My brother and sister are juniors in High School, and I am currently a senior hoping to get to Boston University next year, but I just don’t know if I will be able to afford it for four years due to the fact that my family will have to pay for their educations too. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this, specifically how much my aid may increase when my siblings go to school, or my chances of that even happening. Thank you!
Have you asked your parents how much they will spend each year for college for each child?
@thumper1 may have some info about how BU handles aid when a current student suddenly has 2 more siblings in college. Schools sometimes are more generous when it’s an incoming frosh situation, but not generous when a current student suddenly needs more aid. Because of this, the NPCs won’t be accurate to see protjection unless the school promises to meet need.
Talk to your parents about how much they’ll spend each year on college, particularly when 3 are in college at the same time.
My older kiddo graduated from BU. When he was a senior in college…his sister was a freshman. We completed the FAFSA and Profile again that year for BU…because it was a huge change of circumstances to have two in college.
Our FAFSA EFC went from $44000 a year (full cost to attend at the time…2006) to $22,000 a year.
Our BU kid was receiving a $10,000 a year music performance award.
BU gave my kid $250 additional dollars in merit aid…and not a nickel of need based aid…not even a subsidized loan.
The school does not guarantee to meet full need…and they don’t.
Here is my suggestion…run the BU net price calculator with one in college…and then again with two in college and see what the difference is. BUT keep in mind…the NPC is really for incoming freshmen. So this isn’t going to give you really accurate into.
Bottom line…don’t expect a huge amount increase in need based aid from BU…maybe you will get something…but maybe you won’t. We didn’t.
Maybe their policies have changed…
I think there will actually be 3 in college the following year. It might be worth a gap year so you all start at the same time.
What kind of a package did you get from Boston university
Even with three in college…there is NO guarantee that Boston University will have a lower net cost.
I would suggest you contact their financial aid office…maybe they can tell you how three in college will affect their need based aid awarding.
What aid did you get for the upcoming year?
It’s good that you’re asking these questions. There was a distraught dad who posted in the spring a couple of years ago. He had allowed his older daughter to go to her pricey dream school with little/no aid that the family could just afford. He wrongly assumed that when younger son went to college the next year, the family would get aid for both kids and only have to pay about the same as what the family was paying for the older daughter’s freshman year. The dad was very wrong. His older daughter’s school gave zero add’l aid, and his son got some aid at his #1 choice, but not enough aid. Son was going to have to attend his second choice, a much more affordable school.
The dad was especially upset because now he was going to have to tell older daughter that she was going to have to leave the school that she loved. He had no choice. He couldn’t have her continue and then tell the son he’d have to go to a CC. It was heartbreaking
Sounds like it’s important to ask frank questions. This concerns me too. I have two kids now in HS, one a junior and one a freshman. We can afford full pay anywhere for D19, but…not two full pay kids at the same time. So if we allow D to go anywhere, then S has far fewer choices. He may actually not care, because he says he wants to go to our state public school system, but I’m becoming increasingly hesitant about allowing D to explore full pay options unless she is accepted to a school that guarantees to meet full need. Even then, going in with no FAFSA for the first two years and then having to file a FAFSA and need aid for years 3 and 4 would be nervewracking.
@marthmain - As others have noted, BU does not guarantee to meet full need. The higher your stats, the more likel y you are to get a reasonable award your first year --and the net price calculator does ask questions about your grades, test scores and EC’s so those may be factored for the estimate you would get online.
But if your stats are strong enough to quaify for a strong award at BU, it’s likely you can also get into college that meets full need for all applicants.
A full need colleges will NOT necessarily increase your grant to fully compensate for siblings in college, but they will consider them and apply a uniform formula. Sometimes they need proof of the sibling’s actual COA.
So you are right to be asking these question now – but you really do need to expand your options to apply to some 100% need schools, or schools where you are likely to get significant merit aid, or in-state publics that would be affordable to your family with or without aid.
BU doesn’t meet need. It means they won’t adapt financial aid to your siblings getting into college. In other words, either your siblings will have their choices severely curtailed or you’ll have to leave BU after a year and transfer wherever (and because there’s little merit and lousy aid for transfers, you’d pay more than if you started as a freshman there, plus the heartache of leaving your college and your friends).
Where else did you get in?.if you got into a full need college they WOULD consider your siblings starting college and would change the package to reflect that.