I wouldn’t be surprised @anitomy if your EFC would actually be $0 (or very close to it). Do NOT despair. The recommendations above re: merit $ is good advice. Take it. Fill out everything. (Child #2 here did all of that along with 16 applications. I handled the FA end of things.) As long as your parents provide all of the Financials, based on your income numbers I wouldn’t worry. Our goal? $0 debt at the end of 4 years…on a shoestring budget, no less. (I do mean shoestring.) Lofty goal? Actually, it will absolutely be possible. Some colleges offered fantastic grant + merit; others just big fat grants. One college offered what I now know to be a “preferential package”…meaning they really really want him to attend. And let’s just say that package is more generous than what Yale’s calculator suggested we would pay, had he been accepted there. Be informed. Be ON TIME. Apply for EVERY financial everything. (And, if you can avoid loans, do…it will help later when you want options for grad school or anything else.)