I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with ND’s financial aid package. The package we received was pretty generous, but I am worried how my aid will be affected when my brother (Sophomore) and sister (Junior) graduate from college. Goin from 3 kids in college to one should I expect my aid to be reduced by a factor of 3? I tried contacting the financial aid office but all they could say was our aid would decrease (obviously). Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
The aid would not be decreased by a factor of 3.
The Parent’s portion of the Expected Family Contribution that ND would expect would be increased roughly by a factor of 3. If the parent’s portion of the total EFC is currently $30,000, then currently it would be divided by 3 and ND would expect $10,000 from the Parents portion of the EFC. If you only had one sibling in college at the same time, then ND would expect $15,000. If you were the only one in college, then ND would expect the entire $30,000 EFC from your parents.
So theoretically, your net cost would increase by $5,000 when dropping from 3 to 2. The net cost would increase $20,000 when dropping from 3 to 1.
This of course a VERY simplistic example and would assume that the student’s portion of the EFC would not vary from year to year. In reality, the financial aid calculation has many moving parts and is difficult to assess what would happen in your particular situation.