<p>I have a HS Senior, going into college in the Fall. I have twin HS Juniors who are following 1 year behind. I included this information in the FAFSA which gave me an ECF of about $30k. </p>
<p>Does this $30k for this Fall take into account the other siblings? Is that my family ECF that NEXT year will be roughly divided among the 3, i.e. ~$10k each?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!
Nick</p>
<p>The EFC is your EFC for Summer 2014-Spring 2015. You will not know what your EFC for Summer 2015-Spring 2016 is (when your twins go to college) but I would suspect you will be close to the same EFC for all three combined if all things stay the same.</p>
<p>Yes, your EFC will get split 3-ways when the twins also go to college.</p>
<p>However, unless those 3 kids get into “full need” schools, that lower EFC means nothing. You may still be expected to pay full or near-full freight for all 3 kids.</p>
<p>For instance, if your 3 kids are PA residents and want to go to Penn State, then even if you have a $10k EFC for each kid, PSU will expect you to pay the full cost for each child…no aid except a $5500 student loan. The same if you’re instate for UIUC and many other schools. If your kids apply to OOS publics, then that can also be the case most of the time.</p>
<p>And, most schools that 'meet need" use CSS Profile which doesn’t split like that…and wlll look at other sources of money (home equity, etc).</p>
<p>EFC does NOT mean what you think it does. It is not the amount that you’re expected to pay. It’s just a number to see if you qualify for federal aid, which is little. And even a $10k EFC is too high for federal grants. EFC has to be below $6k to get federal grants. </p>
<p>What kind of schools will your kids be applying to? </p>
<p>You need to figure out how much you can pay per child and tell your kids this. They may need to apply to schools that will give them enough merit money so that your remaining costs are low.</p>
<p>"My daughters are “just” B+ students so WVU seems within reach. I’ve read most of the reference threads and it seems that OSU, Penn State, UVA, etc. do not offer merit to out of staters unless applicants are academic elites, relatively speaking. Is this conclusion accurate?</p>
<p>Assuming so, does anyone have similar schools (to WVU) to recommend? NYS doesn’t have a “flagship” school like other states with all that school spirit. The smaller SUNY campuses (and climate) are less inviting.</p>
<p>This does get to the question about schools that are generous with merit aid, but I’m looking for a more focused response – around location, size, setting, etc."</p>
<p>ahh…now I remember you. You posted the above last November. </p>
<p>You’re a NY resident and your kids are looking at OOS publics. Unless they have stats high enough to get large merit, expect to pay most/all costs to these schools. </p>
<p>When your twins have their SAT scores, that will largely determine where they should apply. </p>
<p>How much can you pay “per child”?</p>
<p>Where will your older child go to college? How much will you have to pay there?</p>
<p>The concern I have is this: Another dad posted a couple of years ago with a similar EFC. He let his first child go to a pricey OOS public thinking that when his younger child went to college the following year that his EFC would split and he’d get aid for both kids. WRONG. Sadly he found out that older child got NO AID even with 2 in college, and he was faced with a dilemma…make Child #1 leave the pricey school or force Child #2 to go to a very cheap school so that he could still afford all costs. He was very upset because both solutions were awful. </p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. Yes we were looking at OOS publics but I’m learning that well funded privates may be a better route. I have told the kids I will pay half.</p>
<p>The oldest (senior) has received several acceptances, from a mix of SUNYs and local privates, costing between $20k and $30k (after merit). He needs to decide soon.</p>
<p>One of the twins is looking at physician assistant programs. She has great grades (97 ave) and I would estimate 1250+ SATs (taking them Saturday). I know she’ll get into a program and I’m less concerned about her debt. She will get some merit and will have the ability to pay off the debt given the job market and salaries for physician assistants. </p>
<p>The other twin is open. She’s more of a B student and I’m not sure how she’ll do on the SATs. In looking at some schools, they seem to be pretty liberal with merit, e.g. Niagara University, Canisus, St Bonventure… So was hopeful that low EFC would help with well funded schools.</p>
<p>There are a number of schools in PA that offer PA programs and give very generous merit scholarships. Among them are Marywood, Kings, and Desalles, all in NE PA. </p>
<p>Thanks KKmama. We are at Seton Hill today and St Francis tomorrow. Also visited Duquesne, other corner of PA :)</p>
<p>“Thanks for the responses. Yes we were looking at OOS publics but I’m learning that well funded privates may be a better route. I have told the kids I will pay half.”</p>
<p>Do you mean half of the total cost? or half of the bill after merit/grants? How is the other half supposed to get paid? Are you going to co-sign loans for each child? </p>
<p>Half the cost after merit. So I’ll pay for half of the $20k or $30k for the senior. Yes, I’ll co-sign loans.</p>
<p>^^
Well, I’d be more careful than just say, “I’ll pay half after merit/grants”. One or both twins may end up with choices that “their half” is quite large. And it won’t be wise for them to end up with $60k in debt each. </p>
