it just hit me that each will have a different EFC as they have different amounts in their savings/income (about an 8K difference); so we’d expect kid with more $ to have about $1600 (or similar) higher EFC.
right?
is the formula for EFC split in half – with the kids savings/income being the difference – or is there more that goes into the formula when you have 2 in college at once?
your thots to this newbie-in-denial-over-college-costs are appreciated. seriously.
For fafsa, the parent contribution to EFC is halved. The student contribution to EFC will be different as you say due to different incomes and assets. How much different depends on how much of the difference is income and how much is assets. For dependent students there is a $6310 income allowance before student income is counted toward EFC. There is no asset allowance for dependent students.
The entire formula is at this link if you’re interested.
Actually it isn’t automatically halved. It depends on the school. For example, Lehigh and Syracuse could care less. Washington University in St. Louis (Wash U) on the other hand does take that into consideration.
Yes, but be aware that since most schools don’t “meet need” you may end up with a phony-lowish-EFC, but find out that one or both schools expects you to pay most/all costs.
Schools are not under ANY kind of law or regulation that orders them to give families money to meet need. Most schools don’t havee much to give…or the aid they have is only tiny bits of fed aid, which is not much.
Every year we see posts from parents who are sadly shocked when they get their FA pkgs for 2 kids in college. they wrongly thought that the split EFC meant that Child #1’s school would increase aid and that Child #2’s school would give lots of aid.
And you said money in kids’ accounts. Is your name on the account anywhere? If it is you count those accounts under your assets not theirs…at least that is my understanding.
thanks for all the responses. when i first found CC i thot people with 1000+ or 5000+ or 10,000+ or 20,000+ posts were CRAZY. Now . . . I bless you all for being around!
we have 1 kid starting fall of 2015. efc right now estimated around 28-30K. have a merit scholarship for tution; state school.
2 kid starting fall 2016
scholarship opp. for kid #2 as long as EFC is under 15K. just trying to figure this all out now - or at least think i’m figuring it out. kid #2 doesnt have alot in savings, hasnt worked much.
Fafsa gives your EFC on the SAR(Student Aid Report) after you submit it. Fafsa EFC will be the same for all schools.
Have you submitted fafsa for your fall 2015 kid?
If the kids put their savings into a 529 plan, it counts as a parent asset and is assessed at a lower rate. You’d need to do this before you submit the FAFSA; however it may not make much of a difference if the kids don’t have much saved.
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when i first found CC i thot people with 1000+ or 5000+ or 10,000+ or 20,000+ posts were CRAZY.
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Yes, I think they are crazy, too.
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we have 1 kid starting fall of 2015. efc right now estimated around 28-30K. have a merit scholarship for tution; state school.
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So…does that mean that your net cost for Child #1 is about $15k per year? great.
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2 kid starting fall 2016
scholarship opp. for kid #2 as long as EFC is under 15K. just trying to figure this all out now - or at least think i’m figuring it out. kid #2 doesnt have alot in savings, hasnt worked much.
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Not sure what you’re saying above. Your federal EFC might become $15k, but that doesn’t mean much to most schools. Your child’s school could still say that it expects you to pay $30k+.
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do schools give out the EFC or does FAFSA? can EFC change with different schools?
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It may be semantics. The “true EFC” is a federal thing, and it comes from filling out FAFSA.
HOWEVER…If School A costs $60k, and you’re only given $10k in aid, then “technically” they’re telling you that your expected family contribution is $50k…right? It doesn’t matter if your Fed EFC is $25k if a school is telling you that you have to pay $50k…right???
Oh…and the schools that give the BEST need-based aid require CSS Profile…and they will consider other aspects. And they don’t split 50/50…they split 60/60
Oh, I agree some of us our crazy indeed, right Mom2collegekids?
The EFC is a term used for the Expected Family Contribution that FAFSA generates. You cannot get federal aid until you pay that amount of money, and that includes federal work study, federal subsidized loans as well as federal grants. Most colleges will come also go with that principle too, so that unless you pick a school with a cost lower than that EFC or get enough scholarships to cut into the EFC, it’s what you will have to pay.
Many schools using PROFILE or other methodology have their own expected contributions that one can estimate using each school’s NPC. These institutional expected contributions include things like home equity, sibling assets , business assets, no custodial parents info that are not included in the FAFSA numbers.
Schools that use FAFSA only do not guarantee to meet full need as defined by that EFC either, as most schools gap most students.
"Oh…and the schools that give the BEST need-based aid require CSS Profile…and they will consider other aspects. And they don’t split 50/50…they split 60/60 "
Mom2C… can you explain what you mean by 60/60? is that in regards to having 2 kids in college, or in general with using the CSS profile. thanks
Again, only for the schools with the best aid. If a 2nd child goes to school, if your expected contribution at the school had been $20k, it would now be $12k, 60% of $20k, not half. That’s very simplified. The 2nd half of 60/60 would require your other student to also be at one of the schools with the best aid policies.
The FAFSA EFC splits with multiple children in college are simple. The parental EFC is divided by the number of students in college, and is part of each student’s EFC with the individual student’s EFC added to it. So if your parents have an EFC of $60K with 3 in college, none of whom make enough money or have any assets to have an EFC, means the EFC is $20K per student.
Not always so for PROFILE schools. Many seem to take the expected contribution as calculated for the parents and multiply it by .6 if there are two students in college, rather than by .5 as FAFSA would do. With three in college, they tend to mulitply by .4 rather than .333. So the example of a famiy with three in college with that $60K parental EFC split into three coming up with $20K per student in the example above, would come out to $24K per student instead.
Since no school guarantees to meet full need as defined by FAFSA EFC, the institutional methods of those school guaranteeing to meet full need are more applicable. You can have a zero EFC, and many schools (Including Harvard) will start their expected contribution with $2K or more as the base line. Then there are the items that PROFILE and other apps will include as assets and income that FAFSA does not. In your case, your family’s business may be an issue.
"Oh....and the schools that give the BEST need-based aid require CSS Profile....and they will consider other aspects. And they don't split 50/50....they split 60/60 "
Mom2C… can you explain what you mean by 60/60? is that in regards to having 2 kids in college, or in general with using the CSS profile. thanks
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CSS Profile uses its own formula to come up with a “family contribution”. They use home equity, business values, and a whole group of other things to determine the “family contribution”
So…maybe FAFSA EFC of one child is $50k (assume kids have no assets)
But…maybe CSS formula determines a family contribution of $65k for one child in college.
So for two kids Fafsa EFC is $25k for each child (EFC was split 50/50) (assume no kid assets)
But CSS family contribution is $65k for one and that is going to be split 60/60…so 60% of 65k is $39k
So for a CSS school, when you have two in college, they will figure that you have to pay $39k PER child. They don’t split 50/50…likely because they think that the household can pay more for college since the kids aren’t eating/living at home.
