<p>My FAFSA EFC comes out to roughly ~30k per year on my parents' income of ~130k.</p>
<p>Is that about right? Where we're from (San Francisco), 130k is a little less than double the median income. I'm pretty sure the FAFSA uses some kind of complicated calculation to get to that number, but is the percentage right? 25% of my parents' income?</p>
<p>Second question: With my high EFC, I don't qualify for any grants from the state schools/UCs I applied to. Would it completely be this case at private schools? The schools I've applied to either meet full or very close to full demonstrated need with as few loans as possible, but how much extra would they be willing to give to help lessen the edge of the EFC?</p>
<p>Sorry for all the questions. If worst comes to worst, I'd be able to commute to and from Berkeley daily to cut that $10k room and board cost and make my contribution manageable. Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>Private schools that give a lot of aid don’t usually go by EFC - most have their own methodology. They may expect you to pay more or less than EFC. Run their Net Price Calculators for a better estimate than FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>Usually, the EFC is the least you can expect to pay unless you get merit scholarships that exceed your need. As Bob Wallace says, most privates schools that give a lot of aid to most students tend to use their own methodology to define need and what the family and student should contribute and most of the time, for most students, it comes out more than the FAFSA EFC. The reason is that institutional methodology will usually take into account primary home equity, non custodial parent’s financials, siblings’ assets, among other things, though it is possible if none of those things are in the picture and you have a situation of say siblings in private school k-12, some private colleges may take that into consideration whereas FAFSA will not Also if there are two kids in college, FAFSA cuts the parental EFC in half whereas the PROFILE, often used for institutional methodology gives 60% . </p>
<p>However, the old YMMV holds, in that a school that does NOT meet need for everyone and known to be “stingy” in aid, do sometimes come up with the best awards for those students they most want.</p>
<p>Most FAFSA EFC’s I’ve seen are in the 25-33% range. It seems to be correct. It includes a very minor adjustment for location. UCB is a very good “backup” if you get in.</p>
<p>If your EFC is $30,000 and you get into UCB, you will be paying the full price of attending the school.</p>
<p>As noted above, you will likely be paying about your EFC regardless of where you go if you are depending on need based aid. </p>
<p>You might want to look for options where your SAT/ACT scores and GPA will garner you significant merit aid.</p>