My twins have been accepted to some great schools. My son has decided on Cornell, my daughter wants to go to Mount Holyoke. My son’s financial package is reasonable and my daughter’s is not. Cornell figured the family contribution at $15,800 which I think is about right as I am struggling to find work in my chosen field and I am living off assets while I look for employment. Mount Holyoke, however, figures the family contribution at $43,800. Therefore my daughter got less than half the aid my son did. So it will cost 2X as much for my daughter to attend Mount Holyoke as it does for my son to attend Cornell. I may have to keep her in Florida as she will be able to attend New College for very little or Eckerd for a bit more but nowhere near what Mount Holyoke would be.
Mount Holyoke was one of my daughter’s top choices but I may say no to her while I am saying yes to her brother going to Cornell. I don’t want to see her crippled with debt when she completes her degree. I plan on calling Mount Holyoke’s financial department to find out how they arrived at such a large number as I am perplexed. Financial packages received from other colleges were more inline with Cornell’s.
Anyone else experience this kind of extreme disparity of the family contribution between colleges that use the CSS profile?
Yes. Ours varied from 12K to 41K for the same kid. It’s insane. (Incidentally MoHo was right in the middle for us at 28K no loans, and she got the leadership award.)
Frankly, I am shocked because my son’s packages from other schools were much more realistic than Mt. Holyoke’s. More than curious about how the colleges arrive at these numbers.
Did you contact MHC and ask them? Tell them you have a twin who will be attending Cornell and tell them the aid the twin received.
The two schools likely have different formulas…
But it is possible that someone didn’t enter that you would have a second student in college at the same time…this would almost double your family contribution of they did that at MHC.
First of all the only way your D would be crippled with debt is if you cosigned for her. The max she is allowed to borrow as a student is $27K over the four years. Calling MH makes sense to see what they used to determine your family contribution vs. Cornell. Are/were you a business owner? Are your assets considerable? It sounds like they may be if you can live off them and pay for two college students. When did you lose your position?
I have been out of work for a while. Mostly do contract work now. Not much. Last 3 years my income was under $40,000. Last year was the lowest - $26,000. Considering a career change at this point. Dad makes $70,000. We are divorced. I am able to get by not really “live” off my assets. My savings will be gone in a few years if I can’t produce more income. And child support ends in July. My home has equity but at my income I doubt I will qualify for additional loans on my home. I still owe $180,000. And I am not paying for 2 colleges. Dad and the kids will have to help. All four of us have to contribute some how. There is a 529 plan but that will be gone in the first semester at this rate.
I remember reading on CC about a parent of twins saying one of the colleges calculated aid with 1 instead of 2 in college as a policy and only updated it upon some sort of enrollment confirmation for the other sibling.
Is it possible that MH calculates the NCP’s income more harshly than Cornell does?
Definitely contact MH and ask for a review. Explain that your D will enroll if the aid is more similar to Cornell’s (or whatever you need). I also think that maybe the other twin was not counted.
What about her other schools (other than New College).
I feel for you. With two accomplished twins, it would be extremely hard to let Twin1 go to a dream school, while the other must go to the safety because Twin2’s top choices gave much less aid.
I really hope that you get a solution, because my concern would be that your D’s morale will be negatively affected.
Did you discuss the financial limits to both kids before they made their application lists?
What are her other choices and net prices?
Sometimes, the hardest thing for students and parents to realize is that admission with insufficient financial aid or scholarships is effectively equivalent to a rejection.
I have two who started at the same time. I set a budget of what we could afford and both came in under it, although I pay about $7000 for one and almost double that for the other. It’s not that your son gets to go to his favorite and you are being mean to not let your daughter go to her favorite, it’s just that hers is not within your budget.
Yes, ucbalumnus, of course I did. If I she can not get more financial aid from Mount Holyoke then she will be attending New College, a Florida State School, or Eckerd where she will be able to use her Bright Future’s scholarship. So she has options. She just may not be able to attend her dream school, while her brother will.
I am currently waiting for a call back from Mount Holyoke. Hopefully, I will have a better idea as to why they think the family has the ability to contribute $43,550 this year. That is about 1/2 of my and her dad’s income combined. Dad has no assets, I have a modest amount of assets. Neither of us are remarried.
OP I feel for you! It sounds difficult. Your kids got into great schools and it is such an exciting opportunity for them…then financial reality hits and it must be unsettling to have your D’s decision up in the air. You can’t know until you talk to Mt Holyoke. Let’s hope there was a major glitch that has gone unnoticed until now. So hang in there and keep us posted! Good for you tho that you have a back up plan of two schools, so she would still be able to actually make a choice.
I spoke to the Financial Aid Officer at Mt Holyoke. Seems it may have something to do with the way my ex filled out his form. She couldn’t go into detail because of confidentiality. She said it could have something to do with how he answered the question “Enter the amount your parents think they will be able to pay for your college expenses.” Perhaps he made an error or a miscalculation. It is all up to him to clarify it with Mount Holyoke. Nothing more I can do.
Perhaps your DD can ask your ex and this can get straightened out OP. Hope this can get answered pretty quickly, esp at MHC knows her interest level and FA officer knows the financial pinch.
Cornell covered everything for my son except about $5000 which he can cover with work study and savings, but RPI asked him to take $9000 in loans and gapped him $14,000 on top of that. Cornell can be very generous compared to other schools.