<p>this is going to be long so work with me...</p>
<p>
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EG Mom is in grad school.
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</p>
<p>As a mom in grad school, it really will have no bearing on your child's FA. However, you benefit from having child in college so your EFC is lowered. If you feel the college has not taken in to consideration the fact that you have more than one child in college or that you are paying for secondary school for a child in addition to college, they will consider that.</p>
<p>I think the first thing you need to determine is:</p>
<p>Do you understand how financial aid is determined at your school?
Does your school meet 100% demonstrated need (very few schools do meet 100% demonstrated need. this is called gapping)?</p>
<p>Does your school meet need using large amounts of grant aid (a school can essentially offer you loans and will have still "met" your need)?</p>
<p>Remember that your packages can vary as some schools only use the FAFSA to come up with your EFC and use the profile to distribute their money. The fafsa and the profile look at 2 different things (this is usually where the disconnect in EFC comes into play)</p>
<p>The fafsa and the CSS profile use 2 different set of methodologies when calculating your EFC. This is the major reason for the disparity in the EFCs. </p>
<p>At minimum you file the FAFSA (at almost every school) to determine your eligibility for federal aid (Pell/ seog grants, stafford and perkins loans). Most public univeristies will just require the fafsa (the exception may be UVA, UNC- CH, Mich and a few others which may require their own forms)</p>
<p>The CSS profile is used at different colleges that distribute their own institutional aid (Many of these schools have much deeper pockets).</p>
<p>Many schools that use a federal methodology to determine EFC will require only the FAFSA. Schools that use an instutional methodology or a combination of the 2 will require the CSS profile or their own FA forms.</p>
<p>Differences between the IM and FM models are</p>
<p>IM collects information on estimated academic year family income, medical expenses, elementary and secondary school tuition and unusual circumstances. FM omits these questions.</p>
<p>IM considers a fuller range of family asset information, while FM ignores assets of siblings, all assets of certain families with less than $50,000 of income, and both home and family farm equity.</p>
<p>FM defines income as the “adjusted gross income” on federal tax returns, plus various categories of untaxed income. IM includes in total income any paper depreciation, business, rental or capital losses which artificially reduce adjusted gross income.</p>
<p>FM does not assume a minimum student contribution to education; IM expects the student, as primary beneficiary of the education, to devote some time each year to earning money to pay for education.</p>
<p>FM ignores the noncustodial parent in cases of divorce or separation; IM expects parents to help pay for education, regardless of current marital status.</p>
<p>FM and IM apply different percentages to adjust the parental contribution when multiple siblings are simultaneously enrolled in college, and IM considers only siblings enrolled in undergraduate programs.</p>
<p>The IM expected family share represents a best estimate of a family’s capacity (relative to other families) to absorb, over time, the costs of education. It is not an assessment of cash on hand, a value judgment about how much a family should be able to use current income, or a measure of liquidity. The final determinations of demonstrated need and awards rest with the University and are based upon a uniform and consistent treatment of family circumstances.</p>
<p>Except in the most extraordinary circumstances, Colleges classifies incoming students as dependent upon parents for institutional aid purposes, even though some students may meet the federal definition of “independence.”</p>
<p>Students enrolling as dependent students are considered dependent throughout their undergraduate years when need for institutional scholarships is determined.</p>
<p>For institutional aid purposes a student may not “declare” independence due to attainment of legal age, internal family arrangements, marriage or family disagreements.</p>
<p>Your COA (cost of attendance) is tuition, room board, books travel expenses and some misc. expenses associated with attending college.</p>
<p>Some schools belong to the 568 presidents group and use a consensus model for determining aid</p>
<p><a href="http://568group.org/methodology/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://568group.org/methodology/index.html</a></p>
<p>some schools are all over the place with home equity (Stanford and Princeton don't look at it, some schools cap home equity at 2.5 times your annual salary, while other may have all of your home equity up as fair game)</p>
<p>Are you self-employed? This can really put your EFC all over the place.</p>