We have a child, currently in 11th grade. Older sibling graduated college in 2015. We are still paying off those loans. Is that taken into consideration on FAFSA ?
I don’t think so. Debt isn’t considered. Sounds like you’ll either have to borrow for the second child…or if that means too much debt, then have that child seek schools that will give merit for stats.
What was your EFC with the older child? Can that child help pay off the debt you borrowed for his education? When will that debt get paid off?
Your EFC will likely be higher once your younger child is in college since you will have one less person in your household.
for other parents reading this, if you’re considering borrowing for one child’s college, think about how that will impact affordability to fund later child(ren)'s college costs.
Thank you for the reply. Older child also took out loans and is paying those back. We also paid out of pocket on top of loans. Now younger one will need help. I don’t remember our. EFC, but we paid over 60k for 4 years.
I think it depends upon the school. Schools that use the College Board Profile also often consider extenuating circumstances which I’d view college loans of an older offspring as being.
What state are you in, and what are your student’s stats? What does your student want to study?
Sounds like you helped pretty substantially with older student’s more pricey college, while your student also took out loans.
Does your younger student want to take a lower cost route?
Student loans = not consumer debt, so they might get some consideration…Likely only meet-need schools would help out, though.
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extenuating circumstances which I’d view college loans of an older offspring as being.
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I don’t agree. The new school will not likely be sympathetic and give more aid. That would be like the new school helping to pay for the costs of the old school. Why would it do that?
this family needs a strategy because it sounds like they’re in a similar situation that another CC family was in. Borrowed a good bit for Child #1, and because of the payments couldn’t afford the next child’s college costs (those loans were not given special consideration by any of Child #2’s schools). So, Child #2 attended a school that gave him a large merit scholarship. That mom posted several times to warn parents to be careful when borrowing for Child #1 unless you’re prepared to borrow for the next child. She frequently mentioned that in the excitement of sending #1 to school, they never thought about the later financial impact of loan repayment on their ability to send their next child to school. It never dawned on them that even though they paid for some of Child #1’s costs out of pocket and borrowed the rest, that they were setting themselves up for not being able to afford to pay much for next child AND they didn’t want to go further into debt.
@Momtia
you paid $15k per year while Child #1 was in college. Can you still pay $15k per year for Child #2 while also making the loan payments for loans for Child #1? If not, how much can you pay each year?
Are you able to borrow for Child #2?
If you’re now in a pickle where the loan payments would prevent you from paying $15k per year for Child 2 AND you’re not willing/able to borrow for Child #2, does Child #2 have high stats that would get merit scholarships at good schools?
Why don’t you think student loans are consumer debt, @Lilliana330 ? What else would they be?
@twoinanddone Many schools consider amount spent for siblings at either other colleges or even private high schools. Why wouldn’t this be a similar expense?
This is assuming the parents borrowed the $. If they’re paying for the 1st kid’s Stafford loans, then no way.
^^^
That is while both students are in college at the same time. Are you expecting the second school to treat this as if two are in college?
for all the second school would know, the parent loan was to cover EFC or gap of the first school. When siblings are at school at the same time, the other school doesn’t care about that.
I certainly sympathize with the OP’s situation, but this is what happens when parents take on debt when there are still younger children to put thru college. In some cases, it creates a “double problem;” not only can the parent not borrow more, but the parent can’t even contribute what they did for Child #1 because that money is now going towards loan payments. Then a 3rd problem is created: Child #1 got to go where he/she wanted, while Child #2’s choices are severely limited.
Well, a school wouldn’t consider that you paid for an older sibling’s college cost if it wasn’t in a loan. If this family paid $50k for 4 years and now has no money for child #2,the school wouldn’t consider that $200k already paid, so why should they consider the loans? It really is no different, the same amount was paid/borrowed for the first child and the family no longer has it.
I’m not saying the school won’t consider it, just that it IS a consumer debt, no different than owing a medical bill, a debt that might be for a ‘good’ or necessary expense. A school might conservative it, but many will not. The fafsa formula does not consider consumer debt.
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Well, a school wouldn’t consider that you paid for an older sibling’s college cost if it wasn’t in a loan. If this family paid $50k for 4 years and now has no money for child #2,the school wouldn’t consider that $200k already paid, so why should they consider the loans? It really is no different, the same amount was paid/borrowed for the first child and the family no longer has it.
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This is likely a school’s position.
Imagine if the debt was simply from covering the EFC from Child #1. Why would School #2 consider that debt? It appears that the loan was used to either cover annual gaps in aid, and/or EFC. Neither of those issues would School #2 be concerned about…even if the students were in college at the same time.
Imagine if these were twins and Child #1 went to an OOS public that gave no aid, and Child #2 was a twin attending Harvard and they qualified for $30k of grants. The parents borrow $50k/yr to pay for Child #1’s OOS public. When the twins are rising juniors, should H then give more grants because now the parents have $100k of debt from Child #1’s OOS public?
@twoinanddone @mom2collegekids I see, that makes sense.
Well, this is why we only had one child. We were blessed that our only child attended undergrad on a very generous merit scholarship, so he graduated with no debt. He knew he would go to grad school because of his intended field. He just received his master’s, no financial aid whatsoever, at the end of February, and we have already gotten the loan letter. The grad school was moderately priced, but still, he has 40K in debt now, after less than two years of school. We are hoping for ways to get a lower interest rate on the loan, pay it off as soon as we can. and pay it off ourselves, even though he expects to pay it. If anyone has any advice or can point us to some links, it would be most appreciated.
If it is his loan, only he can try to consolidate the loan or get a different payment plan. You can make payments, but the terms are under his credit and his repayment plan.