Thanks for the clarification. With all three of your kids in college at the same time your FAFSA your 12k EFC would be split between your 3 kids. With a 4K EFC each one of your kids would be eligible for a small PELL grant.
When your youngest is the only one in school your EFC will go back to ~12k
At the school oldest is attending, is summer 2019 part of 2018/19 aid year or 2019/20 aid year?
Summer is included in the next school year for oldest, so 2019-2020.
I only know that because her freshman year she took a summer class and I was told we would have to use the next years allotment of aid for that class. We decided to just pay out of pocket.
You said…your kids do not attend colleges that guarantee to meet full need for all. That being the case. There is no guarantee your kids will receive more need based aid anyway with three in college…unless each EFC is below $5000 and they get a portion of the Pell grant.