<p>Oh, m2ck, your kids really should consider 'Bama. I’ve seen a few posts here on CC saying that it’s an excellent school! :D</p>
<p>The only part of the EFC that is divided in half is the parent’s portion. Each child has their own individual portion based on their income and assets.</p>
<p>So the two EFC’s won’t be the same necessarily.</p>
<p>Bedouin…you missed the joke.</p>
<p>My kids GO to BAMA</p>
<p>I went back to check my FASFA form and the CSS Profile. Now I realize I didn’t have to enter any information about college expenses of any children in FAFSA, and the assertion that the EFC goes down by 50% makes sense with two children going to colleges at the same time. However, the CSS Profile did ask for college expenses of all children, and that’s why I assume the expenses of the second child was taken into account by the first school. I guess it’s up to the schools using the CSS Profile to decide if the second child’s expenses will be used for the EFC calculation.</p>
<p>*and that’s why I assume the expenses of the second child was taken into account by the first school. *</p>
<p>Schools aren’t charities. Schools use their money to make themselves look good, not to help parents afford to send other children elsewhere. One school doesn’t subsidize another.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ohhh, Now I get it! :D</p>
<p>Sorry, it’s rare for me to actually stalk total strangers on the Internet to the point of knowing where their children got o college.</p>
<p>Actually, some of the Profile schools seem to indicate that on their FA pages…I believe I’ve read that even secondary school tuition is a consideration. It may have been for Cornell…anyway, if an individual school is willing to factor those expenses into their EFC it would be a benefit. But they often don’t reduce the Profile EFC by half, more like 40% for two kids in school. There have been posters who have lower Profile EFC’s than FAFSA EFC’s…I assume that’s because Profile gives them additional expense info to consider that FAFSA does not.</p>
<p>Also, let me point out that a CSS Profile School will expect about $1750.00 from the student for the Freshman Year. That is added to parents’ EFC. The next 3 years, the student is expected to contribute $2350.00, which is again, added to the EFC. </p>
<p>There is no income protection allowance under the Institutional Methodology (IM) which the Profile schools use. So even if your student earned “0”, he is still expected to contribute $1750.00 for Freshman Year. </p>
<p>Under the Federal Methodology (FM) which a FAFSA only school would use, the first $4500.00 a student earns is sheltered & there is no minimum contribution from student. </p>
<p>Go buy “Paying for College Without Going Broke” Kalman Chany, Princeton Review, the 2010 Edition & use it with your 2009 tax returns. Do the worksheets in the back of the book & do different scenarios with income, # of kids in college and so on. This book has saved us a lot of money over the years. </p>
<p>You may buy the 2011 Edition this October & use it with your 2010 Tax Returns to calculate EFC’s for the 2011-2012 School Year.</p>
<p>*There have been posters who have lower Profile EFC’s than FAFSA EFC’s…I assume that’s because Profile gives them additional expense info to consider that FAFSA does not. "
*</p>
<p>I believe schools only use the Profile as a guideline. Its not always the case having additional expense information in the Profile is the only reason that EFC changes. Even using information thats common in FAFSA and Profile, the calculations vary from schools to schools using Profile information. Lets take assets as an example, which exclude pension, retirement savings, and home equity. In one particular top tier school, they exclude the first $200,000 of assets, and they use a multiplier of 3% for the rest. So, an investment portfolio of $500,000 will account for $9000 only toward the EFC. Of course this school is very generous and it is the exception rather than the norm.</p>
<p>aspire123</p>
<p>Please listen, I have recent experience on this. </p>
<p>My older D will be a junior this fall and my next D will be starting her freshman year. Our EFC was basically the same as the last two years but was split in half between the two girls. DD1 attends a private, out of state school and received quite a bit of merit aid as well as a small grant. We were content with her package and our out of pocket costs. Her FA stayed the same for her sophomore year but I assumed (ferverently hoped?) that it would go up with her lower EFC. While I have to wait until June to find out for sure, I have spoken with the FA office and unless she now qualifies for the Pell (she doesn’t) she may not necessarily receive additional $. They were rather matter of fact about this and I don’t think they are out of the norm in how they handle FA. I should note they are not a meet full need school.</p>
<p>Of course the flip side of this is that DD2 has a smaller EFC now and would likely receive more aid but she will attend a public, in state school where COA is not much more than her EFC.</p>
<p>Parents with children closer together in age need to be mindful of the FA package their FIRST student receives as it will likely not change much even when a second student starts college. Regardless of what your EFC is, you will be probably be paying the same for your older child.</p>
