<p>Are we likely to see more for child #1 next year? If so, by how much? A couple thousand? A %? Depends on the school & state?</p>
<h1>2 is too complicated to consider because we don't know her schools yet, and she isn't the same student that #1 is ...</h1>
<p>Does child #1 goes to a school that says it meets need. Will child #2 go to a school that meets need. </p>
<p>I had 2 in college at the same time. Child #2 went to a school which gave need based aid and it was reflected in our aid. Child #1 went to an OOS public college and they didn’t change any of the aid they gave us. </p>
<p>Right, depends on the policies of both colleges and what each can afford to give, in the first place. And, to some extent, the costs at each. For D1, our contribution was X. When both were in, our total was only slightly higher than that original X. Meet full need. (I don’t know a % offhand, because school costs go up annually, anyway.)</p>
<p>In contrast, bff has twins- one at a state school that doesn’t offer much, to begin with. The other at a private. The latter did account for the sibling’s costs, when calculating aid. But did not make up for the fact that S2 was getting proportionately less aid.</p>
<p>So much depends. The second d starts college in the fall. But, by now older d is making quite a bit of money at her summer and school year employment, enough that her EFC is pretty significantly impacted. She is moving off campus, which affects her COA . . . Bottom line, I don’t expect to see a change in her aid for next year. </p>
<p>However, had second d not chosen a TE school, I fully would have expected a reduction in her aid once older d graduated. </p>
<p>You can try running the Net Price Calculator on the college website. Try it with the one child and see if it is close to what she is getting. Then you can run it again showing 2 in college and see the new estimate.</p>
<p>THe best you can do is the NPC, as BrownParent suggests, and also outright asking the school if they will meet aid. Those schools that do not guarantee to meet full need, may not even give a dime more, sticking only with the first year financial aid package, </p>
<p>What having a second child in college does, is cut the parental EFC in half. But other than PELL and the DIrect Loan entitlements, nothing else is guaranteed in terms of federal aid, and that’s all the FAFSA EFC really assures parents. The rest is up to the individual schools. </p>
<p>Those schools using PROFILE will usually apply .6 to the parental EFC. If the school does guarantee to meet full need, that can make a nice difference. We had friends with a DD at Duke, and a second who went to a local college. The Duke financial aid to which they barely qualified so that they were only get a few thousand dollars, went up significantly, which was great. The second daughter’s school did not guarantee to meet need, and because it was a lower cost state school anyways, it made no difference even with the EFC cut in half. The EFC was just about what it would cost to commute there which she was doing, and most people have to pay that EFC before getting penny one of government money, so that was that. </p>
<p>I had two in school overlapping at places that don’t meed need. It didn’t make and difference in the aid packages so if you’re looking for a discount look at both colleges carefully. If they guarantee to meet need it can be a savings…if they don’t guarantee to meet need all bets are off. But in general as cpt says it’s not buy one get one because most schools don’t use a true 50/50 is analyzing finances.</p>
<p>Schools that meet full need may cut EFC in half for the first child but this assumes that the second kid attends a school with a comparable cost. If this is not the case then putting 2 in college in NPC may give misleading result. Meet full need schools will ask you to provide the proof of payment for the second child as they will want to see the exact amount you are paying.</p>
<p>CCDD14, have you actually sent this happening? I ask, because even now, or in the last recent years, those with kids at the full need schools I know have NOT had to provide proof of payment. Those schools just verify that you do indeed have a student enrolled at another school, not what you are paying. They don’t care what you are paying or not for that second student. Their formulas simply multiply the parental EFC by .6 usually for two kids. I say this because I do know a person who has a kid at Duke and another at a local school, commuting on a full ride, and the expected contribution for the kid at Duke is simply adjusted as I explained. Wouldn’t have mattered a whit if the the second kid was at a similar cost school as Duke and the parents were paying the full sticker price, which can happen. Some schools won’t adjust after that first year award for that second student. I would name some schools that it happened, but am not 100% sure to id accurately so I won’t. But basically, kid 1 is at Full Price Private U with a minimal award, say $5K grant and WS and Subidized student loans. Kid 2 comes along and is at a similarly priced school, and that school does take that first kid’s being in college into consideration but that that first school does not guarantee to meet need and won’t increase the aid package even with the second kid in the school. But you can see the craziness if the schools had to yak with each other and each have to adjust for each other. So I do think there are set policies and formulas in place, and those schools that guarantee to meet need, or initial year calculations are done with that .6 adjustment to the parental contribution, and .5 by federal decree on the FAFSA EFC for the parents. Trade schools, and comm college may have a whole other formula from what I understand and won’t even get an adjustment by some schools. </p>
<p>My D’s only “meets full need” acceptance school (Mount Holyoke) did not ask for proof of, or what we were paying for our older D’s school (she is on a full tuition scholarship). The only school that asked for into on how much we were paying for older D was Mills, which does not promise to meet full need. Mills still gave us the most generous FA package, although most of it was merit. </p>
<p>Princeton PFA asks for detailed amounts paid by parents. Yale asks for proof of enrollment and status (FT,PT etc.). It seems Yale divides EFC by number of children in college. Cannot imagine they would do this when sibling attends low cost college.</p>
<p>Well here’s the thing: if both colleges want to integrate award packages, they have to then talk to each other and it get’s to be crazy. It doesn’t really matter what the other college gives as what you are expected to pay for the one child is driven by the formula by that college. If the other college gives nothing and you are expected to pay more than you would by formula you have to somehow come up with it. It should not be dependent on the other college. The schools can go back and forth forever on that one. Most will just want to make sure you do indeed have a kid in school. What you have to pay for that kid is your own business. Yes, I can see where a huge merit award over one’s expected contribution could be considered a windfall, and perhaps in future years, that can count, but upon award, the money has not even been deposited yet. </p>