<p>My family is not eligible for any financial aid and this coming fall I'll probably have my 2 children attending the same school. For the past 2 years I was able to borrow funds to pay the tuition for my first child but this fall's tuition will be a crusher. The school will not provide any "Sibling Discount". I was thinking of putting a little more pressure on the school this last week before decisions have to be sent in to see if they will offer same help if not advise them child 2 may not attend. They probably won't give a crap as they're considered an elite school with a huge waiting list...but I'll give it a try as all schools want to keep their admission rate high. Somebody suggested I ask the school if I can make a "donation" to the school for child 2 in lieu of "tuition" and at least get a tax write-off. Has anyone ever heard of this being done before?</p>
<p>My friend sent all 4 of her kids to a small private and they offered something like 5% discount for any year when both kids are enrolled</p>
<p>“make a “donation” to the school for child 2 in lieu of “tuition” and at least get a tax write-off”</p>
<p>I doubt it. The school must be able to issue you a statement saying you got nothing in return for the donation. It could risk their tax-exempt status.</p>
<p>Just because you haven’t been eligible for need-based aid in the past, doesn’t mean you’ll continue to be ineligible next year, particularly with two kids in college.</p>
<p>Both FAFSA and Profile formulas take the number in college into account, significantly reducing the EFC for each child when there are two in college. FAFSA cuts the parent’s contribution to the EFC in half.</p>
<p>So, for example, if you were looking at a college with a Cost of Attendance of $25K, and your EFC was 30K, with one kid in college, you’d not be eligible for any need-based aid. The following year, with two in college and similar income and assets, your FAFSA EFC for each kid would be about 15K, making each child potentially eligible for up to 10K in aid.</p>
<p>So rerun the numbers through the College Board calculator with two in college.</p>
<p>[EFC</a> Calculator: How Much Money for College Will You Be Expected to Contribute?](<a href=“http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp]EFC”>http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp)</p>