<p>If a school says that they meet 100% of your demonstrated financial need does that mean that you will only have to pay what your EFC is and the school will take care of the rest or does it mean that you have to pay your EFC and then the rest will be paid for by the school AND loans that you take out?</p>
<p>It depends on the school. Some schools include loans in their financial aid packages and some don’t. Some don’t include loans for low income students but do include loans for others. Some schools don’t include loans at all.</p>
<p>Generally speaking the most competitive and wealthy schools are the ones that are most likely to NOT include loans.</p>
<p>Most schools DO include loans in their financial aid packages.</p>
<p>These colleges will use institutional methodology to determine how much your family must pay-- every college has a slightly different formula. </p>
<p>It depends on the college. Colleges can say that loans meet need. </p>
<p>Even at a college that meets full need, students are expected to contribute some of their summer earnings each year, and pay for day to day living expenses from work earnings.</p>
<p>The vast majority of colleges include loans in a need based package.</p>
<p>A few important take-aways here: </p>
<p>*the vast majority of schools include loans in their financial packages. All schools I know of include an expectation that you will have a summer job. Many schools also include an expectation that you will have a work-study job during the school year. (They don’t guarantee you the job even if they award you the funds.)
- schools are NOT agreeing to meet your EFC</p>
<p>The EFC is a number generated by FAFSA to qualify for federal funds. Schools that meet full need almost always want more information (they may collect it via the College Profile or their own institutional forms) and use that info to determine aid. In other words, they meet 100% of what they think you need-- not what you think you need or even what FAFSA thinks you need.</p>