<p>My FASFA EFC is 8k. My family has no major outliers like a huge home equity, 200k savings, real estate. What do you think the diff in efc will be from FASFA and my schools (UChicago) calculated efc. Also what is the best IM online calc? Thanks!</p>
<p>The College Board has an EFC Calculator for the 2009-2010. As you know they operate the CSS Profile. Their calculator does both FM and IM methodology.</p>
<p>Great thank you. I have used a bunch of fa calcs inculding the collegeboard, but I just want to be suprised with a big efc and huge loans. What sort of things are inculded in the Im and not the fasfa?</p>
<p>Here is a list from College Board of the major differences between the FM and IM.</p>
<p>Note that each institution can use the IM information in different ways, so your EFC may be (probably will be) different at different Profile schools. For example, schools will use home equity in different ways: not used, capped at 2 x income, etc.</p>
<p>When I run my numbers through all the calcs I get 8-10k EFC. The thing is that I have been looking around the forums and the majority of people ave high EFC but around the same income as my family. I know we all have diff cases but my family agi is 90k we will have 2 kids in college and my parents assets are 10k. I have all 0s in the student section, i dont work nor do I have any assets. Is it weird to have such a low EFC for being in a middle-class income?</p>
<p>Not as there are 2 in college. The parent part of the EFC is divided equally between the number of students in college at the same time. If it was just you the EFC would be doubled.</p>
<p>Ah so that is what makes it such a low efc. My sister is currently a soph in college so me and my family will have 2 years of having the benefit of having 2 children in college. What will happen after those 2 years? Will my family automically be expected to fill the 16k? I think my sister plans to attend PA school, will this continue the 2 kids in college?</p>
<p>Not meaning to hijack this thread... but I have a question about the FA benefit of having two kids in college.</p>
<p>A friend of mine has two kids (twins) in two different private LACs. One of them wants to take a year off, but my friend says they would get slammed as far as the financial aid for the one remaining in college because of the benefit they get from having two in at the same time.</p>
<p>But if their EFC is divided (more or less) between two students, it really wouldn't change the actual amount of money they're paying out in given year, would it? If they're paying ... I don't know, say, 8K in EFC for each kid in school, then they're still paying out 16K total. If one kid took a year off and the EFC effectively doubled for the one still in school, then they'd still be paying 16K, right? I mean, I know the numbers in real life aren't that tidy and that different schools have different specific policies, but just as a general kind of idea... is that right?</p>
<p>My friend said she called up the financial aid office at the college of the kid who would remain in school and said, okay, if we just have her in school there but our other kid takes a year off from their college, what would our aid package look like? And she said she was just awe-struck by the increase in what they'd have to pay... and how could they even afford that... and and and. So, I just nodded sympathetically, but I was wondering if they can afford to pay for the two in college (let's say with x amount of EFC for <em>each</em> of their two kids), why couldn't they afford to pay for the one at 2x EFC?</p>
<p>I realize in the long run it would stretch out the number of years they have a kid in college overall, but in any given year why would she make it sound like such an impossible amount to pay?</p>
<p>^^ Using your 16K EFC, your friend's total expense for both kids would go from 64K (both kids in 4yrs) to 80K (one taking a year off and needing an extra year to finish), right?</p>
<p>But you're right, for the current year, it shouldn't make much difference.</p>
<p>Yes, the College Board does have a great IM Calculator, but remember to compare what your family actually PAID in state & local taxes to what this calculator will come up with. </p>
<p>I always send in a letter to schools my children are applying to OR enrolled in, as we pay very high property taxes & my husband works in another state. So, the FAFSA and the CSS Profile calculation of our state & local property taxes is lower than what we paid. </p>
<p>As the state & local taxes are a deduction against your income, it is a good idea to always look into this factor.</p>
<p>Back to the original topic. </p>
<p>From our experience, the Collegeboard IM calculator does a pretty good job of estimating a "ballpark" Profile EFC. However, as has been pointed out often on these boards, each college uses Profile data differently. But that estimate will probably be within $2000 give or take. </p>
<p>Another factor to consider is how each college packages its offer. For example, we have 2 in college. One school caps loans, the other doesn't. One includes $2400 in work study, the other only $1800. One caps home equity, so there's a 2K difference in EFC. All told, for effectively the same COA, we get ~6K more grant money from one school over the other.</p>