<p>Plus, you may get to the point that you won’t qualify to keep co-signing loans since with each loan your credit takes a hit. Do you realize that?</p>
<p>You need to figure out how much TOTAL debt you will be allowed to co-sign for. And you need to figure out how much debt is reasonable for each child to have. </p>
<p>If each child has you co-sign $15k per year, then you’ll end up cosigning for $180k in debt. That’s very risky. and, may be hard to qualify for if you have other debt (mortgage, etc). </p>
<p>Your D who wants to be a PA will ALREADY have a LOT of debt for THAT part of her education. So, that alone can be over $100k in debt. She shouldn’t have much undergrad debt then.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s a guideline for heading into a discussion. The PA program is a 3 plus 2 program. I have about $50k saved for each fo the 3. So how does one determine how much debt they can co sign for?</p>
<p>Somewhere along the way I read that one should have a maximum loan amount that equals one year of their expected salary upon graduation. My PA daughter got through the 5 year program with about $45K in debt and is earning double that in her first year out.</p>
<p>One good thing about the PA major. Beginning her sophomore year she qualified for Wells Fargo premedical professional loans. 6 per cent interest, but does not require a cosigner. So you can be off the hook for her loans!</p>
<p><<
My PA daughter got through the 5 year program with about $45K
<<</p>
<p>That’s very good. Did she have scholarships funding most of those 5 years? At what point was she considered a “grad student”? Was she given grants to pay for her the “grad school portion”? </p>
<p>So, were $27k in Stafford loans and the rest (about $20k) from Wells Fargo? </p>
<p><<<
Niagara University, Canisus, St Bonventure… So was hopeful that low EFC would help with well funded schools.
<<<</p>
<p>Are those schools well-funded? I’ve never heard that they are. </p>
<p>Have you ran the NPCs on these schools to see what the results would be?</p>
<p>Yes the NPCs are about $25k - $27k. Very generous scholarships for decent GPA and SATs. The general accepted wisdom in NYS is that the privates have high sticker prices, but come down within $5k - $7k of SUNYs. Friends “in the business” have told me the demographics of fewer students in the market for college have increased the competition for those relatively fewer students.</p>
<p>kkmama good to hear about the PA payoff. My D is very excited to begin ASAP.</p>
<p>Take a look at SUNY Buffalo. Lots of things on campus there. </p>
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<p>Add Philadelphia University (known around here as Philly U) to the list of PA schools. The great thing about Philadelphia is we have a ton of world class hospitals.</p>
<p>To answer the questions about my daughter’s PA school debt. She was considered in graduate school for FAFSA purposes for her fourth and fifth years of the program, but Wells Fargo took her on for the private loans without a co-signer beginning in her sophomore year. The college gave her a large scholarship for the first four years (they considered her as UG for the fourth year for scholarship purposes) and another for the fifth year. She worked as an RA one year, which provided her with free room and board. If she’d done that for more years, she would have made out even better.</p>
<p>What really saved her a lot of money was Obamacare. Right when she was getting ready to start her fourth year President Obama set up a one-time only, two year grant for students entering PA graduate programs who would agree to enter primary care practices. Her school had 4 to pass out, and she was fortunate enough to receive one. Without it she would have had another $44,000 of debt. </p>
<p>We covered her insurances and medical expenses, and helped a bit with day to day expenses, but she put herself through school.</p>
<p>“a one-time only, two year grant for students entering PA graduate programs who would agree to enter primary care practices. Her school had 4 to pass out, and she was fortunate enough to receive one. Without it she would have had another $44,000 of debt.”</p>
<p>Ahh…now I understand the lowish debt… the 2-year grant, the RA benefits, and scholarships. Many good things happening at the same time. </p>
<p>It’s interesting what Wells Fargo did. Was she a second-year student with lots of AP credits (putting her at a higher standing)?</p>
<p>Getting here late. My daughter who is looking into PA has a 4.7 average and a 32 ACT. Merit scholarships for 5 year PA would still leave her (us) over $175K in debt by program’s end. Of Duquesne, Gannon, St Francis , Gannon had the best merit, Duquesne’s was an embarrassment considering they are the most expensive of all 3 and offered the least merit. For financial aid Duquesne offered loans and a little for work study, haven’t heard from the others yet.</p>
<p>There is a benefit to a 5 year program Vs. 6, but I’m not sure it is worth the 100K difference in price of going to a state school then applying to a masters program.</p>
<p>By the way, if you are interested in Seton Hill for 5 year make sure you check out the application deadline. I believe it is September. We assumed it was around November like most of the others, and missed it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the insight on Duquesne. It is disappointing though. We did meet with an admissions counselor who seemed very interested in my daughters – I believe primarily because we are from upstate NY. We’ll see what that gets us when we apply next year…</p>