Financial Aid for Siblings in College

I understand that if there are one or more siblings in college simultaneously, it does impact the financial aid you get. One thing I’m not clear on is what if a sibling is in a GRADUATE school? Do college financial aid packages consider a sibling in a graduate school just the same as in the undergraduate?

You need to check the college policies. They vary.

  1. Having a sibling in college will affect your FAFSA EFC... u there is NO guarantee it will impact the actual,aid you receive. Most colleges do not meet full need...so your aid might not change a dime when there are two on college at the same time.
  2. In terms of counting a grad school sibling....you will have to check with each college. Some will...and some won't count that sibling when computing your need based aid. Most don't.

@thumper1 – Thank you for your response. I’ll look into each college.

Your grad school child will be independent and will be filing their own FAFSA and will not be using your income and assets.

If you are providing 51%support he is counted as part of your household not part of the number in college. Your child who is in college federal EfC will change

Check with EACH college. When our older kid was a grad student (2007-2009), he was still receiving 51% of his support from us and was counted in our household. The younger kid’s college DID count him for institutional aid purposes. No he would NOT have been counted for federal aid purposes.

But really…it might not matter AT ALL…if the school doesn’t meet full need for all. Aid might not change…at all.

It depends on the school. Some do.

I think that the answer is more along the lines that some schools will consider the grad student sibling, but most will not (because grad student is independent for FAFSA purposes). So in planning, probably best to assume that the grad school sibling won’t be taken into account.

Keep in mind that at the graduate level, the student can borrow up to their full COA in federal direct loans – so graduate students shouldn’t have to depend on parental contributions or support - though of course it is nice when they have it.

The assumptions about FAFSA dependence/independence works both ways. When my son was a 23-year-old undergrad, living independently and paying his own way at a public college, my daughter’s private college increased her grant by the amount of son’s tuition once they received confirmation of his proof of enrollment and COA. Didn’t matter to them who was paying-- he was considered a dependent simply based on age. A year later, age 24…no such benefit.

No…there is a limit of I think $42,000 a year for the Direct Loan. That doesn’t cover the cost of say…medical school or law school.

A grad student can borrow up to the cost of attendance in GRAD PLUS LOANS.

Thanks for the clarification.

The main point I was trying to make is not that grad students should borrow, but that the FAFSA/financial aid system is built around the assumption that they can borrow – so more often than not, the college is going to view a parent’s decision to fund graduate level education as a discretionary expense. (Yes, mom and dad can choose to pay for D1 to attend medical school – but they can also choose to allow D1 to rely on loans and use their own funds to pay for D2 to attend undergrad. Most undergrad schools don’t want to subsidize the parent’s choice to help the older sibling.)

My general observation has been that there are a small number of universities that expect graduate and professional students who are seeking institutional aid to also submit parental financial information, and those schools may be the ones who have decided that parents ought to fund grad students, and may be more likely to take a graduate sibling into account when making financial aid determinations at the undergrad level.

You gotta check. My daughters undergrad school counted her brother in the student count while he was in grad school. The year he graduated from undergrad, she still got a subsidized loan. That would NOT have happened if they hadn’t counted him in the mix.

Do you mean “the year he graduated”-- or the year after he graduated?

The year after he graduated. He graduated from undergrad at the end of DD’s freshman Year of college… He then enrolled in grad school. He was under 24 and we were paying lots more than 51% of his support. DD’s undergrad school continued to give her a subsidized loan…our family contribution would have exceeded the cost of attendance with only one in college.

Subsidize loans are subject to FAFSA guidelnes. FAFSA says,

https://www.edvisors.com/ask/ask-the-edvisor/fafsa-household-size-indepedent-sibling-03-2015/

So in your case you met that 51% support qualification - that is an added qualifier not specified in the OP.

So the answer to the original question would be: “yes, a grad student may be counted if the parents are providing more than 51% of support for that student.”.

I’d note that the 51% support is not something that that can be assumes, since many grad students are receiving partial funding from fellowships, TA/RA positions, and/or employment.

Also, eligibility for federal aid (loans, work-study, Pell), may be very different from college grant aid. Private colleges may utilize a dual standard for calculating eligibility for federal aid vs. their own grant funding.