Can anyone comment from personal experience of whether need-based financial aid for sophomore year and beyond remains at the same level or goes down or up if income remains similar? Thanks.
if your income/assets stay the ~same, the financial aid will remain the ~same throughout your four years. (BC does not pull a bait and switch like I hear at other schools, where the Frosh FinAid is a one-time only thing.)
Dear @shariross : Our friend here on the board, @bluebayou, has raised a very important point in that Boston College does not pull the financial aid bait and switch. Specifically, I have to point back to the 2008-2010 timeframe following the 2008 market crash and subsequent economic struggles. Boston College specifically reviewed aid amounts to be sure that students and families that were caught in bad financial situations would not be forced to leave the university. While I cannot comment on the final numbers (only because I do not know them), there were students who were able to stay thanks to resources being shifted inside the university to maintain or increase aid.
Thanks for the comments. Those are both good to hear. I think we didn’t realize when my daughter committed to a need-based scholarship that it kind of ties your hands as far as improving your situation.
^^btw: just in case you were unaware, need-based aid is highly dependent on the number of siblings in college at the same time. So aid could increase or decrease in future years, just based on the number of sibs in college.
Thank you @bluebayou, that is another piece of our puzzle. I have a second child who is a junior in high school and will start college when my first is a junior at BC. My dilemma right now is whether or not to risk losing the aid by going back to work part-time in 2016, the beginning of the fiscal year upon which her tuition will be based when my younger child will also be enrolling in college.
^^in general, the EFC is cut in half when two are in college at the same time. (not quite half, but close enough).
So, if your EFC is $40k today, and your income/assets do not change, the EFC for kid one will drop to $20k during Junior year. EFC for kid 2 would also be $20k. Thus, more grant money at colleges that meet full need.
Though the loans, work study, and any gap the school provides will not be halved. So the total cost to you and child together will most likely NOT be halved, but should definitely be reduced (by the amount your EFC dropped for the school).