I feel like I saw a thread about this recently, but searched just now and couldn’t find it.
This seems like a super-loaded question. If the number is too high, do you end up leaving money on the table and getting less aid than you should be eligible for? If you lowball it, is there some negative consequence? Is it expected that you will enter your EFC?
If a family feels their EFC comes out to an amount greater than what’s practical, how should this line item in the CSS Profile be answered? I know there are instructions and support everywhere, I’m hoping to hear responses from those who have been there. Thanks! Cheers.
This seems like a game. Some schools may ignore it completely. But it is not out of the possibility of imagination that others may do one or more of the following:
- If the amount is higher than the school's calculated EFC, the school may use that as the EFC, resulting in a higher net price.
- If the amount is slightly lower than the school's calculated EFC, the school may consider giving a small scholarship or preferentially package the financial aid to bring its EFC and net price into the applicant's affordability range. The school would not offer such a scholarship or preferential packaging if the applicant indicated a number that was greater than or equal to the EFC, or far lower than the EFC (i.e. applicants for whom the small extra enticement would not improve yield).
Seems like the way to play the game is to run the net price calculator on each CSS Profile using school and then give a number slightly lower than the lowest EFC listed by the any of the schools.
(EFC in all of the above discussion is the school’s calculated EFC, which may be completely different from the FAFSA EFC or other schools’ calculated EFCs.)
Thanks @musicmerit , I feared that would be the case. Very helpful, though, particularly the current thread from Sept 2015.
I lowball it, too. Maybe 50% of what I think I could pay.