<< how to maximize aid >>
Maybe I don’t understand. If your kids applied ED, then you’ve already supplied the schools your financial info. So, how can you “maximize aid” at this point?
Did you submit CSS Profile with your financial info?
Maybe I missed something…but what suggestions were given to you about how to maximize aid…now…after an ED acceptance?
I would love to know what the good suggestions are, our BOGOF package will mean 3 in college at one point for at least a year.
Best suggestion is for them to get into schools that meet need…
Yeah, I doubt that there will be any. Hence my interest in a 2 kid family with a high income expecting FA.
^Right!
This makes me think back to when a friend and I attended one of those college admissions workshops. At the end, they said they would offer a free hour of consulting and you could sign up for more, including help with the FAFSA. I decided to do my own research and came to the conclusion that not much will reduce your EFC other than dramatically reducing your income. I know that more kids in college makes a difference and some other things, but if you make a high salary, you cannot change that and that is basically how they determine EFC. It does seem comical when I see what our EFC is, but we had to accept that our best chance for reducing the bill was merit aid.
@Alfonsia >> our BOGOF package <<<
What is that?
BOGOF: Buy one, get one free? I’m assuming Alfonsia has twins. 
You can make bigger expenditures you plan anyway (car, for example) prior to filling out FA forms. If your kid plans any (computer, for example), they can as well. It is harder to manipulate income, though.
For your recruited athlete at an Ivy you were supposed to get a Finaid pre-read.
Spend as much liquid assets as possible right before the date you file FAFSA next year. Pay credit cards balances in full, pre-pay mortgage, car, home insurance. Put max into Roth IRA.
When filing tax return do not forget medical expenses and employee unreimbursed expenses. It is helpful to pay more in taxes when your kid is on meet full need finaid - see if you can delay some deductions.
Do not forget AOC - it is 5K/year for 2 kids - see if your family can get below the cutoff point (180-190K AGI?)
^^
this is an Ivy ED admit. They would have already submitted CSS Profile and soon or have already received their FA pkg. There’s nothing that a $200k+ family can do with FAFSA that will get them aid at this point, besides a loan.
Ivy ED results and finaid estimate are not out yet. This student probably just sits on a Likely Letter at this point. With 2 kids in expensive colleges at once they may qualify for some institutional aid at the Ivy even at $200K AGI. Submitted CSS Profile will be corrected in the Spring once the schools get FAFSA and 2015 tax returns.
@CCDD14 is right in #30, since you most likely are sitting on an estimate of FA based on what you submitted (probably prior year’s tax forms), you probably cannot do much to change your income at this point, but you may be able to reduce your assets. And depending on your income, if your EFC is be mostly based on your liquid assets, then lowering them immediately before you file can make a difference. For us, we were told to pre-pay the full year’s heating oil bill, and paid for both cars to get a tune-up, new tires (needed anyway) and brakes, etc, and then paid the annual property taxes in Dec instead of Jan, we lowered our cash assets by almost $6000, which according to the EFC calculators increased our FA award by almost $1200. Takes some of the bite out of those expenses. For folks earning $200K+, I am sure that $1200 doesn’t mean so much, but for us, it meant a lot.
Depending on how the school treats any equity in your home, it may or may not be advantageous to pre-pay the mortgage, as once you pre-pay the mortgage your equity increases - it is still available.
Here is the worry. It is very possible that the twin admitted to the Ivy will receive some decent financial aid…especially if it’s Harvard, Yale or Princeton. That student might have an affordable ED option.
Wake Forest need based aid is not nearly as generous as the Ivies listed above. They don’t offer significant need based aid to higher income families. So,this twin might not,have as generous an offer as the Ivy twin.
Would the Ivy FA offer be based on the kid’s EFC at WF?
The Ivy offer of aid for the Ivy acceoted kid will be based on the IVY calculation for need based aid, and family contribution. The Ivy offer will not have anything to do with the Wake Forest calculation…which could be very different!
So the FA application will indicate 2 in college, how does the family know how much they will pay in college for WF kid, or does Ivy even care at a 200K income? Would the Ivy application involve assessing non ivy kid’s cost as full pay? It is not that I don’t get that it isn’t ivy’s problem, (and I assume WF couldn’t care less) that some family wants the two cakes to eat and all,but does the Ivy have such a reputation for generosity that it might well come to the party should the kid be a desirable candidate? Quite often you read these kinds of threads and there is no update. I remain astounded that a 200K family would expect FA just because they want the whole shebang, but maybe that is erroneous and you don’t get what you don’t ask for?
The Ivy school will compute a net cost for the family for THAT kid.
Wake Forest will compute a net cost for the family for THAT kid.
Both will take into consideration that there are two kids in college.
The Ivy doesn’t give two hoots what Wake computes. Wake doesn’t care what the Ivy computes.
It is very possible that the Ivy twin could get significant better aid because the school just might have more generous need based aid money than Wake Forest.
At the FAFSA only schools, you indicate there is a second child in school. There is no place to indicate how much that student is paying or receiving in scholarships, just that he/she is in school. My D1 gets credit for having a sibling in school even though her sister is on almost full scholarship. The only exception I saw was if the sibling was at a service academy, and then you don’t get to claim that student as an additional college student. At the CSS schools, they can ask for an consider any information, I guess including the amount of FA received by the other student (but yes, there is always going to be an estimate going on). The Ivy might not care how much the sibling is receiving from WF, just that there is another tuition being charged (if not paid) somewhere else.