<p>I was reading how your EFC stays the same whether you have one or two kids in college. So say total estmated cost was $50,000 for each college. S1 loves learning languages. What if he did a gap year abroad to learn the language but part of the goal was so that the years he and his brother were in school at the same time overlapped three years instead of just two. So S1 could work on the new language and in theory the total cost of S1 and S2 going to four years of undergraduate would decrease by $50,000. What's the flaw in the notion? My guess would be that it's a crap shoot as to whether the two schools (which well may be different) don't may much heed to the EFC. Or another issue could be they calculate if differently at lease. But I'm sure there are folks who know more about this than I.</p>
<p>No gap year..
2015 S1 50k
2016 S1 50k
2017 S1 25k S2 25k
2018 S1 25k S2 25k
2019 S2 50k
2020 S2 50k
GRAND TOTAL: $300,000</p>
<p>With gap year:
2016 S1 50k
2017 S1 25k S2 25k
2018 S1 25k S2 25k
2019 S1 25k S2 25k
2020 S2 503
GRAND TOTAL: $250,000</p>
<p>Your scenario assumes that your children are going to be at meets-full-needs colleges. With an EFC of 50k, it is likely you’re not getting aid except at the more well-endowed schools. </p>
<p>At meets-full-needs schools, they rely on the PROFILE rather than the EFC which often (though certainly not always) calculates your “need” differently. On top of that, most PROFILE schools split the expected contribution 60/60 rather than 50/50 like the federal EFC does. </p>
<p>Yes, you will still have the student contribution as well as the gap year costs.
Some schools do meet full need, but they are the ones who decide what need looks like, and they can meet it with any combination of grants, loans and work study.
Loans count at all but a few schools as meeting need.</p>
<p>Thanks emeraldkity4. The cold hard truth is better than wishful thinking! I still think there is room for a site “What I actually paid for college” where you could cross-check college promises from actually experienced reality.</p>
<p>For one kid in college, our EFC was $30,000. For two kids in college, each got EFC of $25,000 (admittedly, our income had gone up a bit). D1’s school gave her an extra $5000 grant to make the difference. Didn’t matter to S2, as his scholarships already had brought the cost down to about $20,000 anyway. So, total out of pocket for us: one in college: $30,000. Two in college: $45,000. </p>
<p>In many cases, the EFC will not be divided in half…it will be about 60% for each student.</p>
<p>You are assuming a number of things.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>This will only work for you at very well endowed schools that meet full need for ALL accepted students.</p></li>
<li><p>You are assuming your kiddos will actually get accepted at those very well endowed schools…and that is no easy task.</p></li>
<li><p>You are assuming you won’t have any unanticipated other expenses in you life.</p></li>
<li><p>You are assuming no increase in your income.</p></li>
<li><p>You are assuming that BOTH kids will actually stay in college concurrently. What if one decides to take a year off, or leave school altogether? What if child 2 wants to take a gap year…just like child 1. Are you going to say NO?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Here is my suggestion. Pick you S1 top three choice schools…ones where he has a realistic chance of acceptance. Run the net price calculator for those schools using both one, and two students in college. See what your net difference is. It would be a far flung estimate only because the NPCs do get updated annually…but it would give you a ballpark.</p>
<p>I would also suggest that you and S1 set a college budget and start looking for schools whereby the costs can be funded for all four years.</p>
<p>I have two kids in college at the same time. The EFC is lower, but it is right at the point were the only benefit is really that one gets about half the amount allowed as subsidized loans as actually subsidized (about $1200 per semester) but the other got no benefit at all because she had more in scholarships. Honestly, it’s not worth all the moving around, etc, just for the reduction in EFC unless you are really close to qualifying for the Pell grants.</p>
<p>The flaw in your numbers is that the EFC might be reduced, but that doesn’t mean the aid fills that gap. If yo</p>
<p>The gap year is not likely to be free, either.</p>