<p>I don’t think that question matters very much, if you are very wealthy, lots of new things, etc. and you say 600.00 a month, they might raise an eyebrow. I’m sure they see others that put down an amount that is the highest they can do without loans. What you can pay and what you want to pay are two different things. : /</p>
<p>^Indeed “What you can pay and what you want to pay are two different things”</p>
<p>Isn’t EFC the calculation of the highest amount the family can contribute without take on loans? (EFC = family’s ABILITY to pay based on all the financial facts)</p>
<p>So THE question is really asking that how much a family WILLING to pay ???</p>
<p>I’ve seen EFC’s that were one parents entire salary, sometimes they are very high. I dont’ think most of the time, they are accurate. Debt isn’t included or the fact that salaries might have been much less in the past years.
For example, I have a sister that made much less most of her children’s lives but then went back to school to be a nurse. Her salary was used for the EFC but her savings, etc. didn’t reflect that.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yep…that would include folks like us. The reality is that my ENTIRE take home pay has been paying college bills for two kids. EVERY penny. No kidding. </p>
<p>The good news is that when we make the last payment this spring, we will feel like we won the lottery.</p>
<p>Anyway…this is the first year since 2003 that we do NOT have to do the FAFSA and Profile…woohoo!!!</p>
<p>Thumper, our EFC was the same way…I was supposed to just work for that. I also, will feel liberated at one point and will feel like a “got a raise” in 4 years. I can’t though give them as much as they want and still meet certain payments, but that is why I am trying to have my girls spread their wings a bit wider and hope for the best. It’s not like if I quit my job, (which I would never do) we would be in better standing because I do use my salary to help pay bills,loans, home repair,etc., it’s not “extra”.
I just hope my 98 Van and 96 jeep keep going a bit longer…: )</p>
<p>so… if these (fafsa and css/profile) basically confirm what we think ie no need based aid. do we still have to fill these out EVERY year???</p>
<p>We answered the 'how much are you willing to pay" question truthfully to one college that requested CSS Profile, and backed it with rather unique extenuating circumstances… their answer ended up being 10k per year higher than what we truly felt was a reasonable cost for an education at that particular institution. (so, in effect, they would like us to drain our entire savings and take out loans and not be able to fund the extenuating circumstances which have dire consequences)</p>
<p>It was a complete waste of time. D1 is at a state u in honors prog - though she did have some reasonable choices from a few private colleges, she did not prefer those over public honors program. One other college requested CSS profile, we opted NOT to fill it out, and merit offer was MUCH higher for that college (hmmmm???)</p>
<p>When the phone calls started arriving from happy sophomore/junior students welcoming my daughter to CSS Profile college X, are you coming to accepted student day…she replied, no thanks, not unless you can make it affordable. We ignored follow up phone calls from fin aid at that college that came to house.</p>
<p>I am bitter about this process, because I know anecdotally that people with similar salaries, but different situations (i.e. divorced but one spouse with high salary made no agreement to pay tuitions but really will help, or one spouse who could have worked in a high paying profession chose not to and works part time in library, therefore not racking up anything in the savings column - these folks get financial aid)</p>
<p>We too, have the EFC equal to one salary in household.</p>
<p>I guess if the school recommends it, I would fill it out. I do know of very comfortable families receiving merit aid.</p>
<p>I think although the reasons offered may be part of institutional thinking, another institution might thing differently.</p>
<p>If there is real money involved, perhaps an institution might thing: this is a future development case. By throwing a few thousand at this family now, we may see a substantial return on our investment later in terms of endowment donations.</p>
<p>Schools know that EVERYONE likes to see a bit of scholarship money. I’ve seen wealthy kids be swayed by a merit award, reasoning that that particular school liked them enough to invest in them.</p>
<p>The other reason I might fill out the forms is that if financial circumstances ever change it is much easier to request aid, in midyear, if the dossier already exists in the FA office. I have seen this happen too – investments lost, jobs lost, and FA offices providing emergency aid.</p>
<p>It may be that neither of these reasons are relevant to your particular family. I offer them just as another talking point.</p>
<p>We never filled out the forms and our daughter had 3 nice merit offers that we weren’t anticipating - up to $20,000 per year.</p>
<p>twomules. son has also received very nice merit offers from mult schools, (none of which use the css/profile) others that do use it gave very vague answer as to whether it was necessary or not but one said yes it was required even for merit as the merit aid was tied to the financial aid office. one said it was also tied to work study jobs?</p>
<p>For DD, we were required to file the FAFSA and Profile annually as a requirement for the renewal of her aid. Her’s was a combination of need/merit.</p>
<p>For DS, we were required to file the FAFSA and Profile for his freshman and sophomore years…and if there were any “changes” in our financial situation. He had ONLY merit aid…the school changed its policy about the forms for his jr/sr years and they were not required for renewal of merit aid…but we did have to do the FAFSA for his Stafford loan. That school still requires the filing of both the FAFSA and Profile for incoming freshman for both need based and merit aid. Ditto DD’s school.</p>
<p>AND when he was a senior, his sister became a freshman…we thought that was a HUGE change in our financial situation. So we filed the FAFSA and Profile again that year. It netted DS $250 in additional merit aid…ha ha…</p>
<p>I have helped complete the LAST PROFILE. If DD needs help doing her FAFSA as an independent student if/when she goes to grad school, I’ll help her out.</p>
<p>Oh…yes…DD also had work study.</p>
<p>Thumper: I can’t wait. Will do my last one very, very soon!!!</p>
<p>Got D through school, and S will be a senior next year. Oh how did this happen?</p>
<p>Will help them in future, too, if necessary.</p>
<p>Thumper, does the new grad student have to start all over again or do they use the same pin, etc.? I thought so, but then I read a poster say he/she did a new one.</p>
<p>D’s ‘must do’ list is lightening up… the profile is at the top of my list for this weekend. I started it last week and got stuck on the first page. (Thumper- it’s SCU that wants the info.)</p>