NEU - Financial aid with second sibling entering college

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northeastern University
1

Hello,
I wasn’t sure if I should post here or Financial Aid forum. Since this is specific to NEU I’m starting here.

My son currently attends NEU, in his second year. His financial award from NEU is fair. It’s a stretch for us to pay the remainder of the bill but it hasn’t forced us to take out extra loans. Only loans are the federal loans.
My daughter will be entering college (not necessarily NEU) in the Fall of 2021. I’ve completed the FASFA and CSS for her. I completed the updated FASFA for my son. As expected, with a second child in college, the EFC for my son is almost half what the calculated EFC was two years ago. EFC for both children are the same.
I contacted the financial aid office at NEU to see if they wanted an updated CSS for my son and they said “no”. They said when my son receives his financial award in the summer of 2021, then at that time they can review the package to see if he is eligible for more aid.

For the families that have gone through this at NEU, is this accurate? I wanted to ensure I didn’t misinterpret their response.
If this is the process then did you find the school to be fair with an updated financial aid award for your current child attending NEU? As stated above we can get by with the current award with ONE child in college. If there is minimal or no modification to the award, it would be extremely difficult for us to pay for my son and daughter, once my daughter starts college.

Thanks!

2

I had the same question, same situation, and got the same response. I have a freshman at NEU and have twins going to college next fall. They told me that the CSS is only submitted once, the FAFSA every year. They told me to file a change of circumstance with FA and they will review. I hope that they the aid package, and I am also curious if this has happened to others.

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The primary difference between the CSS and the FAFSA is CSS includes the value of your home and your retirement accounts. CSS assumes you will borrow against these to provide more $ to put to college costs. Since those two assets don’t change dramatically year to year, compared to possibly income, then it makes sense to only fill it out freshman year.

But to answer your question about fairness, I have no idea. Although it is a different circumstance, I do know my nephew requested additional funds from NEU after his sophomore year and they declined. His twin and older sister at LACs did the same and both received increased grants. My nephew ended up transferring to an in-state school partly because of money and partly because he decided to change his major which would have increased his time at NEU.