<p>I will have 2 children in college next year. Even though I make ~90K/yr what are my chances of getting any financial aid?</p>
<p>Assuming they have applied to schools, and you have an idea of where they are going, run the Net Price Calculator on the colleges websites to see their estimates. Some schools you might get a lot, some you might not get anything. It’s not just about your income, it’s about your liquid assets as well-equity in your home, 529 plan balances, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks SteveMA. I will do that. My liquid assets are just about 0: (upside-down mortgage), no stocks, bonds etc.</p>
<p>It seeems that you should quailfy for financial aid. Have you filed FAFSA? Your EFC will give you a good idea. The more important thing is to know that if the colleges your children intend to attend will meet your need 100%.</p>
<p>John, it will depend upon the schools. Though the parental FAFSA EFC will be cut in half for each kid, that does not necessarily mean a school will ante up the money. Most school do not meet need. They just gap. Those schools that guarantee to meet full need almost all require a PROFILE. PROFILE will give each kid 60% of the Parental Expected Contribution. In a situation where both students go to full need met schools, which is the optimal scenario, assuming each student has no assets and under thresh hold income, you will be expected to pay 60% of what you would have been asked to pay, had you only the one kid in school. </p>
<p>But, for those schools that do not guarantee ANYTHING, it’s entirely up to them, and they may not give an extra dime. I know some board members here who have gone through this. Their kid got into a great school with a good aid package. When the second kid went to college, the first school barely took that into consideration, and raised the aid only a few dollars, and that second kid whose college did not guarantee to meet full need, did not do so either. So if a school is not about to meet full need, that fact that the need is now greater can have no impact on the package, but then again they might take it into consideration, if they so pleased, but there is no guarantee and no way to tell.</p>
<p>The NPCs are NOT accurate at all for most people at schools that do not guarantee to meet need and that have merit awards, since the numbers that come out are averages, and you are not an average. It is possible that no one is. Average means that your backside could be on fire and your head in an ice block and you are comfortable on average temperature wise.</p>
<p>Also your income is pretty much what drives EFC (Expected Family Contribution). You have a asset protection allowance as a parent based on your age, number of dependents and assets over that are only hit at 5.6%. PROFILE also assesses assets the same way for the most part, though they do ask for home values as well though they are often capped. You don’t have much in assets so, that won’t be an issue.</p>
<p>Are your two twins, or do you have one in school this year? If you have one in school this year, does the school meet full need?</p>
<p>cptofthehouse–based on many, many posts here by a wide variety of people, the Net Price Calculators are pretty accurate for all ranges of schools. If they don’t meet need, that is factored into most of the calculators. Are they exact, no, but they are pretty close for the most part. They are also very detailed in what you can expect, grants, scholarships, loans, work study.</p>
<p>Also, talk apples to apples, liquid assets are different then assets in general…</p>
<p>The Net Price Calculators are fine for incoming freshmen…they are NOT accurate for returning students.</p>
<p>When my second child started college, my first was a college senior. The school increased his scholarship by $250. Every penny counts, but this hardly covered the $22,000 decrease in his EFC. Child number 2 who was a freshman got partial subsidized loans. Child number one who was a senior continued to get unsubsidized loans.</p>
<p>My point is, aid given to incoming freshman is different at most places than for returning students when they have siblings who start college. Of course of the colleges guarantee to meet full need, you will likely see a better outcome. BUT most schools do not guarantee to meet full need for all students…and they don’t.</p>
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<p>So sorry to hear you are in this financial situation. Have you saved any money for their college education? Are you setting aside money for your retirement? How do you plan to pay for their college if you don’t get enough financial aid? If they are very bright students, maybe they will qualify for a scholarship. Even though we had saved all the money necessary to put our D through college, she ended up getting a merit scholarship that pays her tuition, room and board for 4 years. We didn’t qualify for any financial aid mainly because we have lots of $$$ in liquid assets, 529 plan, equity in home, etc. Simply put, we have saved a lot of money.</p>
<p>John, I suggest you look at some posts on the financial aid boards. A lot of good info there.</p>
<p>Without knowing what sort of schools your kids are eyeing or attending, it’s not possible to hone in or your question. When a school does not guarantee to meet need, it can give you none of its own money up to your EFC or if using their own calculators more. If there is merit money in the picture, with big awards, there can even be full rides. No way to tell where your kids will be in such a picture. The NPCs average all of that. Also if you have your own business, that can be an issue with NPCs.</p>
