<p>We are 2 years away from applying for financial aid, but I'm wondering how it will be impacted by having 2 go to college at the same time. One child plans to go to a private (CSS) school, and one will go to a state school (FAFSA). Will each institution divide the CSS/FAFSA result by two to get our EFC for that school? If our estimated EFC is $40,000 for FAFSA, and maybe $50,000 for CSS (due to equity), with a state school cost of $25K and private at $50 K, any idea how our part of the tuition will play out? Assume the private school meets 100% need. Thanks!</p>
<p>I have two students (not twins), both entered college the same year, both will graduate in 2012. One is at a private college that uses the CSS Profile and meets full need, the other is at the flagship state univ, which is a FAFSA-only school.</p>
<p>The FAFSA EFC each year is split more-or-less 50/50. It’s not exactly that because each kids’ own summer earnings factor into their EFCs, so they are not identical, but are close. Certainly that portion of them that is based on our (parents’) income and assets is evenly split.</p>
<p>The private CSS Profile college, uses the FAFSA EFC to determine eligibility for federal aid only. (At your EFC, even split between the twins, you will only be eligible for unsubsidized loans.) In our case, the private college computes its own expected family contribution based on our Profile information. Because the computation is different than the FAFSA formula, it is not just 50% of our total (combined for the two kids) EFC. It is somewhat higher than that. They also take into consideration the cost of the college the sibling attends, which is lower since it’s a public university.</p>
<p>In our situation it sort of ends up like this:
Public college EFC = 50% of our combined, total FAFSA EFC
Private college expected family contribution = 75% of our combined, total FAFSA EFC</p>
<p>It gets more complicated of course because the private college meets full need and the public univ. does not. The net effect is that the private, in our case, is actually costing us far less than the public. This will vary widely for others, of course, because it all depends on the colleges’ own FA policies and the individual student/family circumstances.</p>
<p>* If our estimated EFC is $40,000 for FAFSA, </p>
<p>with a state school cost of $25K *</p>
<p>If FAFSA EFC splits the EFC will be $20k</p>
<p>Expect to be full pay at this school…with a student loan of $5500.</p>
<p>for the private, if it’s a CSS school that meets 100% of need, then your FAFSA EFC will be irrelevant there. So, if CSS determines “efc” to be about $50k, then for one child it could be about 60% of that.</p>
<p>So, even with a FAFSA EFC of $40k, your family could easily be expected to pay about $50k per year.</p>
<p>Thanks to both of you for your help… that is what I was suspecting, but it’s good to hear it from those with experience.</p>
<p>I saw in a post here that CSS had a higher EFC than FAFSA. I didn’t even know CSS gave an EFC. I had to do CSS for UVA. </p>
<p>Can someone please tell me where/how I see the EFC given by CSS profile?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>It does not generate an EFC. You are correct. The CSS Profile only collects information and makes it available to the colleges that require it. The colleges then take that information and use it according to their own FA policies to come up with an expected family contribution. Based on the exact same info provided in the Profile, different schools will come up with very different expected contribution amounts.</p>
<p>Also “EFC” is a FAFSA term. Schools that use the Profile also generate a number they expect a family to contribute, but it does get confusing when people refer to that as an “EFC”.</p>
<p>We have twins also. When we submitted the FAFSA, the EFC was exactly the same for each of them. They both had no income and have close to the same amount for cash and investments. I assumed the EFC was accurate for each child. Are you thinking that schools will cut the EFC in half? I never considered that, so now I am curious too.</p>
<p>Each CSS school will determine what your “family contribution” will be. so, there really isn’t one “CSS EFC” so to speak.</p>
<p>In another thread you mentioned that you’re self-employed and had heavy losses. I don’t know how a CSS school is going to handle that issue. CSS schools sometimes “add back in” some business deductions. It sounds like you have assets, so the amount that a CSS school may expect may be higher</p>
<p>*We have twins also. When we submitted the FAFSA, the EFC was exactly the same for each of them. They both had no income and have close to the same amount for cash and investments. I assumed the EFC was accurate for each child. Are you thinking that schools will cut the EFC in half? I never considered that, so now I am curious too. *</p>
