<p>After completing FAFSA it shows our EFC as 4756. Estimated cost of attendance at my state school is roughly $16,000 for tuition, room/board, books/supplies. I have been awarded a $9,000 merit scholarship for all four years. Is this simple math, deducting the EFC and scholarship from estimated COA, or is it more complicated than that? I understand there are no guarantees, but I'm so curious at this point pending receipt of financial aid offers. Any replies would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>It's a bit more complicated. But you're looking pretty good!</p>
<p>The schools take their Cost of Attendance (tuition, fees, room/board, books, miscellaneous expenses) and subtract the EFC to determine your need. In this case, COA - EFC is about 11K. So the school will try to put together a financial aid offer that covers most (usually not all) of the calculated need, through grants, scholarships, loans, and work study.</p>
<p>You can check with Collegel Board to see what % of need your school typically covers. Higher is better.</p>
<p>So if they cover 90% of your need, leaving 10% "gapped" you might get an aid package of around 10K. That would include your 9K merit aid, and they may supplement that with a small university grant.</p>
<p>Usually when a need-based aid package is put together for an applicant who already has a merit aid scholarship, they will use the scholarship to reduce what otherwise would have been loans or work study.</p>
<p>So under this scenario, your family might end up paying your EFC plus perhaps another 1K or so-- not a bad deal. Good luck!</p>