<p>Hello, everyone. I hope I posted this in the right forum. I'm kind of new to College Confidential but I think I might be able to gain some help from this site. I was accepted to Hamilton College a while back and received my aid award letter a few weeks ago. I will be attending Hamilton but I've always wondered why my family's financial contribution wasn't the same as our efc. They meet 100% need and gave me a lot of grant money (which I'm more than happy about) but it still leaves about 6K to pay off between myself and my parents (who make about 45K-50K total with my little sister). Does that sound about right? I was thinking that because my efc (expected family contribution) was 0 that my family wouldn't be required to pay for my education. I'm sure I can make up the difference with my summer job and maybe a part-time job during college and hopefully my parents can help me out (they say they will) but I just want to make sure my parents didn't file something wrong on fafsa or something like that. I also have to factor in other college expenses,too.</p>
<p>If your family filed FAFSA and got an EFC 0, then it doesn’t sound like they did anything wrong.</p>
<p>Does the school also use CSS Profile? if so, then that was what got used to determine aid. If CSS was used, then maybe home equity or something else was used. Do your parents own a business or are self-employed?</p>
<p>You need to call the school and ask for a review. Ask why you have a “family contribution” of $6k when your family income is low.</p>
<p>What all is in your aid pkg? give the breakdown</p>
<p>Is there a “student contribution”?</p>
<p>what is the breakdown of the cost of attendance?</p>
<p>The amount that your family is expected to pay is about the amount for books, transportation, and personal expenses.</p>
<p>Yes, my parents said they used CSS Profile and my parents own a small business (self employed), so maybe that was it. Um, I don’t have the letter with me, atm, but I know the cost of attendance is about $55,000 (not including other college expenses like transportation or personal). I received about $44,000 from the Hamilton grant and Pell aid too. They gave me campus employment and offered a federal loan, too. Sorry I’ll see if I can find the letter, I think my parents may have it.</p>
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<p>This is the reason why. </p>
<p>the direct cost to attend Hamilton (tuition room board and fees is 53,470. If your package is 44,000 from Hamilton + 5550 Pell grant )49,550) this means that you/your family will have to come out of pocket with with $3920 or 1960 per semester to cover your base expenses.</p>
<p>Is the federal loan calculated as part of the $44k in aid that you received from Hamilton? </p>
<p>How much is the loan? You are eligible to borrow up to $5500 in Stafford loans.</p>
<p>Oh, I see. I apologize I must have mixed up my numbers, that makes a lot more sense. I was given a direct subsidized loan as part of 44K.</p>
<p>The Fafsa EFC is nothing more than a calculation for eligibility for fed loans. It is not Hamilton’s formula for assessing what your family can pay. All the colleges do their own reckoning of what they think your “need” is, by ther own undisclosed formulas- and nearly all leave the family with some nut they feel a twinge from.</p>
<p>Hamilton shows a total cost of $55,620. That’s before books, personal, travel. You can save on books by renting or buying used. You can figure out ways to get home less expensively and manage your monthly expenses- work study usually covers that.</p>
<p>Post the details and someone will help you translate.</p>
<p>is your Pell grant also part of this 44k package or is it in addition to the 44K?</p>
<p>Did they give you the full 3500 as a subsidized loan?</p>
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<p>And other Federal aid, such as Pell and work-study</p>
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<p>Actually this is NOT true. The FAFSA doesn’t determine eligibility for federal loans. ANYONE who completes a FAFSA can take out a Stafford loan (federal loan). Whether this is subsidized or not is based on the need the student has at each college to which he/she applies.</p>
<p>The FAFSA EFC IS used to determine eligibility for federally funded GRANT money (Pell, SEOG for example). </p>
<p>The OP sounds like his financial aid package includes the Pell, Stafford loan and grants from Hamilton…leaving him with about $6000 in outstanding costs. Some of those might not be directly billable by the college (books, transportation and personal expenses are not billed by the school). </p>
<p>It is probable that the family’s self employed status, and perhaps some home equity played into Hamilton’s calculation for institutional need based financial aid. Hamilton determined that the family (student and parents) could contribute more than the FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>^ It was my mistake in using the word loans! sorry. I meant “aid.”</p>
<p>We’ll know more about how this breaks out for OP, if she gets a chance to post details.</p>
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<p>Not quite. Since the EFC is part of the determination of federal need, it does determine (along with COA) eligibility for a Perkins loan (for those schools that participate in the Perkins program) or for subsidization of a portion of one’s Stafford loans.</p>
<p>At any rate, it’s not the college’s final determination of your need. :)</p>
<p>Annasdad, each school determines eligibility for Perkind loans. It is possible that the EFC has something to do with that…but really, it is the individual school’s determination on the awarding of the Perkins money.</p>
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<p>“Something to do with that?” How about “a very great deal to do with that.” Without EFC, you can’t compute need. Without need, you can’t make a Perkins loan (or give any other kind of federal aid except unsub Staffords).</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/fsahandbook/attachments/1213FSAHbkVol6Ch3.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/fsahandbook/attachments/1213FSAHbkVol6Ch3.pdf</a></p>
<p>Perkins loan money is given to the schools to disburse to students as the school determines. It is not based on the FAFSA EFC. Schools offer these loans to lower income students who are enrolling. Some schools awarding the Perkins actually use the info from the CSS Profile to help craft their loan allotments.</p>
<p>At some schools a student with an EFC of $25,000 might get a Perkins loan. At other schools it might be an EFC of $200. </p>
<p>It’s not like the Pell grant where every student with an EFC of a certain amount is eligible regardless of the cost of the college.</p>
<p>Yes, schools have discretion on which students with need get offered Perkins loans. But if there is no need - ie, no gap between COA and EFC - they cannot offer a Perkins loan, as the quote above (from the Dept of Education makes clear). So to say that EFC is not a critical factor in awarding Perkins loans is just flat wrong.</p>