<p>I can sympathize will all the posters wondering what will happen when kid #2 or 3 goes to school. In my case D1 goes to 100% meet need school (for which I am very grateful). The school takes into account D2’s boarding school expenses (to a limit) and will also take D2’s college expenses into account when the time comes. I asked these questions when D1 was deciding on a school. Of course I have no idea where D2 will attend it is a few years off but I have found if a college has a form provided on their website (usually a “sibling enrollment certification”) correlates with considering siblings’ education costs. Obviously many schools may consider it (through FAFSA or CSS) without an additional form but from my limited experience the schools with a specific form are likely to address this issue. This form has to be signed by the sibling’s school (college/boarding school). In a perfect world D2 would also attend a 100% meet need school but i cannot predict - so she will apply widely and we will hope for the best.</p>
<p>A lot will depend on the financial aid policies of the school. The year DS was a senior in college…little sis was a freshman. His EFC went from $44K per year to $22K per year…yep our need increased. They increased his merit scholarship by $250…and that was it. Not even a subsidized loan.</p>
<p>Little sis, OTOH…got only subsidized loans AND somehow (don’t know how) got a Perkins loan too. And her school grant which oddly didn’t go down an penny (in fact went UP for three years) after her brother graduated. </p>
<p>So…YMMV.</p>
<p>Not sure if anyone will still be looking at this thread…</p>
<p>Will a college know how much of a scholarship the other child in college is getting? Say that you had two kids in school, and the first child got a great scholarship. Would the other school be able to realize that and then make the family pay more for the second child because they know they are getting a break with that first scholarship?</p>
<p>No, the college won’t ask about the older child’s financial aid situation (at least, that was my experience). The colleges might ask for the name of the older child’s college. I think my younger son’s college did at some point somewhere - maybe it was on the Common App.</p>
<p>Even the same school doesn’t ask about the other child when determining your EFC if both kids are attending.</p>
<p>For the Profile, they asked for the sibling’s name, age, college, COA (cost of attendance) and </p>
<p>“How much did this person receive in scholarships, grants, or gift aid during the 2009-10 academic year?”</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>“How much did your parents pay for this person’s education for the 2009-10 academic year?”</p>
<p>It ALL comes down to the financial policies of the schools. Some schools are less generous with siblings in college. It seems to me that they are tightening up on this. It used to be that if you put down that you have a sibling in college, the schools gave a set allowance for that. Now many colleges will ask for the name of the school where the sibling attends and a release to get financial aid, costs, scholarship info from them before they take that COA into account. But some schools still do just go by set formulas where you can make out if the one schools is a lot less expensive than what they allocate, but you gotta just take it if the school costs more. One mom I know was furious when after all of the questions, snooping and verification, the one school didn’t even meet full need! They really thought they would get full recognition for the two in college. Nope.</p>
<p>I also agree that FAFSA and EFC is so widely misunderstood. EFC should not stand for Expected Family Contribution because it is rarer than a blue moon that 100% of it is met at the high priced schools. The terms are such because the average college student goes to school locally at a state school, maybe a community college, and those with particularly low incomes get pretty much their entire costs paid by PELL and some subsidized loans. I know a number of kids who were very happy getting those funds and even a bit more money with a part time job as they went to college. </p>
<p>Going to an “away” college is quite a luxury, and though the EFC does do calculations for students in that situation, the results are not very useful most of the time. Basically, if you don’t meet PELL threshholds, you are only guaranteed loans, some maybe subsidized up to COA, with subsidies for amount that are lower than the EFC. Very few of the higher priced schools will give 100% or near that based on EFC figures. Those schools that do tend to meet full need usually want more financial information that what FAFSA requires, and these schools define need by their standards, not FAFSA’s or yours.</p>
<p>Last year my son’s college calculated his financial aid package based on us having 2 kids in college. When we submitted out financial aid applications last spring (FAFSA, Profile, and the school’s own application) they asked what college his sister attends and its COA. Based on that limited info they determined his FA award.</p>
<p>(As FresnoMom said, we were also asked on the Profile about the COA for his sib, scholarhships or other aid, and how much we paid… and how much we expect to pay in the coming year.)</p>
<p>In the fall we were required to complete a “sibling verification” form that we partially filled out, then it went to his sister’s college and the FA office there completed it and sent it back directly to my son’s college. Son’s college specifically asked daughter’s college on the form how much “non-need based aid” was awarded to the student. That suggests to me they don’t really factor in the need based aid, so presumably my daughter’s college just reported her merit-based scholarships.</p>
<p>Anyway, son’s college did not then follow up with an adjustment to his initial aid offer that was formulated long before the sibling verification process last fall.</p>
<p>I don’t know… I just fill out the forms and get them where they’re supposed to be by the deadlines. They do the rest.</p>