I am a triplet, and all of my siblings and I plan on attending college this next fall. However, my parents cannot afford to pay for all of us. Obviously we are all trying out best to help our parents out, but the struggle is still evident. My siblings and I do not all plan to attend the same college, but we hear all the time that there are plenty of scholarships for being triplets. So my question is, are there any scholarships for triplets NOT going to the same college? We are all honor students with GPA’s above 3.0 and all take Honors classes. Any help is appreciated.
I was successful in winning outside scholarships, and I’ve never heard of a scholarship for triplets. I’m sure one or two exist, but I wouldn’t say there’s lots.
Now, many schools will give a discount/grant/whatever if multiple siblings attend… but you said you aren’t planning to attend the same school. It sounds like you’ve already committed, so short of telling you to attend another school that would give you merit, I don’t know what to tell you.
Having 3 in college at the same time may increase the amount of need-based financial aid you could get depending on your family’s income and assets and the potential schools involved. You would have to post more detail about your family’s financial situation to get ideas about that. The number one question is how much can your parents contribute each year for each of you?
Where did you hear there are plenty of scholarships for triplets? I highly doubt there are plenty.
Hi QueenBee23 - I am mom to quadruplets - they will be 18 next week and are going to 4 different colleges next month. Doing the FAFSA early is important for need based aid. My kids applied for numerous scholarships, they did get a few, but small $$ amounts. They applied to the ones offered at their high school and we found many on line to apply for. They were all honor students GPA’s above 3.0 which helped with merit aid. It was great that they sent in their applications early Nov/Dec so we got acceptances earlier - less stressful than waiting until later in th spring! Good luck to all of you!
<<<
but we hear all the time that there are plenty of scholarships for being triplets.
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
I doubt that. There aren’t entities out there that have a vested interest in providing aid for triplets.
What are the stats of each triplet? What is your home state?
How much will your parents pay for EACH triplet?
[QUOTE=""]
My siblings and I do not all plan to attend the same college,
[/QUOTE]
While I’m not suggesting that you should or have to attend the same college, it will be difficult for your parents to get 3 kids to different colleges, get to 3 different move-ins…and (yikes) maybe get to 3 graduations that are held on the same weekend! Just something to keep in mind.
There are some cost savings with having kids at the same school.
Fall 2016?
I know a family with triplets in college, and the scholarships largely were the same kinds of scholarships any student could apply to receive. They did get substantial financial aid packages due to 3 in college concurrently. I didn’t hear about any move-in issues, and all three attend schools in very different parts of the country.
I highly doubt that there are ‘plenty’ of scholarships specifically for triplets, but I imagine there are a few out there. I’ve never heard of any.
You should get better financial aid packages with siblings in school -regardless of whether they attend the same school or not. Packages will vary at each school, though, since each one has diff. aid policies, but there should be relatively more aid at most colleges. Since most schools don’t meet need, there will still be a gap, though.
<<<
They did get substantial financial aid packages due to 3 in college concurrently.
<<<
The problem will be the schools that these kids apply to.
As @quadmom1997 posted about the results for her quads…
[QUOTE=""]
UO was my kids dream school. I have quadruplets who all applied in November 2014. One son heard right away - accepted - very high SAT's. My other 3 did not hear until early March of 2015. They were thrilled, but it was shot lived!
[/QUOTE]
Being OOS, we did not get enough financial aid to make it happen. We would have had to pay almost $33k a piece to send them
<<<
if one of more of these triplets applies to schools that don’t “meet need” OR if the parents can’t afford their EFC even if the schools’ do meet need, these triplets could end up with no affordable schools.
If the triplet student would post each siblings’ stats, home state, and the amount that the parents will pay each year for each child, then we might be able to better direct them.
Thank you everyone who has answered so far! My siblings and I all live in Cincinnati, Ohio and all plan on staying home for college to save money. I myself am looking at Northern Kentucky University since they offer a slight discount for Cincinnati students. My siblings are looking at the University of Cincinnati. A lot of teachers and family members have made the comments that “there are plenty of scholarships for triplets” and I was always doubtful of that. Really, my parents can’t afford to send any of us, the most they can do is help with the cost of books. I am a 4.0 student, who takes honors and AP classes, I actually just got a 5 on my AP Government College Board Exam, so that softens the blow a little. This coming year, I plan on taking AP English and AP US History. My brother and sister both take honors classes as well, however my sister is the only other one taking an AP class and it’s art. Both have GPAs of over 3.0. My family never qualifies for financial aid because both my parents work, and no matter what we do, we never qualify. Any other suggestions would be appreciated! Thank you!
