<p>Hello.</p>
<p>I have a question regarding FA calculations when multiple dependents attend college at the same time.</p>
<p>D1 currently attends a school that meets 100% need. In our case it is approx. 50% COA. D2 will be starting next year at a different school. D1's school has shared that our expected contribution would drop approx. 40% with D2 in college with all other factors remaining the same. I get this part.</p>
<p>My question is: Does the COA for D2 at a different school have any influence on the EFC for D1? Expected cost for other dependents is a question on the CSS. Does the formula remain the same whether D2 attends community college or a 4 year school with a higher COA? (I guess that's two questions).</p>
<p>Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>Some colleges will ask for the name of the sibling’s school and will take into account your D2’s relative cost. That seems to be the exception as most will simply use the number of children in college in their formulas. It’s a good question to ask D1’s financial aid office.</p>
<p>It depends upon the school how they decide to calculate need for a sibling in college at the same time. The way FAFSA does it is very simple. The parental EFC is cut in half and each student’s EFC is just added to the halved figure for that particular student. So if the parental EFC is $30K, the EFC for each student becomes $15K plus whatever the student has for income/assets for EFC. Plan it right and it can be zero unless the kid is making a lot of money, since the students can reimburse parents for costs and have zero in assets the day the FAFSA is being completed. So regardless of what the college costs, each kid’s FAFSA EFC is , say $15K. If Kid one is at a school that meets full need based on that EFC (no such school have I found, but theoretically) then that is what the parents/student pay, $15K for that year, and a aid package comes up with the rest of the COA. If Kid Two is going to a local CC with a total cost of $3K, maybe with commuting expenses included, and the kid gets a scholarshp to boot bringing down the cost even lower, than the parents/kid have to just pay that lowered amount. Never mind the EFC is $15K, and never mind that the first kid’s EFC was halved and the second one is not taking up the full half. Doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>However, most PROFILE school and schools that use other fin aid calculators in addition to FAFSA, will come up with an expected contribution for a student regardless of assets/income the student might have and for the Parent’s contribution, take the full amount and multiply it by .6, rather than half, and meet aid that way. There may be some exceptions to this with what kind of school the other student is attending taken into account, and some colleges have refused to give splits to certain vocational programs. But, in my experience, that cost of the second kid’s college does not come into play. The expected contribution is calculated for the kid in the given college and whatever the parent has to pay for the second kid is not an issue. If the kid gets a full ride, good for you. If you have to pay the full amount with no break because Kid Two’s school gave no aid even with need, tough beans. That’ s how it usually works.</p>
<p>I knew a family with two girls; one went to Duke, the other commuted to the local university. Duke costs, ummm $50k at that time. Local U commuting costs were maybe $12K. Family EFC was $50K. So Duke, a school that meets full need came up with $24K or so of grant money their student. Made it doable, especially with both girls contributing somewhat to their costs, including the DD commuting. </p>
<p>Well the commuter dropped out. So the next year, the daughter at Duke got zip in aid. Parents were hit with the ful $50K in costs less whatever the student could mete out. That the second daughter was still living at home and costing money in her other pursuits did not make a bit of difference. She was out of school so, she was out of the picture except as possible a dependent for the income exclusion allowance and the cost for the Duke student was full freight.</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad, vballmom, cptofthehouse,</p>
<p>Thanks for the insight as usual. We have learned much from many of the other posts from each of you along with those of other CC veterans. I recently had a parent of D1s friend suggest I go into the college planning business after sharing my CC admissions process learnings with them. They happened to have hired a college planner and unfortunately that ended with less than the desired results. </p>
<p>Although we learned a lot the first time around, we would have done a few things differently in hindsight but feel pretty confident during this second (last!) go around. </p>
<p>captofthehouse,</p>
<p>Somehow you nailed our exact EFC in your first example and were pretty close on the school type (Duke is 500 mi due east on I 40) in the last. In this case we are really stretched for D1s tuition in year one but knowing that will be lowered by at least 40% with D2 enrolling next year makes it a little easier. D2 is currently looking at a few smaller LOCs that also meet full need or have good opportunities for merit along with keeping local options open. </p>
<p>We just need to re-confirm with the FA office as vballmom suggested. </p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>