Financial Aid Effect of Sibling in College

Paying for College
1

We have a daughter who is currently a junior at Grinnell College and another daughter who is currently a high school senior.

Using the Collegeboard EFC caluclator and entering some very rough income numbers, I get the following results

Noting sibling in college fulltime
Total Estimated FM Contribution = $23K
Total Estimated IM Contribution = $38K

If I note that the sibling will not be in college (which will be the case for 3 of the 4 years that D2 will be in college)
Total Estimated FM Contribution = $45K
Total Estimated IM Contribution = $63K

Does that mean we my daughter is applying to a school with a COA of say $45K, we have a decent shot at getting some financial aid in year 1? If D1 goes to grad school, that wouldn’t count as being “in college”?

The FM and IM calculations vary greatly. Which is more accurate?

I guess I should probably plug these numbers into the NPCs for various schools as well?

Some of those are rather worthless though. For example, UMass Amherst’s NPC asks for very little info, the income question tops out at $100K and results say no aid even if I say 2 other children in college.

Even stranger is UConn, which also tops out at $100K income, but when I put 1 child in college next year, it offers $18K and when I put 2 children in college next year and change nothing else, it offers $10,300. That makes no sense. For what it’s worth, 5 family members with 3 in college gets $15K.

How does this affect the older sibling as well? Grinnell meets full financial need. She’s already getting a decent merit scholarship there though.

I guess that’s why I’m posting here for some further understanding of how a sibling in college affects things.

2

Schools that don’t guarantee to meet need aren’t probably going to. If you are out of state for these publics, be alerted that many public universities do not make up the difference between OOS costs and instate. The exceptions would be schools that guarantee to meet full need for all.

UConn doesn’t guarantee to meet full need so having two in college might not change anything. Ditto Umass.

3

@thumper1 I edited my original post a bit after your reply. Older daughter goes to Grinnell, which does meet full need. I ran their NPC and it offers a $17K grant when I note a sibling in college and $0 without a sibling in college. Considering her merit aid is already greater than the $17K, she most likely would get nothing extra due to her younger sister being in college, right?

It sounds like, especially with it only being a 1 year overlap, I really should put no stock in this when trying to ascertain whether a school is within our budget or not and if we get some aid in year one, that’s just a nice surprise.

4

I would use the school’s NPC for your schools of interest. Keep in mind that the NPC may not be accurate in certain situations ( self employed, divorce, etc). You can also call the schools and ask to speak to a FA counselor.You are right in that some schools ( such as UConn) have very limited NPCs.

My D applied to schools that met full financial need, as well as schools that did not. Schools that met full need gave us FA grants based on 2 in college ( these were profile schools). Some of these “meets full need” schools counted grad school, while most did not. Schools that my D applied to that did NOT meet full need …did not give us any FA based on 2 in college… even if our EFC was below the total COA with 2 in school. So… for example…if a school was $45,000-50,000 a year and our EFC with 2 in school was $35,000…or $27,000… or whatever…these schools offered us zero in FA… but …these schools did offer merit.

My advice is to plug the numbers into the schools NPC and call the FA office if you have further questions or want to run some numbers in greater detail. Another word of advice … if you are looking for money … is to apply to schools where merit is given.

***adding … if your daughter gets merit to Grinnell that is greater than the projected FA grant with 2 in school, she will (likely) not get FA.

5

@twogirls that’s helpful. I think we’ll just discount the effect of having 2 kids in college, especially since it’s for only 1 year (grad school doesn’t count?)

As to your last word of advice, yes targeting schools where merit aid has a chance to get us in budget has been the plan from the start. Have a long thread going here. http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/2034689-help-find-a-college-daughter-2-p1.html

6

That’s correct. Grinnell doesn’t stack merit on top of need (at least not that I know of). To meet the student’s need, they apply merit awards first, then use need based grants to cover any amount not met by the merit award.

7

When you ask about grad school… what are you asking?

If your older daughter attends grad school, she will not get money because her younger sibling attends college. She will file for FA as an independent. Depending on the school… and program… she may receive grants, merit, or loans…any combination… or …just loans.

If you are asking if your younger D will receive FA with a sibling in grad school… the answer is… maybe. There are a few schools that meet full need that count grad school as 2 in school ( not many).

8

@twogirls yes, I meant the second case. Sounds like too little chance of that to factor that in any way when making decisions where to apply now.

9

If your younger daughter has schools on her list that meet full financial need, you can call the schools and ask if they count grad school as 2 in school. Like I said… some do, but most don’t.

Schools that do count grad schools as 2 in college …still have some FAFSA rules in place. For example… the parents need to be providing some level - percentage- of financial support ( clothing, haircuts, spending money, food, transportation costs etc …all count).

10

i really dont mean to hijack, but just thought of this as reading this thread --if kid #1 is in grad school and kid #2 is going to public FAFSA school undergrad – will undergrad kid have a lower EFC? does grad school for kid #1 lower the federal EFC of kid #2? (just thinking about subsidized loans opportunity). thanks *and really didnt mean to side track!

11

If a student attends a public FAFSA only school… like umass or uconn… you can fill out the FAFSA stating that an older sibling is in grad school. FAFSA counts grad school as 2 in school …providing that the grad student has a certain % of parent financial support (50%?). This can be clothing, transportation etc.

However… this won’t matter… at all… on any level… for schools that do not meet full financial need. A school such as Penn State, Ohio State, UConn etc… will not care about your FAFSA EFC being lowered because of grad school. It will only matter IF a school DOES meet full financial need… and … IF the school counts grad school as 2 in college ( most do not, but some do).