Hi everyone. I just finished filling out the FAFSA and I received the email saying my EFC is about $28,000. I realize this is just an estimate, and not the exact amount I have to pay, but this number just doesn’t seem right. My parents make less than $75,000 and my EFC would be over a third of their income. Would this be accurate?
Also, if my EFC is $28,000, and I decide to attend an in-state college where the cost is less than that per year, does that mean I would receive no financial aid at all? Money is extremely tight in my house right now and I can’t help but worry. I am the first person in my family to go to college, so this is the first time we have gone through the financial aid process. Thank you!
Check your entries on the FAFSA line by line. Make sure you didn’t make any errors at all. Make sure you entered parent stats in the parent section only.
You mention your parent income…is the $75000 before or,after taxes?
Also, what about assets…as those count too. This would include any savings they have in regular savings accounts, certificates of deposit, 529 accounts.
Also interest and dividends count too.
It’s not just income.
If your EFC is more than the cost of attendance at a college, you can still take a $5500 Direct Loan in your name.
How much will your parents pay each year? Ask them, please don’t guess. We see later posts from a lot of disappointed students who thought their parents would pay more.
Also…run the NPCs on your school’s websites to see what the results are.
If your family won’t pay much, you may need to find schools that will give you HUGE merit for your stats.
I see that you’ve been accepted to UPitt’s nursing as an OOS student. It will not be affordable since you won’t get much. Do you realize that? Run UPitt’s NPC. You have nice stats, but not high enough to get merit from UPitt.
What corrections do you need to make? What was put in wrong?
You JUST finished submitting your FAFSA tonight! You need to wait a few days for it to process. Once it has been processed, you will be able to go in…make changes…and resubmit.
You will need to look at local nursing school options.
Where costs are low and/or where you can commute.
Or get an ADN and then get more schooling later, possibly after working a few years.
It sounds like there are some assets or at least one asset with a value that is high enough to impact your EFC.
For instance, if your family owns some rental property that has value, you would include that as an asset. PLUS, you’d have to include the rent amount as income minus any related expenses.
So…for example
Rental house value $250k
Mortgage $50k
So the asset value is $200k
If the rent is $2000 per month, then that’s an additional income of $24,000 per year. Minus any related expenses such as property taxes on that property alone.
If your EFC truly is $28,000, then it’s the minimum you’ll have to pay. Since your parents cannot pay your efc, like most students, you need to focus on Universities that will give you at least a full tuition scholarship for your stats as well as on meet-need universities where 75k means a lot of grant money.
If you give us your stats (and intended major) we can suggest possibilities.
(Pitt doesn’t meet need and it’s scholarships are basically score based, with act 34 the bafic threshold )