We have seen exactly this (at the local public flagships in the area). I have also worked with many brilliant coworkers who attended their local in-state public flagship.
2 Likes
Even without aid you have a healthy budget with kids with those stats. Purdue would come in under budget even with zero aid as would UMD CP. We found that hitting the $40K/year mark was actually pretty straight forward for our D with similar stats. Private schools like RPI would give enough merit to come in under budget.
5 Likes
Our experience was that the equity in the rental properties was considered it to be as liquid as cash, and eliminated any possibility of fin aid. So no, don’t pay off the mortgages on the rental properties, if you have any better place to put the cash. If you have a mortgage on your primary residence, you could consider paying that off - but I bet that you’ve got a nice low interest rate on your residence, so you could lose that benefit, and still not get fin aid.
I would strongly urge you to have both children create financial safeties - flagship in-state U, plus the generous southern/southwestern flagships. Seriously consider whether an extra 200K/child/college education is really worth it to you and to them. That money may do them more good as a down payment on a home - or you and your spouse may need it in retirement.
7 Likes
You may have a chance for some need-based aid at the most generous schools, such as the Ivies (as others have noted, the Ivies and a few other highly-selective colleges only give need-based aid, not any merit aid). You can use myintuition.org for a quick read on what you might get for academic year 23-24 at a number of colleges.
However, as has been noted above, FAFSA is going to remove the “discount” that is currently provided for multiple kids in college at the same time, starting with your twins’ freshman year. So when you run the NPCs at FAFSA-only schools, you should enter that you have only 1 kid in college at a time, as that is how the rules will be starting academic year 24-25. For schools that also use the CSS Profile, I would suggest running the NPC both ways – with one kid in college and with 2 – because no one knows if the CSS Profile will continue that “discount” or not. It will almost certainly be an individual decision for each school – and I would imagine that any that do will see an increase in applications over those that don’t.
Edited to add that right now, I am assuming that all NPCs and myintuition.org are continuing to factor in the “discount” and won’t switch their formulas for a while. Also, be careful next year when running NPCs – sometimes colleges don’t update their formulas for years at a time even when they change their metrics (I’m looking at you, USC) – so be sure to pay attention to what “entering year” the NPC states the data is for.
2 Likes
I don’t think families in this income range will be harmed much by the elimination of the halving the EFC for having two in college. The EFC may go from $80k to $40k under the current formula, but that isn’t going to get the student a Pell grant, a subsidized loan, or anything else from the federal government. It MAY be viewed as worthy of need based aid from a few schools, but not many, and those schools can adjust their formulas to consider siblings in school.
There just aren’t that many schools giving need based aid to students with an EFC of $40k without requiring CSS.
One piece of advice given on CC is not to do anything you wouldn’t do anyway (like paying off a mortgage) just to get financial aid. It usually doesn’t work out. Buy or sell a property because that makes sense for your financial picture, but don’t do it because there might be financial aid some time in the future.
Really do look at the ‘merit’ colleges. You kids will do great at a number of schools, so find one (or two) that are good fits and focus on that merit money.
5 Likes
hear hear!
5 Likes
All good points above, but when was UPenn booted from the Ivy League?
1 Like
I wondered the same! 
1 Like
Long standing tradition that any school loosing to Brown at Football is banished from the league😀. Up until this last Saturday the league had been intact since 1956. GO BRUNO!!!
1 Like
@DadTwoGirls This is very insightful -thank you for taking the time to explain.
1 Like
I’ll keep you all posted as I deep dive into this topic in preparation for 2024. With the twins being our only kids, we don’t get second chance to apply any learnings - one and done.
I would love to hear from any parents of twins, on how you handled this journey and the stress that comes along…
I am planning to read the book “Who Get’s in and Why” to understand mechanics as much as possible.
Thank you all for sharing the great insights - CC rocks!
3 Likes
Look at “Paying for College Without Going Broke”
5 Likes
So this isn’t for everyone, but depending on the kids’ interests, would one or both want to look at the service academies? Can be a great mix of academic eliteness and interesting athletic opportunity…but again, not for all tastes for sure.
I bring this up since you mentioned that they aren’t seniors yet…and I’ve heard from other strong students that by the time they got serious about looking at places like West Point or Naval, it was already too late to fulfill requirements for applying.
1 Like
I would also suggest looking at the Canadian universities, especially McGill. The Canadian universities tend to be less than their US counterparts, and McGill was especially affordable for those who are looking for a BA degree rather than an engineering or CS or other sciences degree. They have different price structures depending on the program of interest, and of course the prices are in Canadian dollars, so you have to look at the exchange rate. I recall when my son was applying, McGill came in at around $30k US for tuition, room and board per year for either a BA degree or for one of their few combined BA & Sc degrees (which is what he was interested in). They also really like high-stats kids and will grant a lot of credit for AP tests, so your twins could possibly graduate in 3 years if they have the AP credits.
Here is a link to the tuition (not room and board) costs. Again, keep in mind that you have to account for the exchange rate, which right now is very favorable to the US dollar.
| Student Accounts - McGill University
And based on my research from two years ago when my son was seriously considering McGill (it was tied for his first choice), off-campus apartments and food are considerably less than US equivalents for a comparable desirable urban environment.
1 Like
No personal experience but a friend of mine sent his twins to college last year. High stat kids with great ECs. Would have been competitive at most schools.
But from the get go they focused on northeastern / mid-Atlantic public flagships and private schools that offered good merit and were strong in their major (each had a different major). He was clear about what they would be able to afford, and that quickly eliminated all the Ivies and other T-20s.
One ended up in-state, and another in a neighboring state, with good merit $$ at leading schools. Both twins are very happy with their choice.
3 Likes