Two Children in College

Paying for College
1

<p>My older daughter had lots of AP credits and now can graduate early (after 3 years) if she takes credits this summer. She wants to and we’re encouraging her to stay in school and apply for graduate school.</p>

<p>My questions:
My younger daughter will be a freshman in college. My husband and I have a good income and never received a penny of financial aid. In fact, we didn’t even complete a FAFSA form except for my daughter’s first year.</p>

<p>We have a good amount of assets, 1/2 of what we had though, but all are in retirement savings…IRA and 401k.</p>

<p>We don’t have a lot of home equity ---- probably less than 20%. </p>

<p>My daughter is in her third year and we don’t know if she will be able to finish her degree…although it’s likely she will:</p>

<li><p>Do I complete FAFSA under the assumption that she will be a graduate student next year? It’s not a definite but it’s likely.</p></li>
<li><p>Does this mean she doesn’t count as a financial obligation for us…we had intended to help her for 4 years but she has basically zipped through college and can finish early.</p></li>
<li><p>Will she more likely get more aid by reporting only her own income — which is not much? (Actually she did complete a 6 month internship so she definitely did make some money in 2008.) We think she has a good shot of a Graduate Assistant-ship anyway.</p></li>
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<p>My younger daughter will have some difficult decisions to make…she’s received full tuition offers at two of her lesser choices and some money from most of the others… I’m guessing we’ll likely get little or no financial aid with only 1 child in college…we were really looking forward to having a year with 2 children to maybe get some financial aid but we are happy that my older daughter will most likely be finishing early.</p>

<p>It’s all good…assuming we can borrow what we need to borrow which I assume is the case with Plus loans…we borrowed for my older daughter against our house and really don’t have the equity for daughter #2.</p>

2

<p>RE: the daughter who is an undergrad...some schools will count a grad school sibling as another college student in the family and others do not. You have to contact each school and ask them what their policy regarding this is.</p>

<p>Grad school money financial aid is VERY different from undergrad. There are no federal grants and the like. There are Stafford loans, but most anyone can get those just by filing a FAFSA. Most grad school aid comes in the form of assistantships, scholarships, fellowships and loans. Being an "independent" grad student with an EFC of very little won't really help at all. There are not colleges that meet "full need" based on EFC for grad students. </p>

<p>Congratulations to both of your daughters. It sounds like they have some terrific options.</p>

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<p>thumper1 -- Thanks for the info. Another possibility my older daughter can choose --- assuming she can't get an assistant-ship to fund her Masters would be to stay in school for year 4 and work on another Bachelor's degree...that would be a real possibility for her. </p>

<p>It's hard to know how to answer the questions on the FAFSA and CSS because we really don't know what will happen and she really is in her third year of college and normally should only be entering her senior year.</p>

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<p>Someone correct me if I'm wrong...but once this kiddo receives her first bachelors, isn't the whole financial aid picture different? First, once she has that 1st bachelors, she is independent for finaid purposes...BUT I thought that most schools did not give much financial aid for a second BACHELORS degree. Maybe I'm wrong.</p>

<p>Could she NOT graduate, and stay and take on a double major (maybe too late for that....)?</p>

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<p>If she has already completed her 1st degree she would be independent for financial aid (so would not help younger daughter out financial aid wise). Wouldn't the expense of a further year at college negate any benefit financial aid wise? if it is something she plans to do anyway then it is worth it - but possibly not just for financial aid purposes? Remember that federal grant aid requires a very low EFC (<4042 in 2008-2009) so it may just be more loans anyway.</p>

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<p>Can she stay at her current college for a graduate degree? I know kids who have done this who graduated early but wanted to stick around for a year. She can scout around for stipends and packages to help pay for her education. I believe that she can still be considered dependent for financial aid purposes as a grad student. I know this is an issue that often arises with grad student and married students: whether it is beneficial to stay as a dependent that key year or to go independent. Sometimes it can be very close, so you may have to do the number both ways. Ultimately it may end up with different scenarios being optimal depending on the schools and programs each D gets. I suggest you play around with the numbers so that you are familiar with the matrices. Then when things do occur, you will know which path to take to get the most money.</p>

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<p>She definitely wants to go to graduate school...but will need to take credits this summer in order to complete her degree. We are hoping that she can get a Teaching Assistant-ship or even a Research-Assistantship. She will be a grader this semester and has had some research internships and a corporate internship.</p>

<p>Just spoke with her and she does not plan to delay her graduation and definitely wants to go to graduate school. She's considering staying at her current school. She is definitely age wise dependent as she is just 21.</p>

<p>For the CSS form for my younger daughter I added an explanation of her older sister's status...that basically we are not 100% sure of what it will be......haven't done Fafsa yet.....might do it tonight.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone!!</p>

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<p>Not for FAFSA purposes. One of the questions posed for determining status is "have you completed a Bachelors degree?"</p>

<p>If you answer yes to any of the questions, you are NOT dependent for financial aid purposes. </p>

<p>Now...related to the YOUNGER daughter...some colleges she applies to MAY consider her sibling in grad school in the count of students enrolled in college. Some schools will count grad students (who are members of the household...TAX dependency...not finaid dependency) in the number of students attending college and some will not. You have to ask the schools.</p>

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<p>DD's EFC of 0 for grad school basically entitled her to borrow the COA. No grants, etc. She did get an assistantship, but they had to apply for those during the first week of classes, so you didn't know ahead of time if that would come through or not.</p>

<p>She also graduated in 3 years and started grad school at age 20.</p>

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<p>Fortunately many colleges award assistantships and fellowships and scholarships with or just after acceptance. I have to say...if money were an issue, I would not enroll in a grad program where the money issue was not resolved BEFORE my enrollment.</p>

<p>Just another thought...could this older daughter get a job in her field and go to grad school or get another degree later?</p>

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<p>Yes --- she, hopefully, could get a job....although it's not the easiest time to look for one. She does want to stay in school though and we are encouraging it. The cost of graduate school will definitely help her make this choice though and if she doesn't get an assistantship for much of the cost.....she will probably concentrate on getting a job.</p>

<p>She's taken GREs and just has to get the application process started and, of course, finish her Bachelor's Degree this summer! She'll just need 6 credits in the summer. </p>

<p>Another option for her would be to simply stay in school for the Fall to finish the degree if no good jobs or graduate school opportunities pan out....it's not her first choice though. She's a motivated young woman and is excited about trying to finish early.</p>