<p>Your EFC was cut in half. If each twin’s EFC was - say $10k (with no student assets/money)…then your TOTAL EFC is $20k. So, if you had just one child in college, your EFC would have been $20k for the one child. Since you have 2 going to college, your EFC was split to $10k for each child. If one of your kids drops out of school, then the remaining child’s EFC will rise to $20k.</p>
<p>Okay, thats what I thought! Thanks!</p>
<p>Definitely did learn some things this morning on Fin Aid and EFC by reading these forums. </p>
<p>Mom2collegekids - you are correct, I am self-employed with two schedule C’s. One had decent profit but the other had a loss of almost $1 million dollars for 2010. FAFSA didn’t ask about projected income for next year OR income from last year. CSS profile asked all that and more. So, it makes sense that you say the number figured by schools using CSS will be higher than FAFSA EFC. In the long run, we can probably afford to repay loans to send our kids to college. In the short run, we are very financially strapped due to economy negatively affecting a once very healthy income, two kids in college for this coming year and a third going in fall 2012. :-(</p>
<p>Best of luck to us all to get some aid where needed!!</p>
<p>2collegekids, depending on your level of need, and depending on the FA policy of the college, having two in school at the same time can be very beneficial. It doesn’t lower your total EFC (for example, with a total EFC of $20K for two students at $10K each), but if the college meets need, than you’re only paying your total $20K EFC for four years. If your kids are five years apart, you’d be paying your total EFC of $20K for eight years of college.</p>
<p>Obviously when talking about schools that don’t meet substantial need in the first place, the benefits of two in college at the same time are not as significant.</p>
<p>Yes, I do feel lucky about that. Still, the reality of college for 2 is scary. This is all new to me. College was never even talked about in our family. Sadly, I did not know what a GPA was when I was in school. I wanted different for my kids and I have learned so much. This forum has been great! There is so much to know and it can be overwhelming. A big THANK YOU to you and the regulars on here for taking the time to share your knowledge!</p>
<p>My kids are two years apart in age, but when my daughter (the younger) said she wanted to start college at 16… that worked just fine for me. It put them both in college for the same four years. (And she was more than ready, academically and socially, to go at that age.)</p>
<p>With both kids graduating next year, I’m lucky one is on semesters and the other on quarters. No conflict in graduation dates. ;)</p>
<p>That’s awesome! My twins are most likely going to different schools too. I am hoping they have different orientation days, and different move in dates. Different everything. lol</p>
<p>Sounds exactly like my life. I have twins and they are starting school in August, at separate colleges. For the first time they won’t be together!</p>
<p>So how does private college A make a financial aid offer to student a when sibling b is not yet set on which college to choose?</p>
<p>I know at my son’s school they work up a financial aid award each spring. In October they require a “sibling enrollment verification form” that his sister fills out and takes to her college’s registrar. Her college needs to verify her enrollment, cost of attendance and any non-need based aid (scholarships) she receives. Then it needs to be sent or faxed to my son’s college directly from the registrar of my daughter’s college.</p>
<p>When my son’s college first sends us the sibling enrollment verification form each October, they include a letter that says my son’s aid award may be immediately adjusted depending on the information they receive back from his sister’s college – such as additional aid she receives, whether she’s not enrolled full-time, if she’s changed schools… whatever.</p>
<p>That doesn’t really answer your question as to how they prepare the initial FA award, not knowing where the sibling will attend, but however they do that, they will likely come back for concrete confirmations later in the fall.</p>
<p>"rent of 2, thanks. I am currently going through this now. I didn’t know they would be doing that. It’s nice to know what to expect.</p>
<p>At least it’s what my kid’s college does. Of course I can’t speak to how any other school might do it. So far we’ve never had an adjustment made based on what my daughter’s school has reported even though her scholarship aid has varied a bit from year to year (as has her total cost of attendance). I don’t think my son’s college nickle-and-dimes the sibling verification process, they seem to just want to make sure he does, in fact, have a sibling who is a full-time student and know where she’s enrolled.</p>