Our oldest son is choosing between 3 private colleges -none of which offered him aid.
If our EFC is slightly higher than the tuition cost at each of these schools and salary/other doesn’t change this year will applying for financial aid at those schools for 2019 possibly vary at each? Is it possible to get get a pre-read from the school he picks? In simple terms, if it is the same salary and they 1/2 the EFC, it would be nice to know as we could end up with anywhere 0-$25K depending on where he picks right?
He is torn between them right now and if one might offer financial aid money in 2 years vs. the others than that could tip the scale for us.
Are you asking about getting a pre-read for an academic year that is two years from now? I don’t see that happening at all. Plenty of schools won’t even do a pre-read for the next academic year, and there are just too many unknowns to do a pre-read even further out. The biggest factor is how much of the sibling’s college expenses will be falling on the family. Many private schools take this into consideration when putting together a need-based financial aid offer.
Have you run the Net Price Calculators at the three schools to see what happens when you add a sibling in college?
I think there are too many variables to get a ore-read right now. Yes, there will be a change in your federal EFC. That may not help much unless the change makes you Pell eligible.
You don’t know where kid number two will land.
Let’s say your current EFC is 60k. At profile schools it is not a 50/50 split. It may be 36k/36k (60/60). If they are at comparably price schools they may both get some need based aid (~34k if the COA is 70k).
Unless it is a no loan program initiative S1 will have a $7500 loan). His Student contribution will also increase because there is an expectation he will be able to get summer employment that makes a little more.
What happens if S#2 attends a school where the out of pocket cost is less than your EFC? What if s2 gets a free ride or full tuition scholarship leaving you to only pay room and board?
You have to make sure you have a sustainable 4 year plan. Did you give S1 a budget or financial constraibts? Will S2 have to carry the financial constraints if you did not give them to S1?
@bleknapPoint I guess not a “pre-read” but more a general understanding from these schools that if all stays the same, how likely would we get the current projected assistance from each school when he is going into his junior year. Aren’t some schools closer to the estimates they give you than others? While some are way off? 2 of the schools report they meet 100% of need, the other looked like 90% of the need was met.
@otterma I did run the NPC with the next sibling going and it shows grants of $17K, $19K and $20K from each of the schools.
That’s why I am trying to determine if one school is really more likely to honor it than the other. Would hate to get nothing from the one we pick and then learn later that another school would have been much better at meeting the estimated need. I know it’s all a crap shoot but like I said it could help tip the scale one way or the other.
@sybbie719 That all makes sense. Especially the student contribution part as I think by then he would have an internship/summer jobs the $17K could quickly go to nothing with his part ,any increase in salary over the 2 years and with the student loans.
We have some options for the 4 year plan -not going to be easy but hopefully doable for both kids. If S2 gets full ride/or goes to a cheaper school that will relieve a lot of burden so was just running the numbers assuming both in school with equal cost to the EFC.