Northeastern Promise

With the Northeastern Promise, they are dedicated to meeting the full demonstrated need for each admitted student eligible for federal financial aid . If my EFC is reduced by an additional child starting college in a subsequent year, would this in turn, impact the level of financial aid provided by Northeastern? In other words, would Northeastern increase aid in a student’s 2nd, 3rd and 4th years to match the new EFC?

When you say “EFC,” do you mean the FAFSA EFC? My guess is that in determining “demonstarted financial need,” Northeastern uses the Profile form to calculate its own EFC for the purpose of distributing institutional need-based aid. And, if Northeastern’s own EFC shows a change in need from one year to the next, it’s likely that the amount of institutional aid will also change. But you should check with the Northeastern financial aid office to confirm.

Yes the FAFSA EFC. I was hoping that someone on here personally had an experience with the Northeastern Promise and their financial aid was INCREASED by a change in the FAFASA EFC. This is a factor in deciding which school we can commit to & best afford.

Northeastern uses the CSS Profile in addition to FAFSA, so it presumably calculates EFC its own way, which may be (and probably is) different from the FAFSA EFC.

Northeastern’s EFC for you may change as other kids enter or leave college. You may want to try Northeastern’s net price calculator with different numbers of other kids in college to get an estimate of the effect of other kids entering or leaving college for your situation.

Ask NEU’s fin aid office.

https://studentfinance.northeastern.edu/applying-for-aid/undergraduate/the-northeastern-promise/

I don’t have personal experience with this and you should absolutely check with the financial aid office, but generally, that seems to read like a yes here as another kid in college would be a financial impact. That said, I’m betting they can’t guarantee a specific amount or even ballpark even if they do confirm they reevaluate accordingly, so I might be careful here.

As mentioned but just to confirm, the guarantee that it will not decrease from the original amount has been true for me in all experiences I’m aware of, quoted below for reference.

@RocAmSam My experience watching this page for years now, many have commented that they have NOT received more FA in subsequent years when a younger sibling starts college. The Promise says that they agree to not lower any aid you receive but they don’t usually increase it unless a parent loses a job or something of that sort. But FA would be your best guidance. I would give them a call. The NU Promise really is a great offer however in that even if your finances improve, they will not lower your aid and that has played out again and again for folks. My daughters have only received generous merit packages and those do not change so long as they have maintained their GPA.