Cold Parents during College Admissions

[ucbalumnus]

@stacyneil

Here is the FAFSA estimator discussed above, so you can get a realistic idea of your EFC. https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm?execution=e1s1

At colleges that claim to meet full need (usually the most selective ones, and the women’s colleges listed above) they will cover everything except that EFC (actually they will use their own methodoloy so the number may be a little different, but it’s good as a ballpark.)

Most good-financial-aid-schools calculate EFC their own way. Students with divorced parents often get unpleasant surprised with schools’ EFC versus FAFSA EFC, since FAFSA only uses the custodial parent information, while most good-financial-aid schools want information from both parents. Check each school as to whether it uses only FAFSA, or also uses CSS Profile or other forms – if it uses CSS Profile or other forms, assume that it will require both parents’ information unless otherwise stated.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1675058-meet-full-need-schools-can-vary-significantly-in-their-net-prices-p1.html shows how different the financial aid offers from schools that claim to “meet full need” can be. So run the net price calculator on each school.