<p>Hey all, I submitted my FAFSA sometime last month. And I went back today to see if the EFC was up. On the "Comments" section it states that my EFC was 06727 and that i was not qualified for a Pell Grant. does this number mean that my family is expected to contribute $6,727 PER semester or year? And is this tuition costs or EFC for the total cost for college? Any help is appreciated! Thanks!</p>
<p>That is total for the year, including room and board, if living on-campus.</p>
<p>Please understand that most colleges do not promise to meet full need, so your net costs may very well be much higher.</p>
<p>It does not necesarily mean any of those things. The EFC is just a number given to determine your eligibility for federal, and sometimes state, grants and to determine your “need”. Need is calculated as Cost of Attendance minus EFC. The school will not cover any of your EFC for the year and most schools do not meet full need either. If you look at the financial aid stats listed for the school on College Board, that may give you an idea of how much need they cover for the “average” student. Your awards could be more or less.</p>
<p>@sk8rmom thanks so much for reffering me to collegeboard! The school that there is a 99% chance I will go to (univ of md - cp) reports that the AVERAGE percent of need met is 62% amd the AVERAGE amount rewarded is $9920. the total costs to attend there is approximately 22,000. Now if understand you corrrectly, my need is 22000 - 6727 = 15273. IF i were to receive the AVG award from umd, 9920, then the end amount that I need to still pay is approx. $5353?</p>
<p>Under that scenario, your total out of pocket cost would be 6727+5353. But, you might look to see what the split is between loans and workstudy vs. grants. It’s likely that the $9920 includes Stafford loans and work study…so your net cost may actually be higher.</p>
<p>reports that the AVERAGE percent of need met is 62% amd the AVERAGE amount rewarded is $9920. the total costs to attend there is approximately 22,000. Now if understand you corrrectly, my need is 22000 - **6727 **= 15273. IF i were to receive the AVG award from umd, 9920, then the end amount that I need to still pay is approx. $5353?</p>
<p>If you were to get the “average amount” of aid, then you would pay $6727 PLUS $5353…for a total of about $12,000</p>
<p>BUT…**it’s unlikely you will receive the “average amount” because that amount includes all the people who are getting Pell Grants…**which you won’t get. You might also not get work-study since some schools only give that to students who qualify for Pell.</p>
<p>Frankly, with an EFC of $6700, it’s VERY LIKELY that all you’ll get is a $5500 student loan and maybe $2000 in work study ( Since work-study is paid out over the school year, it is really for personal expenses…not for direct costs.)</p>
<p>Have you talked to your parents about how much they’ll pay each year?</p>
<p>If your family can’t pay $12k - $17k per year, then UM-CP probably will not be affordable.</p>
<p>Do you have a financial safety school in case UM-CP is not affordable?</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids well umd cp was supposed to be my safety school, seeing as to how that im in state. the other schools i am considering are pitt where i already got in, and they meet a higher percentage of need, and boston college as well as uva. it will be quite unfortunate if an out of state school ends up being cheaper than the my states flagship instiuiton</p>
<p>*@mom2collegekids well umd cp was supposed to be my safety school, seeing as to how that im in state. the other schools i am considering are pitt where i already got in, and they meet a higher percentage of need, and boston college as well as uva. it will be quite unfortunate if an out of state school ends up being cheaper than the my states flagship instiuiton *</p>
<p>I know that many students and families assume that their instate flagship is their “safety,” but that is often not true. Most flagships cannot meet need and don’t give much/any free aid to those whose EFC’s exceed Pell thresholds. </p>
<p>I can think of many, many students who have found privates or out of state publics to be less expensive for their families than their own state flagships.</p>
<p>Hopefully, you’ll get accepted to a school that meets need. </p>
<p>I believe that BC requires CSS Profile, so be sure to fill that out. Keep in mind that BC has a reputation of expecting a lot more from families and giving rather inadequate aid packages even though they claim to “meet need”. They get to determine what your “need” is, therefore that gives them some wiggle room.</p>
<p>UPitt will not likely do a good job meeting your need (or even coming close) unless you qualify for one of their big merit scholarships. Their FA data includes mostly instate students who have a MUCH lower COA…therefore, it’s much easier to meet THEIR need. Meeting need to OOS students with high COA’s is much less likely without big merit coming into play.</p>
<p>UVA may be your best hope. I don’t know if UVA requires CSS Profile…it might, so check on that. It is hard to get into from OOS.</p>
<p>Did you apply to any other Maryland state schools? If not, you should probably quickly apply to some that are still accepting apps.</p>
<p>@akujieze, Maryland(the state) offers many need based grants for in state students. Have you applied? Have you contacted MHEC? Did you ask your high school guidance office to give you info on state/county need based scholarships/grants? Maryland offers a lot, but you have to ask …</p>
<p>BTW, do you have good stats? If so, UMd will start sending out merit aid notifications soon.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids yeah, the whole instate = cheaper was the automatic assumption by my parents and I. My parents can afford the tuition, however with 2 kids already in college, it will be a hassle, so Im trying to do whatever it takes to relieve them of some of the stress.</p>
<p>@plumazul I looked at the MHEC website sometime at the beginning of the year, and I was looking through the scholarships/grants a lot of them noted that they were no more funds available , so i kinda stopped, but im going to look back into it. Thanks for the recommendation!</p>