<p>I understand what EFC is and what financial aid is when it comes to 100% needs met type universities. But what is the EFC and the school's financial aid supposed to cover? Tuition and housing? Meal plans? Books? I'm just wondering what extra money my parents will have to come up with if I go to a private school.</p>
<p>Ryan</p>
<p>Your need gap is the school’s COA - your family’s EFC.</p>
<p>COA is the amount that the education expenses determined by the school. The COA includes tuition, fees, room and board, books, travel, and other personal expenses.</p>
<p>EFC is the amount that the family expected to pay.</p>
<p>Need Gap is the amount that the school tries to provide in order for the student to go to the school. It includes grants and student loans from federal and state governments, grants from the school, and work study.</p>
<p>“100% need met” means the school will provides the whole Need Gap.</p>
<p>The family usually borrows even more student loans, works harder to generate more incomes, or uses the savings to pay for the EFC or the “unmet Need Gap”.</p>
<p>Yes, its called the Cost of Attendance. They usually have all that stuff added up. But they state fulfilling need they include loans and school work majority of the time.</p>
<p>Yes meaning food+books+transportation+housing+tuition+misc, they have all those numbers averaged out. Look up a school your thinking about. Then you can debate about which ones you might be able to skimp on, or there estimate might be a little to low for you.</p>
<p>Do bear in mind that EFC is the official term used by FAFSA. Most of the colleges that do guarantee to meet full need do not guarantee to meet EFC. They guarantee to meet need as the college itself defines it and it can be a whole other number than the EFC. Students with divorced parents,families who have a large amount of primary home equity, are just some examples of where the EFC can be way off from what a college might determine your family should be able to pay.</p>
<p>Also how those colleges meet need can make a big difference too. Some have a no loan policy or cap the loans; some do not. Some include PELL and Staffords and give a lot of workstudy which can compromise how you intend to meet your part of the contribution.</p>
<p>The Cost of Attendance is usually a good place to start on what your parents will have to pay: tuition, room, board, books, other fees, transportation. Remember the COA is generally an average since you can usually select different rooms, different meal options, your transportation costs will depend on your distance from the school, your books will depend on your classes, etc.</p>
<p>The term EFC is a misnomer. </p>
<p>Although it stands for Expected Family Contribution, that’s not what it really means.</p>
<p>Colleges don’t have to do ANYTHING with EFC except see if you qualify for any Federal aid (which isn’t much).</p>
<p>Since most schools (even privates) do NOT meet need, then a family would often have to pay a LOT more than EFC.</p>
<p>For instance…</p>
<p>Say a school that doesn’t meet need has a COA of $50k.</p>
<p>If the student has an EFC of 0 (the lowest), he might ONLY get…</p>
<p>$5550 Pell Grant
$5500 student loan
$2000 (maybe) work-study</p>
<p>So, even though the EFC is 0, the student is only getting $13,050 in aid. So the family would be expected to pay OVER $35,000 per year for college… Which would be crazy since the family may not even have an income of $35,000 per year.</p>
<p>Even if the school gave a $10k per year scholarship or grant, the family would still have to pay $25,000 per year…which is still a lot more than 0 (EFC 0).</p>
<p>You’re interested in privates
Most private schools (and public schools) do NOT meet need, which ones are YOU looking at?</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>BTW…even at a school that “meets need”, if the school says that your family should pay $30k per year, and your family can only afford to pay $15k, then that school won’t be affordable either. The SCHOOL gets to determine your “need”, not you.</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year?</p>