<p>I think it’s realistic to expect families to pay out more in a given year when more than one child is going to college. When I sent my second child to private K-12, I did it knowing I’d have to now be paying more. I had no reason to expect that I would be paying the same as I was paying for one child to go.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your comments. My objective of posting is trying to find out the amount of additional aid I could get when the second child goes to college. I am not expecting to pay the same amount with two kids in college, but I am not expecting to pay double either. I certainly plan to pay more, and the question is how much more? Based on what is posted here, it appears that in many (most?) cases there is very little increase in aid to the first child. It’s good to know that now since I still have a bit of time to do some financial planning. But I think it’s still prudent for me to approach the FA office of the first school to test out some “what if” scenarios based on various assumptions of the second child’s expenses.</p>
<p>This is my future situation. So a consideration for my oldest daughter’s first school is how flexible will they be when my second child hits college. Anyway to check on that?</p>
<p>This is my future situation. So a consideration for my oldest daughter’s first school is how flexible will they be when my second child hits college</p>
<p>Not only that, but another concern is how your second child’s school will consider child#1.</p>
<p>This can be a problem if child #1 gets into a “better” school that does a better job of meeting need, but #2 gets into a lower ranked school or a school that doesn’t meet need and doesn’t care about child #1.</p>
<p>So, if child #2 is unlikely to be accepted to a top school that meets need without big loans, you may find yourself paying for all of child’s #2’s school, while also paying a big chunk of child #1.</p>
<p>Well then you are wiser than me, mom2collegekids. Because while I clearly did not expect to pay the SAME with two children in college, I also did not expect to pay 60% more. DD1 COA is essentially equal to our EFC which was fine when there was one student. But it now means that payment for DD2 college will be IN ADDITION TO our EFC.</p>
<p>I am not complaining. We are very blessed. </p>
<p>Why even have an EFC if it ultimately means nothing when said EFC changes by 100% and there is not an adjustment to the FA package? Again, I am speaking in theory as I do not have DD1’s package for next year.</p>
<p>netthreat, I suspect it would be difficult to get a honest or realistic answer. My entire point to these posts is to encourage parents to be very comfortable with their out of pocket expense for their first college freshman as it is likely to only go up from there. Rising tuition each year…typically ~5%…coupled with additional children starting college can really add up. I look at some of these posts from kids and parents saying “can I afford such and such school” or “should I take out loans to go to XYZ college” and it makes me shudder. They are hanging by a thread as is not knowing that costs will only go higher over the four years.</p>
<p>I filled out FAFSA for S1 last year, but my EFC was well above his COA so nothing came of it (as expected). S1 is currently a freshman in college.</p>
<p>This year I filled out FAFSA again for S2 (currently a high school senior). The calculated EFC for S2, this time with 2 kids in college, was $4K below the total COA of S2’s college. Again I expected nothing as S2 received generous merit aid which discounted the COA by $17K. Imagine my surprise when the college gave S2 an additional $5K grant which they called “need-based”. Huh? Filling more than the gap with a grant? Unheard of in CC world! Not that I’m complaining, far from it :)</p>
<p>The point of my anecdote is that it’s hard to generalize about how things will work out when 2 kids are in college at the same time. My advice: plan for the worst case scenario.</p>
<p>^^ That is good news vballmom. You are correct that everyone’s mileage may vary but also, the additional $ came via your second student. My comments are directed at changes in the first student’s aid.</p>
<p>The point of my anecdote is that it’s hard to generalize about how things will work out when 2 kids are in college at the same time.* My advice: plan for the worst case scenario**.*</p>
<p>Very true! Especially if one or both kids will be attending schools that don’t promise to meet 100% of need without loans. </p>
<p>*I am not expecting to pay the same amount with two kids in college, but I am not expecting to pay double either. I certainly plan to pay more, *</p>
<p>It can be confusing when the family has a high EFC and need is low for child #1, because need is met with minimal effort from a school. But when child #2 comes along, need increases, but the school doesn’t have money for that. And, if child #2 goes to a school that has little aid to give, that compounds the situation.</p>
<p>You may want to consider having your kids apply to some schools that will award big merit for their stats. That can help provide some assurance.</p>
<p>
As far as I can tell the only purpose for the EFC at all is to determine what federal funds a student may be eligible for. Colleges are not required to use it for ANYTHING else…and it seems as though many don’t.</p>
<p>Exactly. The only time it might change is with regard to qualifications for federal student aid.</p>