FAFSA will still consider multiple kids in college for next year — the FAFSA changes about that go into effect for academic year 24-25.
Since you will have three kids in college next year, I don’t see the harm in filling it out for student 1 and seeing if any institutional aid kicks in for them for next year. Or you could run the NPC for student 1 with three kids in college to see what it says.
You do not need to file FAFSA for your other children. #3’s schools will have no way of knowing whether or not you filed a FAFSA (or CSS Profile) for the other two, so there’s no point.
Thanks. That was one of my questions. FA in one of the schools from child 3 list confirmed that they do not see did we request FAFSA for 2 other kids.
Can someone please confirm when this change in effect 23-24 academic year or 24-25 academic year?
According to Google initially intention was for 23-24 but implementation is delayed to 24-25. So it looks that we need FAFSA for child 1. I wish we could file it for child 2 too, but they just do not work with any federal programs…
Also, css profile schools may or may not continue to take siblings in college into account. So if your youngest ends up at a css profile school, it may make sense to keep filing the css profile as long as there is an older sibling in college.
crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46909
If anybody is curious it is officially delayed. Just add https in front.
The change is part of the FAFSA Simplification Project. Federal Student Aid is behind in getting the necessary system changes in place on the expected timeline. Last I heard, the change to eliminate consideration of more than one in school will happen in 2024-25. Whether or not schools will collect that information for consideration in their own institutional aid policies is up to each school. Not all schools have made a decision at this time.
The FAFSA belongs to the student (even though the parents do all the heavy lifting when filling it out). It doesn’t matter if siblings fill them out or not. However, it is pretty simple for #1 to fill one out if #3 has to do it anyway. In fact, there is a box that asks if there is a sibling, and then it transfers all the parent into over to the siblings application.
Be sure that child #2’s school meets the definition for ‘in college’ when claiming you have 3 in school. If I remember the question for multiples in school, some schools don’t count, like service academies. Obviously good schools, but they don’t count as having another child in school.
If the oldest one continues in school and is still a dependent, that might still help #3 in future years, especially on the CSS. Always check.
You can file a FAFSA for child three without doing so for 1 and 2….but parent information will be required.
And if you are expecting institutional need based aid, most colleges WILL require the FAFSA as part of the need based aid application process. Institutional aid is need based aid. These schools want to be sure that IF you are eligible for federally funded Pell Grants, that you get them.
I understand you don’t want federal loans. Are you looking for school based institutional grants? If so…you will need to have a complete financial application file…which would include the FAFSA, sometimes the Profile, sometimes completion of IDOC. If your application is missing ANY component required, the financial aid department at the school might not review your need based aid request at all.
Having said that, there are some schools that specifically state that if the student is only looking for institutional need based aid, all they need to complete is the Profile. But if a school uses only the FAFSA, that will be the expectation.
If you are applying for MERIT aid only…just check each college. Some do require the financial aid forms be filed even for just merit aid. We had to complete the FFSA and Profile for both of our kids freshman year.
Also, for merit aid…colleges don’t give two hoots about how many other kids you have in college.
This sums it up well. The reason most schools require the student to complete a FAFSA is to make sure that they don’t qualify for a Pell grant. This is a smart policy, because if the student qualifies, the school may save some of its own money. The truth is, a student may qualify for a Pell grant even if the family has a good income - I’ve seen it - because business losses can reduce the AGI considerably. So if a student is filing for aid consideration, it just makes sense to require FAFSA (which is relatively easy to complete) in addition to the Profile.
I haven’t read the entire thread yet, so perhaps I’m not first to say this. I think there is confusion of terms.
Institutional aid IS need-based aid. Merit aid also comes from the institution, but is not referred to as institutional aid. It’s just called merit aid. If you want “institutional aid” you want need-based aid from the institution instead of the federal government. That is why they need Fafsa, and in some cases CSS. Part of the determination will be the number of children in college simultaneously.
A few colleges want Fafsa in order to be considered for merit aid. Number of children in college has no bearing on merit aid.
Survived one FAFSA. Does anybody know is EFC number in the email after submitting is the number for that particular child (in case if you have multiple kids in college).
The EFC you get is for THAT child only.
You complete a form for each kid and each one will get their own EFC per FAFSA.
Please remember that the FAFSA EFC really won’t show you what need based aid you will be receiving. It should be viewed as the minimum you will be paying for college this coming year. Schools that meet full need will use data from the CSS Profile or their own forms to determine the awarding of their institutional need based aid.
Yep. No high hopes. And paid CSS’s website is total garbage… Free FAFSA works like clock. CSS crushes non-stop. I probably will have to wait till 2 a.m. to fill it…
Reports are the Profile is acting sluggish this week. Hang in there. It will get done.
Sluggish is understatement… It freezes every 1 minute forever! With so much money they are making from SAT, AP, and forms…
Do you have all the data you need for the css profile ready at hand? It is often much more detailed than the FAFSA.
Did CSS in the middle of the night yesterday… Website did not work properly during the evening at all. Some questions were ridiculous… Do you have HSA? Then do you have FSA. FSA= HSA. They forgot only do I have commuter benefits 
. Why do you have medical expenses not covered by insurance? Because insurances do not cover 100% of any cost… I think people who created some questions lost their mind trying to look for every penny. How much is expected your HS student will earn next summer? Who knows? Based on previous summer. Well previous summer student was not working. Will student even be able to get a work? And I guess expected tuition of the other kid who will graduate from CC will be the same as in CC… So much fun.
No, FSA =/= HSA. They are two distinctly different things.
You are being asked what the expectation is. In other words, your best guess. Don’t make it harder than it needs to be.