I was quoted this week on Reuters Money regarding the financial challenges faced by parents of triplets/multiples.

Certainly, there are some unique and often surprising financial considerations for parents of multiples, and I thought I'd elaborate on the article's content a bit to highlight an idea that I think is important to overall well-being:  the idea of financial flexibility.

My wife and I were married for about seven years before she got pregnant.  We both had jobs that paid well, and we traveled internationally a fair amount but otherwise were relatively frugal.  For most of that time we basically lived on one salary and invested the other, with the vague notion that it would buy us some flexibility down the road.  I was specifically thinking in terms of children, but that flexibility could have applied to losing a job, a disability, or other unforeseen disruptions that are part of life.  In fact, my wife was planning to continue working at least part-time after having a child.  Fortunately, she's frugal by nature.

As it happened, we had three children at once, and the idea of my wife going back to work became far less appealing. Our vague notion of financial flexibility crystallized, and we adjusted.

The other thing that the birth of my children helped crystallize for me was the idea of what I wanted to be when I grew up.  Investing and personal finance had been a passionate hobby throughout my adulthood, and I had a fuzzy plan to retire early and provide investment advice to others.  The arrival of our triplets was a key driver in convincing me that there's no time like the present to chase your passion, and it also illustrated in no uncertain terms that a need existed for everyday people to get competent financial advice.  I also wanted to be a big part of my kids' life and wanted more control overy my schedule.  So I started my own financial planning firm, and I haven't looked back.  Our kids are now in first grade, and my wife has returned to work, but the flexible financial foundation we established before she got pregnant allowed us to not only survive the addition of triplets to our family, but to dictate the terms of how we managed it.  We've made a lot of sacrifices, but we value what we've gained much more than what we've sacrificed.

I recently came across an article highlighting the fact that in May three siblings became the first set of triplets to graduate from the University of Michigan.  It got me wondering how often triplets attend college together.  In an earlier post I highlighted scholarship opportunities for twins and triplets.  It's not true in all cases, but most of those scholarhips require the twins or triplets to attend the same school, so the decision obviously has a financial dimension as well as a social one.

By way of contrast, at about the same time the Jankelovitz siblings were graduating from Michigan, another set of triplets was taking top academic honors at their high school in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.  The Biernat sisters are now attending three separate colleges.  My guess is that they've been able to secure some scholarship money based on their academic achievements, which would help to neutralize the financial part of the college decision.

In any case, these are noteworthy accomplishments.  Congratulations to both sets of triplets, and good luck in the future.

I found an interesting article in the NY Times from a couple of years ago on the admission prospects for twins and triplets when they apply for the same college.

The basic question the article seeks to resolve is "does the candidacy of one sibling of the same class negatively impact the candidacy of another"?

It has always been my perception that selective schools seek geographic and demographic diversity.  For obvious reasons twins and triplets will be the least diverse prospects imaginable, at least on paper.  In fact, my kids have very different personalities, and that is consistent with other multiples that I know.  Nonetheless, environment plays a significant role in shaping one's views, and I think to some degree the college admissions process is a statistical crap shoot, so assuming a lack of diversity seems pretty rational.  If the siblings go to a small high school in a small town, and all apply to an Ivy League School, it seems logical that the likelihood of all being selected is low, even if their applications are very similar.  I'm not sure the article dispels that theory, although Harvard's Dean of Admissions suggests the diversity quota is a myth.  Interestingly, Duke University considers twins individually and as a unit.  I'm not sure how the average twin or triplet would view being evaluated for college admission as a package with a sister or brother, but at least nobody would be ruled out strictly by virtue of one being admitted.

Speaking from experience, one of the daunting things facing parents of multiples is paying multiple college bills simultaneously.

In an earlier post, I listed some of the college scholarship options available to twins, triplets and other multiples.  Another consideration is the impact on the Expected Family Contribution (or EFC) of having several children in college.  As the name suggests, the EFC describes the amount of money a family is able and expected to chip in to pay for the cost of college, as calculated in the federal student aid application process.  It is used to determine "financial need" in this process. After taking the EFC into account, a loan and/or grant package can be developed to bridge the gap and help pay for schooling.  Of course, the lower the EFC, the higher the financial need.  Families that can show high financial need are eligible to receive more financial assistance.

The "silver lining" in the case of multiple siblings attending college at the same time is that the EFC is a family-level calcuation.  In other words, if it is determined that a family can contribute $21,000 per year to college and there is one child in school, it will be expected that all $21,000 of that EFC will be available for that child.  If three kids are in school, it will be assumed that roughly $7,000 is availabe for each student.  If those kids are triplets that all complete their schooling in four years, and they all have a $21,000 total bill for school each year, each student will be eligible for $14,000 per year of aid.  On the other hand, if three children were each born two years apart but otherwise followed the same path and paid $21,000 each (ignoring inflation), the family would a) have eight years of college ahead of them, and b) in four of those years they would not be eligible for traditional federal aid at all.  In the middle four years they would only be eligible for $10,500 per student of such aid.

It should be noted that the calculation of the EFC and financial need is a somewhat complex process.  In reality, the numbers will not work out this precisely.  Although this is a simplistic example, the message is valid regardless of the numbers used.

This all may seem like cold comfort to my fellow triplet parents, but why not look on the bright side when there is one?