<p>I am wondering how schools deal with a 2nd one in college next year. This will help first son and I decide where he enrolls this year (and what kind of support he can expect).</p>
<p>If FAFSA said we could afford 53k this year for one, I assume the FAFSA will divide that by 2 next year when we have 2 in school, right?</p>
<p>Since we are getting no need based financial aid this year, can we expect the school/feds to offer up some next year? Any experiences with that?</p>
<p>Also, since we are not getting any need based FA, does this normally take the form of a loan, grant, or both?</p>
That depends upon the school. Some colleges don’t move their FA much when sibs get to college. And unfortuntately, loans are considered a way of meeting need. Conact the school your son attends now and the schools for your other child on how they will handle this.</p>
<p>The part of the EFC generated by the parents income/assets is divided equally between the number of students in school. Any part generated by the student stays with that student.</p>
<p>However, if FAFSA said you can afford $53k then even halving it will not get you any federal grant aid. The main federal grant, the PELL, requires an EFC in the 0-5,000 range. Whether it makes you eligible for subsidized loans would depend on the cost of the school and if there is unmet need. </p>
<p>Aid from the school would depend on the school and their policies for their own funds. The most generous schools might give you some aid, but they usually require CSS and my understanding is that CSS reduces your “EFC” with 2 in school, but not by half like FAFSA does.</p>
<p>I’m going to be abit of a downer having gone through the two in school twice…the answer is not really. Most colleges do not cut what they expect you to pay in half. The EFC splits, yes, but unless it puts you in Pell range nothing about federal aid really changes except your student might be offered the Perkins loan. If the college offers grants you might get more “grant” money the year there are two in school. I’m not seeing any “reduction” from public colleges at all this year to be honest. The merit that was expected but no “more” with two in college 2013-14. I haven’t seen the private finaid info yet but I’m not expecting that they will “give” S3 $30,000 in grant money. They didn’t when S1 and S3 overlapped. Alittle bit would be nice, because it’s not fun writing 2 tuition checks every month for 10 months…but on a up beat note, it’s only one year (hopefully for you). But again, some schools have plumper pockets and some families have highly desirable kids so your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>The Fed won’t give you any free money because your EFC will still be way toooo high. Your EFC has to be about 5000 or below to get free money from the fed gov’t.</p>
<p>Are you talking about FAFSA-only schools? If so, then don’t expect much aid at all with the second child in school.</p>
<p>Try this…use the NPC calculators and put that you’ll have TWO in school and see what aid is given. Now, BE AWARE that the results will likely be more promising because it will think your child is an incoming frosh with a sibling in college, RATHER than a returning student (which he’s be at the time.)</p>
<p>CSS profile schools will use a different calculation (they use home equity, retirement, etc) and they don’t do a 50/50 split. They do a 60/60 split defined by THEM. </p>
<p>What kind of schools are you looking at for your child? Instate publics? OOS publics? mid-level privates? Top/top privates? NYU? (lol)</p>
<p>RIT 44k - 15k (award) = 29k per year.
UConn 26k - 5k (award) = 21k per year.
WPI — waiting
RPI 62k - 15k (award) = 47k per year</p>
<p>S first choice is RPI, but that is a boat load of difference. I was thinking of trying to use RIT as leverage, but I am not sure how to go about that.*</p>
<p>None of those schools meet need. You may not get a much more aid when the second child goes to college. </p>
<p>Use the NPC, put two in college. IF there is an option to indicate that the student is a returning student, then do so.</p>
<p>This is an issue you need to research and take up with the colleges. For those schools that guarantee to meet full need and use PROFILE, what usually happens is that the parent’s contribution is multipled by 60% for each student. Now that is only a situation that comes into play when both students are going to PROFILE schools that guarantee to meet full need. </p>
<p>If you are going to a school that makes no such guarantees, it can just be “sorry Charlie” next year and you don’t get anything from your current student’s school as they may just not recognize this after the first year, or even during the first year. A school has no obligation to go by the EFCs, and though your parental EFC will be halved for each student, yes, that doesn’t mean any given school will honor it. I don’t know any schools that guarantee to meet need as defined by the FAFSA EFC. THose schools I know that do guarantee to meet need tend to define their own need, and most do so with PROFILE. If your son is not looking at PROFILE schools, things are really up in the air about your future situation.</p>
<p>I suggest you discuss this and write the financial aid offices of each of the schools in consideration and get a written explanation of how each school handles such cases.</p>
<p>Another good thing to do is to figure out how much you CAN pay with two in school and factor that into a 7 year plan or 6 year plan or 5 year plan if they are a year apart and figure out a budget for each of the kids now. I would use a 3% increase in tuition each year (or higher or lower depending on your risk tolerance.)</p>