. They get good grades and decent scores but only one of them has good enough grades to maybe get some merit money. I have been researching scholarships but I don’t think any of my kids have taken enough of a passion in community service to get any of those. It’s all so overwhelming!
What is your state of residence?
having your kids live at home is one way to really help out with expenses. Room and board is at least $10K per year, usually more.
Something else - if you spend $4000 in qualified college expenses for each student (tuition & fees - NOT room and board) you can get back $2500 as a credit on your taxes the next year. That’s a helpful chunk, which can be saved for the next year. That’s called the American Opportunity Tax Credit.
Where I live, the community college cost per credit is half the cost for the nearest state university. All the credits transfer. Two years in community college followed by 2 years at the state university is a 25% savings over 4 years.
What state are you in?
What are their stats?
What are their majors and career goals?
How much can you contribute each year PER CHILD for college?
This ^
Many people overlook how just providing a roof over their heads and meals at home, essentially “contributes” about $10k per year…due to Room and Board savings.
Do you have publics near you where your child can commute?
We live in Indiana but the closest university is about 50-60 minutes away.
My ideal number to contribute would be as close to zero as possible! I think a lot of people on college confidential have no concept of what it’s like to basically live paycheck to paycheck. That $75,000 is what I am estimating what we might make this year. Last year, it was $67,000. Those incomes were only as high as they are because of overtime. How can we be expected to count on that? The places where we work could turn around and forbid overtime tomorrow (they have done that before).
The oldest did not qualify for a Pell Grant with the $67,000 income. What are the odds that the three kids all being in college at once with the income being $75,000 would get even the smallest Pell Grant for them?
What was the EFC for just one in college? Divide that by 3 and if that number is below $6000 they will all get some Pell grant, probably some SEOG (it really matters when they file as most schools award that to early filers). Make yourself well known to the financial aid office if they are all going to the same school.
At orientation for my daughter, I met a really nice kid who was trying to talk her into ROTC (not a chance!). I learned was that he was one of seven kids, and his parents told them they’d pay for one year of school but then the kids were on their own. It helped that Wyoming is very inexpensive for instate tuition and R&B, about 14k per year if one is full pay, but hardly anyone is full pay. There are state grants and scholarships for almost everyone instate. He and some siblings had ROTC scholarships, some siblings were RAs so got full room and board as upperclassmen. They all worked, borrowed books, lived ‘small.’ It takes some sacrifice on the part of the students too.
The EFC for our oldest is $5767 and she didn’t qualify for a Pell Grant.
We too have had people try to talk our kids into ROTC but I just don’t think my kids would be a good fit for the military.
A lot of people tried to tell me that filling out the FAFSA ASAP and applying early decision wasn’t necessary but we did it anyway.
$5767 was probably right on the edge for this year. Next year at about $2k per student, each should get about $4000 in Pell
Our income went from $67,000 last year to what I am thinking will end up being $75,000 this year. How will that bump in income affect their chances for a Pell Grant?
It’s likely that with one in college and no other changes the EFC would go up to $8-9k, which would then be divided by 3 or about $3k. Maximum Pell usually goes up $100 or so per year too.
We truly might not make that much again though. Will financial aid offices take that into consideration? That difference is overtime. We are not guaranteed that money.
You file FAFSA with the facts as they are, and they actually look at the income from the prior year, so it is 18 months before you go to college with ‘that’ money.
If you feel the income is off when you do go to college, you can ask the FA office for reconsideration. The often do that for one time bonuses, or one time losses, medical expenses. Keep good records.
My oldest has a merit scholarship to cover tuition. She goes to an instate public where her stats put her in the top 10% of students.
We help with room and and she takes loans. She works almost full-time in the summers and earns a few thousand.
She applied to some local scholarships for her major and got around $2,000 for the first year.
My second oldest has some scholarships from his school, plus got about $5,000 in local scholarships (education major).
He gets a state grant and takes loans, and works in summers.
Both go to the closest instate school that has their major.
Could you move closer to an instate university, could one of you work for an university that offers tuition discount for employees’ dependents?
Could the oldest take a gap year and work?
Send a DM to @joecoletta and ask him for the EFC calculator spreadsheet. Its a great tool.
Thank you Joe!
I suggest looking at public universities in Indiana, as well as public schools in neighboring states - some have scholarships for out of state students. You’ll want to be creative & be open to your child going to a school he/she might not have considered. For example, Oakland University in Michigan has full tuition scholarships (even covers OOS tuition) for those with 3.9 GPA/33 ACT minimum. Eastern Michigan University has a 2-year locked tuition rate + free tuition for the 3rd & 4th years for students who opt-in and live on campus. University of Toledo has a 4-year tuition rate guarantee + guaranteed OOS scholarships based on GPA/ACT. My midwestern niece studied English at Lousiana Tech because she got full tuition + study abroad. There are options, but you have to look for them - and you have to allow yourself to think outside the box about college.