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<p>Did you discuss this with your older kid’s school before he/she got into the school?</p>
<p>I have had Thumper’s experience once and will go through it again when the finaid letters start arriving soon for my soon to be freshman and this summer when my college senior’s finaid letter arrives. If the college/uni does not meet need my experience was they did not “increase” the aid package. In my case they offered a Perkins loan to the older student. The best thing the OP can do and right now when finaid offices are especially busy is not the time to ask the question…but the OP could contact the older student’s college and talk to the finaid office with some general questions about how they handle finaid with two in college. They “might” be able to offer enough information to help this family plan. We absolutely understood this was a possibility, that we would have two years with overlapping kids and HUGE college bills, when we started down the college path with our oldest. If both colleges state they meet need for all students the family will have a slightly smoother path the year with 2 in school.</p>
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<p>No. We knew neither school met full need…and we didn’t really qualify for need based aid when one kid was in college. BUT with two…we would have at SOME schools. We also knew that when the older kid graduated, the younger one would have a much higher EFC. We only had overlap for one year of undergrad (although DDs school did graciously count her brother in the mix when he was in grad school…not that it made much difference). Our kids got merit awards…one a large one, and one a small one. Beyond that, we were prepared to pay the costs.</p>
<p>BUT my point is…you can’t EXPECT that just because a second child is in college, your aid will increase. It might…and it might not.</p>
<p>Our timing was the same as Thumpers. Our oldest child was a senior in collge when our second child started college. The only perk was that for that one year, our son was offered a work study and subsidized stafford loans. We only looked for schools that offered substantial merit aid because we knew we would not qualify for need based aid.</p>
<p>Our timing with having kids,I guess, was not helpful at all for college costs. Who knew about overlapping things. Less than 4 years apart but 4 years apart in college because of the way their birthdays fell. So, 8 straight years of this. Have never quite grasped the rationale of financial aid in accounting for overlap with kids in college. The whole system with how all these types of things are looked at financially is interesting.</p>
<p>I don’t know or don’t recall if Thumper ever mentioned, but when my second son was applying and the oldest was a soon to be senior, my second son’s college finaid was all over the place…from very little to lots and lots. At that point I was having a nervous breakdown not so much about the overlap year but the second and third year of son #2’s college. Fortunately he ended up picking one of the “middling” colleges in terms of finaid and they remained fairly constant but I was so worried that when his older brother left college that the college son #2 would pick might jack his costs right back up to full pay and we could only afford about 60-70% of full pay. The college that S2 picked offered a 4 year merit scholarship so that made me feel safer. So consider what the finaid package contains…if it’s all one year grants they might not be there when the older one graduates. Merit based scholarships that are automatically renewed with only a requirement for maintaining a GPA I felt were a safer “way” of anticipating but the 2-in-school might be like when the older graduates.</p>
<p>Much will depend on the TYPE of schools that your kids attend. If they will be attending publics or privates that are FAFSA only and aren’t known for giving great aid, then you may get “no free money” if these are schools that rely on Pell Grants for low income families.</p>
<p>Your problem at many FAFSA-only schools will be that your EFC for one child in school will probably be about $20k per year…so $10k per child if you have two in college. $10k is beyond Pell eligibility. </p>
<p>If your children have strong stats, then they should apply to at least two different categories of schools…Schools that give great FA, and Schools that give large merit scholarships.</p>
<p>are you and your child using the same CC acct? If so, you need to have your own acct.</p>
<p>It looks like you’re a Calif resident. I’m guessing that your income is too high for Cal Grants.</p>
<p>The UCs are going to give better aid than the CSUs, however with your son’s ACT 33 a CSU may offer some merit scholarship money. What about your other child?</p>
<p>Run the Net Price Calculators on the different websites. </p>
<p>if both of your kids get into UC’s those may end up being the most affordable. You won’t qualify for Blue and Gold, but with your split EFC you should get UC grants. Use the NPCs and find out.</p>
<p>Does anybody really know the origin of splitting EFC’s, overlap,etc? That is what is curious to me. How timing of your family seems to effect your EFC.</p>
<p>My kids go to top privates that meet full need. The parent expectation is split, but their portion, from campus work study and expected summer earnings, is not split. My kids have to come up with their money themselves. I hear from a lot of people that they don’t expect their kids to fork over their earnings so if you are someone who is paying all of the billed amount, take that into consideration.</p>