<p>Either have the D take a gap year (I don’t see the harm in having 2 girls be frosh the same year)…or co-sign a loan for your son to pay for his last year and have him be responsible for payback.</p>
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<p>I haven’t investigated many colleges, but the few private colleges that I have looked at cuts off finaid after four years*. And they state it clearly, in writing, on their website and in numerous documents. If you want to change majors and become a 5±year student, do it on your own dime. (Indeed, many students graduate from a private in whatever major that they can, then return to their home state to attend their instate public to pick-up a second bachelors at much cheaper prices.) </p>
<p>*The only exception to four years is Dartmouth which provides aid for a 5th year only for Engineering students so they can earn a professional license/certificate.</p>
<p>OTOH, the California publics offer aid beyond 8 semesters/12 quarters.</p>
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<p>No he doesn’t. You can always tell him that a 5th year is not an option at the private college. If he wants major #2 bad enough, he can finish at private college and then matriculate to his instate public for a second degree.</p>
<p>I hope you see why your D’s college would not subsidize your son’s 5th year, when it is solely his personal choice/plananing.</p>
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<p>Ditto. We added, ‘enjoy it while you can, since four years goes by really fast.’</p>
<p>Some schools will pay merit scholarships for 5 years if a dual major is declared when you apply. But you have to read all the fine print. One private school that accepted son last year did offer the merit scholarship for the full 5 years and another private said that the dean would consider extending the scholarship at the end of 4 years depending on son’s performance in the preceeding 4 years. We opted for him to attend the instate public school with the 4 1/2 year dual major program(plus scholarships) which worst case if he lost all scholarships would still be affordable. We were very concerned that if he changed majors or didn’t keep his grades up, we would be in the same position as the OP.</p>
<p>Actually, if I recall, Emory will provide a 9th semester of financial aid, with approvals, particularly if the reason is study abroad.</p>
<p>For others who may stumble across this thread I would have to agree that all scholarship offers I have seen have clearly stated exactly how long they will pay. S1 also changed majors to a completely different, unrelated field. He did come home every summer and worked full time plus took classes at the community college and local State U during the summers to play catch up.</p>
<p>To clarify, my son changed majors from civil to computer engineering at the end of his sophomore year. Though they were both engineering programs, there was virtually no overlap in course requirements, hence the necessity to go an extra year. His credits largely would not transfer to our public in-state school, which would mean he would have to go more than one additional year to get a degree. Nor could he now graduate at his private school with any kind of degree after four years, not having fulfilled the requirements of any other major (engineering at this school together with distribution requirements means he has been able to take virtually no elective classes).</p>
<p>Team, I am not certain why having the D take a gap year wont help. Are you not willing/able to spend the EFC, as split, between the two girls? Are you saying that while you would spend for S to spend one year as full pay at expensive private school, you can not come up with any options for the Ds? Will they not have the same option that you thought was going to work for the S - private school with aid, or public school?</p>
<p>Not to be harsh, but it sounds like you’ve known about this potential problem since the end of your son’s soph year…when he changed majors and saw that “there was virtually no course overlap” between the two majors.</p>
<p>Why didn’t he do summer school and such to catch up to avoid this situation? Or work as much as he could over the past two summers to save for this 5th year? Or why didn’t you just say, “we won’t be able to afford that 5th year, you need to come up with a solution.”</p>
<p>Anyway…it seems like it’s the eleventh hour and you plan on spending most of your money on your son and your D is stuck holding the bag (thru no fault of her own). </p>
<p>If I were you, I would do one of the following…(probably #2)</p>
<p>1) Ask D if she’ll consider a gap year (and apologize for the situation and how it may affect her.)</p>
<p>2) Co-sign loans for son that he would be responsible for. And, expect him to work a lot this summer to minimize cost. And, if he needs less than 30 credits this next year, then expect him to work a good bit during the school year.</p>
