<p>okay, this is a really stupid question, but how exactly do you find out your FAFSA EFC?</p>
<p>You can use the calulators on Finaid.org or the CollegeBoard site… but remember that just because you know it, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s all you’ll have to pay!</p>
<p>^Okay, thanks 'rentof2, I finally found the right page:)</p>
<p>I also saw this on the FAFSA FAQ though, but I don’t know if this is anything helpful:</p>
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<p>I thought my EFC was reasonable. I feel like I’m the only kid who feels this way, haha. $769.</p>
<p>^Lol, I feel the same way. Mine is only about $1500, which I think it’s absolutely amazing. I know it’s been a completely different story for all of my middle class friends.</p>
<p>The good thing about a low EFC is it means you should be eligible for some federal aid. That bad thing is that the amount available is limited (and it includes loans), so with a lower family income… how do you come up with the rest of the money you’ll need?</p>
<p>So much depends on the school – for example, a full Pell can pay fully (or almost fully) for tuition, fees, and books for a community college student who lives at home. For a student aiming to go away from home for school, it can be just a drop in the bucket.</p>
<p>There are a few schools with large endowments that provide excellent need-based aid, but they are the ones that are the very hardest in the country to get into.</p>
<p>There are also schools that award excellent merit-based aid for top students.</p>
<p>It just all depends… generally speaking, more money is better than less money. Just having a low EFC, all by itself, is not necessarily good news.</p>
<p>wow! where do you go that tuition is 3200 per year???
Brigham Young University Idaho. Tuition is about $1585 per semester. It’s a great 4 year university. It’s a private university that’s subsidized by my church. It’s really nice.</p>
<p>But thanks everyone. I’m crossing my fingers we get a lot!</p>
<p>^^If you’re LDS I would suggest BYU…it’san unbeatable deal</p>
<p>* ^^If you’re LDS I would suggest BYU…it’san unbeatable deal *
Yeah I’m attending BYU-Idaho. BYU-Utah is a few thousand per semester, but BYU in Idaho is even cheaper. It’s great education for an incredibly awesome price.</p>
<p>“It just all depends… generally speaking, more money is better than less money. Just having a low EFC, all by itself, is not necessarily good news.”</p>
<p>Definitely, especially if some of the schools you’re applying to are not need-blind. (but even supposedly need-blind schools take your ability to pay into account.) But at least it’s better than having low income AND high EFC.</p>
<p>A lot of private schools gives out great merit scholarships if you keep looking and don’t mind traveling to a different part of the country:)</p>
<p>^Or, on the other hand, stay close to home and go to state-funded schools. Pennsylvania has fourteen schools that are very cheap for in-state students; my tuition, room, board, and fees next year are estimated around $13,487. With the Pell Grant I have, state grant, ACG grant, and scholarship(s), I almost have my first year paid. I’m applying to a lot of scholarships in the hope that I can graduate debt-free. :)</p>
<p>My EFC is 0 so no complaining here but your EFC, Chimichonga, seems way too big! Did you double check to make sure you didn’t type in any extra zeros?</p>
<p>My EFC is too big. 
I should get back to $$$ applications.</p>
<p>Spiritualwitch, browse around CC and you’ll find a lot of people actually have higher EFCs than that! I, too, was in shock. My parents barely made over that in a year. I could never imagine having that much money.</p>
<p>We got an estimated EFC from finaid.org but after completing the FAFSA, our EFC was about $8K higher…</p>
<p>“It’s really unfortunate for the kids with high stats, because many of them could have snagged some hefty merit scholarships if they had applied on time.”</p>
<p>That was the approach we took, knowing that our EFC would be ~45k. With merit aid, our D has a nice choice of schools (albeit not “top” ones) that will cost between 17k-32k (including room and board). We just couldn’t stand the thought of trying to pay that full 45k to some of the schools she might have been accepted at, but without any merit aid (i.e. BC).</p>
<p>Details at:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/quinnipiac-university/857103-why-not-go-here.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/quinnipiac-university/857103-why-not-go-here.html</a></p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>In a month or so, we’re going to see postings from distraught students and parents who see their FA packages and find out that they contain unaffordable loans or gaps or very high expected parent contributions (actually, a couple of distraught postings have already occurred.). Many of those students would have been offered generous merit scholarships at other schools, but they will have missed the application deadlines. Or, many of them would have been accepted at affordable state schools if they had applied. Sadly, many refused to consider applying to any of those schools in the fall, because they were stuck on creating “dream lists” of schools and were in denial about what is affordable. 
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<p>Good luck for your child!!! Where will she end up going? :)</p>
<p>Right now, Quinnipiac is probably her top choice. But she’s going to stay w/ a friend overnight at UConn next week, and we’ll revisit all of the schools at which she was accepted, starting w/ Stonehill late next week and ending w/ URI in mid-April.</p>
<p>My wife and I are still having a hard time coming to terms w/ the notion of paying $6k/year MORE for Quinnipiac over UConn though, when it seems that UConn has the better reputation. But there’s certainly more than rep that factors into this decision - things like smaller classes, less in-state students (= less chance of empty campus on weekend?), some semblance of a nearby town to frequent (QU is in Hamden, but New Haven is just a short free shuttle ride vs. UConn being in cowland :P), better “feel”, etc…</p>
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<p>Then followed by the posts from students that rant about how hard they’ve worked to ge into their dream school, and they DESERVE to go there, even though they can’t afford it. Someone (the government, the school) should give them money because they DESERVE to go to the best school.</p>
<p>(Sorry, but those posts really make my blood boil :mad:)</p>