Are your parents feeding you? Paying for school books and other high school expenses? (Even in public school, there are usually expenses.) Paying for any extra-curricular activities or camps? If so, then presumably they can redirect that money towards helping with the cost of college. Depending on your parent’s Adjusted Gross Income at the bottom of the front page of their tax return, they may be eligible for a $2500/student tax credit for the first four years each of you are in college – that is $7,500/year given that there are three of you. (It is actually based on Modified Adjusted Gross Income, but that is likely the same or close if both your parents are employees of some company that they do not own.)
And – please ask them to sit down and run the net price calculator at U. of Cincinnati using their 2014 tax return for data. It may look better than you imagine with three of you in college.
When you say your family never qualifies for financial aid, what are you referring to? Have you tried entering amounts from your parents’ 2014 Form 1040 (federal income tax return) into a FAFSA EFC estimator (College Board website)?
What are your parents’ occupations?
So having 3 starting college in 2016 is a complete surprise and your parents have saved zero for college educations and have no plans to pay a penny over the cost of books ($2000 total per year for all 3?).
Please provide more information after estimating the EFC and looking at your parents’ tax return. Maybe you will be eligible for Questbridge.
We have applied for multiple federal grants and for services such as free/reduced lunch to help pay for ACT’s, but never qualify. My parents average about 60K-80K a year, but that is too much whenever we try. My parents did have a college fund set up for us and our older sister, but that fund was drained when she had a brain tumor and major brain surgery three years ago followed by major back surgery to correct her scoliosis. All that is left of that money was used to pay my older sister’s first year of college, but she is no longer going. My father works between 20-30 hours a pay period of overtime to try and build back up the money, but there is only enough right now for the first year of books for the three of us.
Did you or you siblings take the PSAT in 11th grade, if so any chance of national merit?
There is a huge difference between not having a low-enough income to qualify for free/reduced price lunch vs. getting financial aid in college. It is very wrong to assume that and not do the detailed investigation to understand what might be available at different colleges. Run a net price calculator at U. of Cincinnati and Ohio State (since you’re in-state) and see what you find. If you share those results with us, we can help you find other options that may be feasible.
^^
Exactly.
Qualifying for free lunch is different.
<<
My parents average about 60K-80K a year,
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
Both of your parents work AND your dad works a lot of overtime. Is the gross income (NOT net income) closer to $80k? or $60k?
Can you commute to that Northern Kentucky school?
Run the NPC on that school’s website and tell us the result. be sure to put that there will be 3 in college.
What was your PSAT score?
When will you be taking the SAT? or ACT?
With 3 in college and Adjusted Gross Income of $80k or less it’s possible each student would qualify for a small Pell grant.
The Questbridge application is open now. Have you and your siblings started working on it? The deadline is September 28.
Are you a minority?
If they do qualify for Pell, would they qualify for any fee waivers?
You would be surprised. I have not found any scholarships for triplets, but you really need to complete the estimate your EFC using the FAFSA estimator. My triplets will be seniors this year, and so I am starting the process of looking for scholarships. My husband and I earn more than $120,000/year. Although we earn that much there is no way we can afford to pay for our kids college. We have had significant health care costs, and both of our employers have mandatory deductions for retirement. It is great for retirement, but decreases our net pay. I was quite surprised to find out that when using the FAFSA estimator, it said our EFC was only $8,400. The financial need is based on the Cost of Attendance minus the EFC. I also called the university they would like to attend and although they will be living at home, they include quite a bit extra for other expenses such as computers, living expenses. The Cost of Attendance was close to double the Tuition and Fees. I was quite excited to hear this news. Although we won’t be eligible for any Pell Grants, we will be eligible for scholarship that require students to have a demonstrated need. Not sure how lucky we will get with being awarded scholarships, but it leaves the door open to a lot more opportunities than I thought possible. I am sure you will also be eligible for at least a small Pell Grant. Good luck!