We have two children, child 1 college freshman, child 2 high school senior. Net price calculators ask if other children in college, and because of that the net price number we get is low for our child 2, say $35k for discussion.
However, our freshman child 1 has substantial scholarships at his university, cost for him is $20k. Does the fact that our freshman has scholarships impact the need aid for the second child? i.e. Does the $35k net price calculator assume tacitly that the other child in college is also paying $35k, yielding family number of $70 k? If so, then if child 1 is only paying $20k, then child 2 will need to pay $50k and not the $35k estimated by net price calculator? The net price calculators do not ask for child 1 college cost, but the CSS profile does.
I am sure this has been asked before but I could not find it in searching CC.
Child 2 is wrapping up his final apps, most are for places where he has decent chance at merit based on his stats, with two need only schools (that have generous aid, no loans, etc) (we have an acceptable safety, already in with auto scholarship). We might add one other need only school depending on above answer.
As with so many things, it depends on the school. Some schools that are generous with institutional need-based aid will consider a sibling’s net college cost, and others will not. A school’s NPC will probably give you a clue based on the questions asked, but for more certainty contact the financial aid office, find someone who sounds like they know what they are talking about, and ask.
We had twins in at once. Every year, we had to verify enrollment and how much $$$ the other twin was getting at his/her school. Not sure how it impacted what we paid for each, but I’m assuming if they asked for the info they used it somehow in their calculations. Agree that asking the FA office at a specific school these questions makes sense. I’ll also add that we had success lowering both kids’ cost during that window between acceptance and May 1st when they needed to declare. It wasn’t a lot, but we were able to get a few thousand more for each of them. Everything helps.
The answer is…it depends on the colleges. Some schools do ask how much a sibling is actually paying out of pocket for college. Others just want a verification that there is another sibling actually enrolled.
The only way to know is you ask your kid’s colleges what they ask for.
As said, it depends upon the school. Most schools will just take the EFC as calculated without checking on the situation with the sibling but then most schools do not meet full financial need. Those that do, and use Profile, often will ask questions about the sibling. I know a number of students who got the call. It dies not have to be a school that meets full need, either, that calls for additional information. I know NYU has when they are offering financial aid packages and a sibling in college is in the picture.
The FAFSA will be about half for each child. If it is a FAFSA only school, the school may not ask what the second child is paying OOP.
I had two in at once. One had almost a full scholarship but her sister got full credit for having a sibling in school and her EFC was half of what it would have been if the sister wasn’t in school. Neither school asked what the sibling was paying. Both had some merit and some need based FA.
As noted…check with the colleges on their policies. There is no question that YMMV on the responses. While the two above posters did not have to provide financial info on siblings, or feel that most schools don’t consider the actual costs of the siblings, there are schools that do ask for this information.
You don’t want to be surprised with a net cost you can’t pay.
My D went to a school that meets full need and we didn’t have any issues (older D cost us under $20,000 a year) but it’s best to check on the school’s policy so that you don’t have any surprises.
The most important thing is to check school policies that are in place now. While other posters are noting what was the case with their kids (and others they know), these are past stories, not current events.
Policies DO change. A school that hasn’t asked for sibling financials in the past could very well be doing so now. A school that asked for them in the last might not currently do so.
And if the colleges don’t guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students, this could be a moot point anyway…because the school will determine how much need based aid to award your child…and it might not have anything to do with how many kids are in college or what they are paying.
That “most “ schools don’t care is no help to you when your school does. I agree asking schools what their policies are, is s good idea. I don’t know how or if NPCs take this into consideration. They may give a net price with two kids in college as a part of their calculator in general, but hone in on actual costs of that second child when it comes down to giving out the money.
My friend got the same consideration for a part time student sibling commuting to Pitt as a kid at full time boarding at Duke. No one called my neighbor tells me NYU called every year and asked specific questions about sibling in college.
But FAFSA does not ask the cost of a sibling’s school, only how many students will be in college. The EFC will be about 50% of what it was for one in school, as long as the students have equal assets and income.
Merit aid is less likely to consider the cost of the first child’s COA while need based aid is more likely to consider it. CC posters over the years report that the CSS formula might consider the COA of the siblings for need based aid, but do not just ‘transfer’ the EFC to the other student but split it perhaps 60%, so in the above example posed by OP of a $70k total family EFC, the CSS calculated ‘EFC’ will be $42k, not $35k and not $50k while the FAFSA EFC will be $35k for each student.
The FAFSA EFC is split in two for two students in college.
But the FAFSA EFC is not necessarily what you pay.
Your child 1 is paying $20k because he has merit that reduces the cost.
He doesn’t pay the $70k FAFSA EFC for one in college.
If child 2 goes to an instate or OOS public university, with a FAFSA EFC of $35k all the need based aid he gets might just be a subsidized loan, depending on COA, and any merit.
At a private school that uses CSS profile for awarding need based aid, child 2 might get a need based grant if costs are above $42k (CSS profile school might not split EFC for each child by 50% but rather 60%).
But if school does not meet full need based on CSS profile, then cost might be more.
So expect to pay $20k for child 1 and COA-merit and/or need based aid for child 2 (could be less than or more than $42k depending on school and whether they award need based aid based on FAFSA or CSS profile).
Also consider any decrease in aid once only one child is in college, because EFC will go up by a lot.
@twoinanddone some colleges do ask for the costs families are paying out of pocket for siblings to attend college. This is not part of the FAFSA at all…but some colleges do ask this as part of how they determine awarding of their institutional need based aid.
It doesn’t affect merit aid at all…as this is awarded based on stats and strength of application. Merit aid doesn’t care at all about family income, siblings in college and the like. In fact, some families seek merit aid because their family finances won’t support a need based award for any number of reasons.
In addition, @BelknapPoint has reported that Profile schools can use any %age they want to to calculate your family contribution.
I hope @sybbie719 will respond as I know she has addressed the issue of how some colleges do ask for the net cost of siblings in school (and some don’t).
As others have stated, it depends. When it comes to giving out their own institutional aid colleges can ask for any information they want to get a full financial picture of the family situation
The only thing your federal EFC does is determine your eligible for federal aid (Pell/teach grants, federal work study, subsidized/unsubsidized loans.
If your EFC is 30k, and your son receives a full tuition scholarship, where the COA is 50k and your net cost is $15k, yes, if child number 2 is attending a school using the CSS profile/school institutional financial aid forms they want to know what you are paying. You cannot simply say child number one attend ABC College where the cost of attendance is 50K, when you are not paying 50K. You are not paying your EFC… Since most FAFSA only schools (especially OOS public schools where your family are not residents) it is not going to matter. If merit money/athletic Monet is not on the table I would be hard pressed to think that need based aid is coming
CSS profiles schools do ask about your other children and how much you are paying for high school /college.
As an update, the 100% meets need schools we were accepted to all gave aid in line with the net price calculators with us selecting 2 children in college, and did not penalize us for the scholarships our older son received. Best wishes and thanks again for the input!
Thanks so much for your update. Next year we will be in a similar place S19 is getting merit aid. So I will be trying to gauge what the need based aid will be for D21.