The average student attending Fairfield is expected to pay over $30,000 per year. The average student attending Fairfield at the same time that a sibling is also attending Fairfield is expected to pay over $30,000 per year.
These are the figures before financial aid is factored in, but Fairfield offers no extra financial aid reward to families with more than one child attending this school at the same time.
“If you have more than one person at the same school you’re paying more money, so you should get more help with that money,” said Ben Rossi, ’05, who goes to Fairfield with his twin brother Chris.
In the past, Fairfield would give an extra $100 per semester to those with siblings at Fairfield.
Thus, if two siblings attended Fairfield at the same time, they would receive an extra $400 per year. This policy, however, was ended two years ago.
Eddie Seavers, ’03, who used to receive the credit because both he and his sister Karen, ’05, attend Fairfield said of the extra money, “I’d want it to be more, $100 makes it seem pointless, but it helps $100 worth.”
The small amount given to those with siblings attending Fairfield was the reason the credit was discontinued. Ray Bourdeau, who works in the Bursar’s office, which controls financial aid for students, said “the amount was so nominal that it was not an effective benefit.”
Before this decision was made, other schools were polled to find out what their policies were.
Most colleges and universities do not offer an extra credit for siblings attending the same university. Among the colleges that do not give an extra amount were Boston College, Fordham University and Marist College.
Of the schools surveyed by The Mirror, only Sacred Heart had any kind of extra perk for students with siblings, offering $750 per semester for siblings.
The sum would be split between the siblings, however, regardless of how many at the school there would be.
Financial aid is what picks up the slack for those who have to pay for more than one child in college at the same time. Bourdeau explained that now, if a student has a sibling at Fairfield, his or her financial aid package would be evaluated “just as if you had a sibling at another institution.” That is where federal and state grants, such as the Perkins Loan or the Stafford Loan, apply.
Even so, as Karen Seavers, ’05, said, “any extra money helps and it would help the parents regardless.”
Chris Rossi, ’05, agreed.
“I’m more mad that the parents have to pay,” said Rossi. “It affects them more that it affects me.”
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