College can be expensive for parents of twins or children who attend school simultaneously. These families face the financial burden of meeting tuition and living costs as well as the challenges of scholarship searches and student loan applications. If you're enrolling in college and have one or more siblings enrolled at the same school you might get a discount or scholarship.
Discounted Tuition
Some colleges offer tuition and fee discounts for students with siblings in the same college. For example, at New Hampshire College/Southern New Hampshire University dependent siblings enrolled at the same time share a $2,500 grant. St. Michael's College in Vermont offers a $2,000 and a $3,000 grant to families with two or three siblings enrolled, respectively. Use the right terminology, such as sibling discount, family grant, family scholarship or twin discount, when searching for price breaks on the Internet or talking with the school's financial aid office.
Family Grants
Some universities also offer school-funded scholarships known as family grants to students with siblings or immediate family at the school. The amounts depend on the college and the number of family members at the school. The University of Hartford, for example, offers renewable grants to family members who maintain full-time status and meet academic progress guidelines.
Twin Scholarships
While some schools have scholarships for twins, each has its own rules. For example, Lake Erie College in Ohio offers the Twins Scholarship, which covers tuition on a 50/50 basis for twins enrolled full time up to 18 credit hours per semester. This means the siblings attend college for the cost of one. Randolph College in Virginia offers a 15 percent discount on tuition fees if both twins are enrolled which can be renewed every year.
Federal Aid
If you attend college where your brothers or sisters are already enrolled, all of you are eligible to apply for the Pell Grant or the Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant programs. You should apply online via the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. You will be evaluated on the number of people in your household attending school at the same time and your income level.