Net Price Calculator question

Hi all,
This is my first post, my son is a rising senior starting to look for colleges. What should be the answer in most net price calculators to the question: how many kids will be attending college if my daughter is starting college two years after him? For a two years period they will be attending together, does it count? Thank you very much in advance for your help!

For your son, you would just put 1. When your daughter goes in 2 years (assuming your son is still in college), then you can put 2.

They want to know how many will be in college for the year you are applying for aid. For now…your answer will be one.

You can redo it with two, to see what a given school would give if there were two in college. But I would not count on that school to change the financial aid, necessarily when you get that second college student. You need to ask the financial aid officer if that NPC result would hold when a second student is added.

I actually redo it with 2 instead of one and the difference is 15K. Some NPC are very specific on “how many kids will be attending college in the year your son starts” while others state the question differently “how many kids will be attending college at the same time of your kid”. For the first question I would answer 1, but for the second one is rather ambiguous.

Financial aid is given on a yearly basis. You apply ever year and answer the questions for that year. The NPCs are all a little different, but it is te FAFSA and CSS that are important, and those care about who is in school THAT year.

Your second child will be counted in the number of family members.

Thank you for your answer, so the school calculates financial aid every year?

@laura2019mom

When your son starts college…there will only be ONE student in college. So you answer ONE to “how many will be attending college”.

When your daughter and son are both in college at the same time…and you complete that financial aid form…you will put 2.

But the net price calculators are set up for incoming freshmen…so really…when your son enters as a freshman there will only be ONE in college.

When your daughter starts, there will be TWO (assuming your son is still in college).

@thumper1 very clear, thank you!