<p>Saer: Your income justifies the offer, so I wouldn't worry.<br>
emdee: I don't know about the loan market for education loans, we used home equity.
lemonade: I think the parent report question is the first one they ask, if you are doing it online.
pan1956: We all worry about whether we'll get a match for the rest of the EFC. I think some school reps on this forum explained that schools use 3 or 5 year rolling averages when they decide how big the FA budget will be. I don't think there will be a major drop off. For current students, many schools say that once they make a commitment Freshman year (or to new Sophomores) they attempt to keep that level for all 4 years.</p>
<p>Thanks very much watertester and Grejuni! Found it. I had started it a while ago, before the posts here convinced me that I should get a copy, so it didn't register in my brain.</p>
<p>It's amzing that some of you could get such a close match between your contribution and the EFC. To be fair though, our number was so off mostly because of a drastic income change we see for certain in 2009, but the PFS based their analysis purely on 2008 income although they asked you to put in estimated income for 2009 in the form.</p>
<p>I gave the advice earlier to put in the parent copy code, but the code has now been replaced by a yes/no question on the first page on the online form.</p>
<p>Our parent contribution?</p>
<p>$138.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Can anyone who considers themselves upper middle class tell me in a pm what their efc was? We were going to apply for FA then decided not to since we didn't think we would qualify. I am now kicking myself that we never found out what our efc would be!</p>
<p>We both live paycheck to paycheck. However, the PFS estimated parents contribution to be 33k (15k from me and the rest from exhusband)!!</p>
<p>PA-C, I sent you a pm.</p>
<p>Thanks to the people who pm'd me about EFCs!</p>
<p>I ended up submitting the PFS electronically hoping to get an EFC by the end of this week so that if we qualify we can still apply for FA by the end of next week.</p>
<p>Here's hoping everything moves fast and positively. It can't hurt to find out for sure if we qualify or not! Thanks everyone</p>
<p>I have to say that my PFS has proven to be a real eye opener! I'm not sure if I filled it out drastically wrong or what but it came back saying we could pay 80K (parents and child!)!! This is ridiculous. My spouse is losing his job and my 2009 estimates were obviously much lower than 2008 but we are NOT millionaires by any stretch. Unfortunately I think that the fact that I own my mother's home (she is elderly and disabled) in name only may have thrown us into a much higher contribution rate? We have modest resources so I was completely shocked. I expected it to be much lower. I have sent a letter to the school outlining our "real" situation (job loss, actual assets etc...). Perhaps they will laugh in our faces but we requested a modest tuition reduction...if they can go to 30K, we will find a way to do it as I think son would benefit. Did anyone else get slammed/shocked??</p>
<p>not yet but I am worried about it too. I did an online calculator that said 49000. I am waiting for the pfs results any day now. Can I ask what day you submitted it and how long it took to get the results? </p>
<p>Sorry for your eye opener- hopefully you can get a reduction in your EFC. Good luck!</p>
<p>Momrules - good that you wrote a letter to explain circumstances; FA officers do read these carefully. Note to everyone that the EFC does NOT include your estimate for 2009 income so if unemployment on horizon (sorry) that will not be reflected in the EFC. Best to document that as well. If the kids have money in their names that can affect the EFC as well...</p>
<p>It took about 2 weeks to get our notice in the mail from the date I submitted. Thanks Siemom...I do hope they consider our circumstances. I guess we'll have to wait and see as I know they probably spend the majority of their FA money on recruits...Thanks again! Good luck to PA-C as well!!</p>
<p>I was clearly not thinking and did not order a Report of Family Contribution. Is it possible to request a report after you have have submitted the application or is it too late?</p>
<p>We got our EFC - it was 44,000. Our offer was 31,000. </p>
<p>Should we still apply for FA since the schools cost just under our EFC?</p>
<p>PA-C, I think you should still give it a try. You never know what may happen. We're in a similar situation as yours, but were delighted (and grateful) to know my S is getting a significant amount of scholarship from a local day school (a pretty good one, top ranked in our area). We can't predict what outcome we'll get from the BS applications, but at least there's a good day school reasonbly close by we know he can definitely go to this fall.</p>
<p>Watertester- Was that a merit scholarship at the day school?</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice !</p>
<p>It's a merit based scholarship considering financial need - a grey area really. Schools of course always have the option to meet more than 100% of your need.</p>
<p>Hmmm so if the day school we are applying to costs 23000 is it worth applying for fa there too?</p>
<p>Apply anyway because the schools will consider any "unique situation" you might have and might not make you pay the full EFC.</p>