<p>Is it true that having a second child in college will increase your financial aid?
How does it works?
please explain</p>
<p>the parents EFC should be halved - i.e. if the parent part of the EFC is 10,000 then it is divided between the no. of kids in college - 5000each</p>
<p>my efc is 35,000 for my son this year according to the FAFSA. He will be attending tufts and we are expected to pay 31,000. My daughter will be going to college next year so if nothing changes, we will be expected to pay for her only 17,500. Is this correct?</p>
<p>each school tweaks it alittle
or so I have heard
so let me think out loud
say EFC is $10,000 COA is $20,000
school meets 100% of need- offers $10,000
which includes loans, grants and workstudy-
if EFC is broken down- it is actually$3,000 from students summer job & $7,000 from parents.</p>
<p>So next year #2 goes to school
Parent EFC is still $7,000 but add two students summer earnings and instead of $10,000 being split in half,- it is only the parents EFC that is halved,
and the students summer job income of $3,000 ( added twice for $6,000) is added to the parents EFC of $7,000
so the EFC actually looks higher than it did for one- but the parents is the same
this is for schools with PROFILE
I don't think FAFSA projects student summer earnings
or did I make you more confused?</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the FAFSA EFC shows what level of aid the student qualifies for, not what they will get. What they get depends on the policies of the individual college. Plus, CSS/Profile methodology is a little different. </p>
<p>So yes, your FAFSA EFC will go down next year. </p>
<p>As to the issue of how much money you will get -- it really depends.</p>
<p>I was a bit confused with your answer, emeraldkity4. =) I was wondering if the kids did not work in the summer and the tuition was $31,000 and I have another kid go to college the following year, how will that affect the finacial cost for both of them?</p>
<p>Short answer is the FAFSA EFC is divided by number of students. There are a lot of nuances to this, however, so the exact division can be off a few percentage points.</p>
<p>Profile or institutional method EFC is reduced to 60% for each student when there are two. I don't know exactly why, it would seem that paying 120% of the single student's EFC is illogical, but there is probably a good reason.</p>
<p>well like calmom says- each school interprets the numbers a bit differently- also, unless they guarantee 100% need, the packages may vary quite a bit depending on the school and the student.</p>
<p>From what I have seen- many schools that use PROFILE, expect students to earn money summers and EFC takes that into account.
It doesn't necessarily matter if they actually did earn that money- they are expected to make the contribution.
Now some families prefer that their kids do internships or travel or sleep, or whatever, but the EFC wouldnt change.</p>
<p>I don't know specifically about Tufts- I do remember at one point they were more expensive even than the Ivies, but I imagine they also have good aid, ( but heavy on the loans apparently)</p>
<p>from their website
*Tufts awards aid based on the information provided by parents on both the FAFSA and the CSS PROFILE. If information is provided that more than one sibling will be attending a college or university, Tufts will divide the family contribution based on the educational costs expected for that sibling.
Confirmation of sibling enrollment will be required. If a family is unable to verify sibling enrollment, financial aid will be adjusted accordingly.
Also, if the number of family members enrolled in college will decrease in future years, a higher parental contribution will be expected (because family educational expenses will be less), and grant aid may decrease.
An Enrollment Verification Form is available here. *</p>
<p>When my son was a freshman and awarded his aid at Pomona, he did not recieve very much and we were waivering between other schools with substancial scholarships and awards. The fin aid office was great and gave us an estimate of what we would recieve when my D entered college the following year. It was substancially more and they were very close with their estimate. It helped my son make his decision to attend and made paying so much the first year easier to bear. Ask Tufts to work with you and see if they can give you an estimate for the following year based on your income remaining the same. They should be able to work with you especially if they know it is the only thing holding you back. Best of luck!</p>
<p>I have two in college right now so have finally learned how the EFC thing works. Both their schools use FAFSA and Profile.</p>
<p>I'm wondering how it works upon graduation of Kid #1. Anybody been through what happens to Kid #2's money when Kid #1 graduates, BUT continues on as a full time graduate student?</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Is it true that having a second child in college will increase your financial aid?>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>It is true that when you have a second child in college, the EFC for EACH child will be less than it was for the one child. Will you get more finaid?? Maybe yes, maybe no. When DD enrolled in college DS receives a $500 more in grants (at a very expensive private university). The school does not guarantee to meet full need, and they didn't. Plus DS was a senior...what motivation did they have to give him more money? It wasn't like he was going to transfer for his senior year of college? OH...and just for the record...even though our EFC was roughly 1/2 of the COA for DD...she did NOT receive that other half in finaid from her school either (which does not meet full need either).</p>
<p>It seems that I remember reading on the finaid thread that if #1 graduates and continues to grad school- for their own EFC, they are considered independent ( in most cases), but for #2 still in undergrad, they are added to the number of students attending for #2 EFC.</p>
<p>( which is why I have been telling #1 if she is going to go to grad school- there are perks to doing it now- for us anyway ;) )</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm wondering how it works upon graduation of Kid #1. Anybody been through what happens to Kid #2's money when Kid #1 graduates, BUT continues on as a full time graduate student?
[/quote]
I asked this question at Rice. My DD is a current student, and DS will be attending next year also. Our EFC with two is school is a bit higher than with one in school. (Emeraldkity accounted for that by showing that the diffence is mostly the student summer earnings and asset contribution.) For the following year 2008-09, when my DD has graduated and my DS is a sophomore, our EFC will be approx. what it was when I only had one (DD) in college, according to the financial aid person I emailed. They will NOT take into account any expenses for DD's grad school; but that's okay, because she will be on her own for that. :) Rice does meet full "need", as shown by FAFSA/PROFILE, so there aren't gaps like Thumper has.</p>
<p>Again...re: grad school and counting students...it depends on the school. Our daughter was told that as long as her brother is in grad school, her EFC will remain the same (or close)...and this is exactly what happened when we completed our FAFSA. The school does NOT use the Profile for finaid renewal...fafsa only.</p>