<p>On the FAFSA this year, my EFC was about $8,000 per year. However, I was accepted to Rice without ANY need-based aid at all. </p>
<p>There is no way my parents can pay 45,000 a year. Is there any way we can contest? Has anyone had success in doing so?</p>
<p>My fin aid was terrible as well. My EFC on Fafsa is 15k while EFC for Rice says I should pay 34k. My dad is going to call them after I get the official letter.</p>
<p>Anyone have success appealing their fin aid?</p>
<p>DD's FAFSA EFC was $13K, but Rice has the family contribution at $20K. No can do.</p>
<p>Rice uses other information beyond the FAFSA. That is why you complete the profile and send tax returns.
"In determining your financial need at Rice University, we consider multiple factors including your income and assets, your family's income and assets, your parents' ages, and your state of residence. All of these factors are evaluated using both a Federal and institutional financial need formula in order to determine your expected family contribution. Rice considers it the responsibility of parents to contribute to students’ educational costs. We calculate each family's contribution in part by using a federal methodology approved by Congress, but we also consider the financial resources available to the parents. Although Rice recognizes that parents have many financial obligations and preferences for how to allocate their resources, we expect that a student’s undergraduate education will be a priority in the use of those resources."</p>
<p>Definitely call them if they have come to radically different conclusion or your circumstances have changed. You can also update your information if it has changed and they will recalculate all the way until you register .However, when you complete the profile form you can see some of what they add back in from FAFSA.</p>
<p>I know that they use tax returns/Profile as well, but I don't know where they came up with an EFC of 34k. The FAFSA estimate of 15k is basically spot on with how much my parents can pay.</p>
<p>It's possible that you entered some information incorrectly. Our EFC from Rice has always been almost exactly what the FAFSA says. Definitely worth calling the financial aid department and finding out where the difference between the FAFSA and the PROFILE lies, if it's a large amount. But have patience - I imagine they will be SWAMPED tomorrow due to all the people calling to find out what's up..</p>
<p>Umm...are you sure that you submitted all required financial aid documents? It's not just the FAFSA.</p>
<p>(Just making sure, not insulting you haha)</p>
<p>
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On the FAFSA this year, my EFC was about $8,000 per year. However, I was accepted to Rice without ANY need-based aid at all.
[/quote]
Somethings definitely wrong there. Call and ask or email!</p>
<p>I am by no means an expert on this subject, but here's what I learned from my own situation. S got into Rice RD and the financial aid letter shows our EFC for rice at approximately 3 times the FAFSA EFC for this year. This is because on the FAFSA, our 2008 income was low enough that when it came to the part about assets, it said we didn't need to enter the info because our income was below a threshold amount. So I didn't put it in. Now on the CSS Profile, which requires you to report your assets regardless of your income, the private schools are able to see our investments and a home with lots of equity, so they are drawing about 2/3 of the Rice EFC from this alone.</p>
<p>The point of this post is just to say that if your income for 2008 was at an amount that allowed you to skip the asset section on the FAFSA, but you have a good amount of assets that showed up on the CSS Profile, that is the reason that there is a difference between the two EFC's, and it can be extreme, as it was in our case.</p>
<p>What have I learned from this experience? I guess we should have spent every penny we made in the past and S would have gotten full aid!</p>
<p>Our income wasn't below the threshold or whatever that is. I'm just going to call Rice after I get my official letter and see what can be done. If nothing can be done, I guess it's the state U for me.</p>
<p>ohcollege1102, I hope yours is just a mistake that can be fixed and you find that out when you call. I am probably going to call, too, in a few days, even though I'm pretty sure in my case, it's not going to change and we are stuck with an EFC we can't afford.</p>
<p>but assets are only pulled at about 5.6%, and Rice caps amount from house equity at 2.4 combined salary - or something like that. If you have questions or concerns, it is a good idea to check with them. Maybe something was overlooked or misinterpreted. Good luck.</p>