<p>Mom2, I know this seems like lack of planning. My DD transferred, and to avoid it turning into a 5 year plan, she took online courses over the summer. It meant she had virtually no electives in her brick and mortar school, but so be it. She was told, by me, that the transfer credit evaluation was critical to making it work. </p>
<p>Not to be overly pessimistic, but my former MIL is still bitter that her parents paid for her brother to go to a private school, but wouldnt pay for her.</p>
<p>IMO, forcing the D into a gap year is just not cool (nor “fair”); she should not be disadvantaged for your son’s late decision to change majors. (yes, I know Soph year is not generally ‘late’, but it is in Eng.) </p>
<p>Instead, have the boy to take a year off, get a job and earn some money to help pay for his fifth year.</p>
<p>I wonder how bad it would be to have both son and d in school next year? Yes, the son won’t get aid, but the D’s school will consider that there are two in school (but not likely the fact that there’s no aid at the second school).</p>
<p>If the family was likely already budgeted to pay about “half costs” at one school and “half costs” at the other, then they’re losing about $25k for the son. A $25k co-signed loan for a future engineer isn’t awful.</p>
<p>With 2 in college at CSS full need schools, the split is usually about 60/60. So, how much would the family have paid for each kid if the son had gotten aid???</p>
<p>Bluebayou, I think that OP is concerned that S will have trouble if he takes a year off. That he won’t remember (for lack of a better word) the earlier courses. But OP also says that D taking a gap year wont help that much, as there is a younger D behind the first D. I dont understand why that matters – as there was always going to be 2 in college at one time.</p>
<p>^^Even better with three in college at the same time, at least for the purposes of need-based aid. Instead of splitting the EFC two ways (60/60), it gets split three ways. (Maybe 40/40/40?) Of course, tuition is increasing xx% per year…</p>
<p>Well, I don’t think there will be 3 in college at the same time unless the S and the D do a gap year this fall. And, I don’t see the need for both students to gap…or really either student to gap.</p>
<p>As for the 40/40/40…I don’t know if that’s the CSS split for 3…because that’s the same total as 60/60 (for two kids)… I thought the philosophy for CSS schools is that you will still pay more overall with multiples in college because a family should pay more when there is more than one.</p>
<p>If the OP were to come back and tell us what their likely “family contribution” would have been for each child if S’s school did give aid, then likely the amount not given by the son’s school ($25k???) could be student loan.</p>
<p>Has your son considered getting a permit from his current school to take the courses that he needs to graduate at your local public in-state school? This way he could finish his courses at a less expensive rate and D still gets to attend college. I also think that your son needs to take out the full stafford loans of 7500 to help pay for this.</p>
<p>With the income earning potential of an engineer, how does a gap year make sense? Why work a lower paying job and delay a high income job? Certainly it would be better for S to take out loans that final year and pay them off as an engineer. </p>
<p>OP, you need to separate D’s and S’s situation. It is not D’s or her school’s responsibility for the fact that S can’t get financial aid his 5th year. It is S’s responsibility to figure out how to finance the 5th year. He’s known about it since sophmore year and should have planned.</p>
<p>I suspect that OP and OPs son knew that change of major meant it would be 5 years to graduate, but they did not realize that finaid would only go for 4 years. I suspect (or hope) that son is already committed to Stafford Loan. I hope son has pleaded his case to get RA to cut down on housing costs. I am not certain how many schools allow the last year to be taken eslewhere, or how workable that is – at this time, given that son has not applied to transfer, etc to any other school. </p>
<p>OP, please come back and let us know how this ends up.</p>
<p>This is a good reminder to other families, that college is a consumer purchase & when you buy something, consider all costs, hidden & otherwise.</p>
<p>The schools I am familiar with are very upfront about limiting aid for four years, I wonder if it is possible that OP just missed that information when student was deciding what college to attend?</p>
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<p>This really answers the OPs initial question well.</p>
<p>I honestly think while son should have known, he might not have known. One could just as easily say parents knew, as they should have known. To tell a kid figure out how to pay for this is just unrealistic.</p>