<p>I'm only a sophomore but concerned about financial aid for college. </p>
<p>My parents make a suitable amount, but we still struggle along like many others. </p>
<p>My father is a teacher and a coach, and my mother is a secretary. </p>
<p>Questions: does the fact that I have a twin affect financial aid, as we will both be going to college @ the same time? He will stay more local.
My twin also has a health condition called cystic fibrosis, most medical expenses are covered by insurance but we still have expensive payments for medication, etc. </p>
<p>How will this affect my financial aid/what colleges offer me? How can I make them aware?</p>
<p>I’m not sure about the health costs affecting your aid, but I do know that they will (at every school I’ve ever heard of) take into account that you have a sibling in college. For fafsa they give you an estimated family contribution (schools don’t have to pay attention to this, but the majority of them try to use this to build a package of grants, scholarships, loans) and this takes into account how many kids will be in college, that’s one of the things that fafsa is looking at. So if someone’s EFC is determined at $20,000 and a year later their sibling goes into college, it will go down to $10,000 for each student. In your case the EFC will be split between you and your twin from the start of your college careers. So technically schools don’t look at your twin, but the fafsa does and a lot of schools use it to help them gauge the aid that leople will need. I hope this helped and good luck with the rest of high school!</p>
<p>You can learn a lot about Financial Aid by reading through the information at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) </p>
<p>However, since most colleges and universities do not guarantee that they will meet your EFC, you really do need to know how much your parents will be able to pay. Talk with them about that. Find out how they feel about you taking some student loans, and how much they expect you to pay for with a part-time job (or full-time ones in the summer). When you have an estimate of how much money you can come up with, you will know how hard you are going to have to look for places that your family can afford.</p>
<p>Unfortunately financial aid, unlike taxes, is based solely on what your parents earned as opposed to financial expenses (or deductions) they have. You EFC , has stated above is determined on the number of people in your parent’s household, the number of people in your parent’s household that go to college, and their income. Very small amount of students earn enough yearly income to majorly affect this. The estimate above is not a hundred percent accurate statement that the EFC is immediately cut in half because of two kids in college but it is definitely close and weighted in your favor. </p>
<p>Now in regards to twin’s health concerns. This should not affect your FAFSA package because this is not reportable on your forms. You can however, if the burden of these medical expenses are excessive and result in major life changes, appeal the financial aid process at any college. An appeal is not an guarantee to change the package but if you family is in dire need it is an option.</p>