Parents with 2 kids in schools with FA please help

Parents Forum
1

<p>So far we have received two FA packages. EFC from both are the same, almost to the dollor. They do, however, differ in amount of loan as part of the package. </p>

<p>As we are doing the planning, we would really appreciate some help from those are doing it now.</p>

<p>We know our bill for year 1. In year two to four, since our cash amounts (both parent and student) will be lower (much lower), should we expect the EFC to go down? Since the COA will go up, should we expect amount of loan to go up? </p>

<p>In some of those 4 years, we will have 2 kids attending colleges. Should we plan to pay the same EFC for two? In other words, if we will pay $ x for child #1, we will pay $ (1/2)x each for child #1 and child #2 while both of them are in college.</p>

2

<p>I am going from one to three to two over the next few years and have called several colleges about this issue. The bottom line is that even for full need schools, formulas vary, and may depend upon whether child 2 goes to a public or private school.</p>

<p>Similarly, schools have different policies about modifying aid packages in subsequent years.</p>

<p>The only thing that you can do is to call the financial aid offices at specific schools and ask. I have found them to be very forthcoming.</p>

3

<p>Agreed - you need to call the financial aid offices where your daughter has been accepted and ask. The 3 questions you need to ask now are:</p>

<p>1) Does the college guarantee to meet full need for all 4 years?
2) Are the amounts of loan for each year capped in any way?
3) How will the college treat calculation of aid when there is a sibling enrolled in college?</p>

<p>By way of example, here are the answers for my daughter's college -- note that this is just their policy. </p>

<p>A. College guarantees to meet 100% need, using institutional methodology (CSS Profile), for 4 years. Student must maintain 2.0 GPA and satisfactory progress toward degree from full-time-enrollment each semester.</p>

<p>B. Total loan amount required for each year does increase, but it capped according to Stafford limits in effect at the time d. entered. (School will not require any loans beyond subsidized Stafford). </p>

<p>C. Sibling will be considered, but must provide verification of enrollment + statement from sibling's college as to COA. So the sibling enrollment may result in an increased college grant, but that will be based on actual costs, not a 50% reduction. (Note that institutional methodology does not result in 50% reduction in any case).</p>

<p>Bottom line: get your answers NOW from each college that your d. is considering as to what that college promises for future years, but do not count on anything for younger son. Younger son should be told to keep up his grades and apply to colleges offering merit aid as well as need only schools so that his options will be open. Older daughter should be encouraged to be responsible with her money now and plan for the possibility that she may have to take on more of a burden of her own expenses in later years when her brother is in college -- after all, when she is a junior or senior attending an excellent, prestigious college, her earning capacity should increase.</p>

<p>Also, if part of the EFC is based on savings in your daughter's name, those should be spent down first, as they are counted toward EFC at a much higher rate than your own. Your EFC will go down as you spend down your own savings, but not as much, as only about 5% of your assets is counted toward EFC. So if you have $100,000 in the bank in year #1 and spend $30K, leaving $70K, your EFC in year #2 will be about $1500 less than it was the previous year. Because of that, depending on your financial situation, you may find it is better for you to balance spending with a parent PLUS loan, rather than jeopardize your own financial security.</p>

4

<p>With two in college at full-need-met school, our EFC for each child was 1/2 total EFC, plus percentage of each child's assets/income. Since the second kid had some money in savings, the EFC for him was slightly higher than for her. This school meets the extra need with grant, and caps total student loan debt - but many schools will just pile on the loans when two are in college and will only increase grants a little.</p>

5

<p>Calmom,
Thanks for this info -- hadn't really thought of asking S1's colleges now what they'll do when S2 heads off to school in two years. Gee, I think I'll need to stick around CC a while longer! :)</p>

6

<p>I found it very effective + efficient to make a list of my questions and send them in an email to my d's financial aid department, along with a request for a "telephone appointment" to talk to someone. That gave them the option of answering the questions in the email or talking to me. </p>

<p>IF the college promises to meet full need, they probably have very specific rules & policies in place that governs all of this. I asked my d's college the sibling question because it was a more immediate concern -- my son was out of school at the time and applying for admission as a transfer student to various colleges, but not completely certain he would return to school. I had filled out the FAFSA "as if" he would be in school.... but I honestly didn't know as of April of 2006 whether or not he would be in school the following fall, so for me it was really important to ascertain the numbers both ways. Fortunately, the college understood exactly what was going on.</p>