<p>Do college only look at the EFCs for the FAFSA and the CSS Profile or do they look at everything? Everything as in, in the income, assets, tax returns, etc.</p>
<p>For federal aid they only look at fafsa EFC though your fafsa could be selected for verification. In that case after taxes are filed you will need to use the irs data retrieval tool to update your fafsa or get a tax transcript from the IRS to send to the school if you manually update fafsa. There may be another form or 2 to fill out in addition.</p>
<p>For profile how much doc they need depends on the school but most all will ask for documentation which they should request or have instructions on their finaid website on what to do.</p>
<p>Simpler answer is that for any financial aid granted by the institution itself, yes, they will look at ALL the numbers you provide . . . and each school will makes it’s own determination of how much assistance you really need. </p>
<p>Sometimes that number is close to your FAFSA EFC . . . but, quite often, it isn’t. And you really can expect that different profile schools will come up with very different assessments . . . and then add into that all the different ways they can respond: grants only, combinations of grants and loans, meeting full need, meeting only partial need, and so on. By the time you’re done, you can end up with financial aid awards that are all over the map!</p>
<p>Your EFC and your need per Profile are both BASED on your income and assets.</p>
<p>It depends upon the school. Most schools do not meet financial need or even come close. So they basically look a the desirablilty index you get from admissions, your EFC and what funds they have left (so the earlier you are in the process, the better off you are) and give you a package based on whatever formula they have. Ulnless Admissions has coded you as a “hot pick” you aren’t going ot get need met. A lot of those school just give the standard Government package of PELL if you are eligible, the Stafford loans, any state money to which you are entitled, some work study if the school has it and a referral to check out the parent’s loan (PLUS) and some sites to look for outside and suggestions for loans. If you are lucky the school with throw in some of their own money in additon. and maybe, maybe they subscribe to Perkins Loans and Seog and can give you some of that, but really, getting generous packages that even come close to the EFC are rare. It’s a rare school that meets need.</p>
<p>Now if you are in that category, those schools want to check out the fillings in your teeth for their worth. Ok, just kidding there, but if you get selected for verification, I 'm not too far off. Yes, they will know exactly what you have, especially those who own their own businesses or have some unusual twist in the financial picture. They will look for where your money is and will know that you might be able to take a HELOC or borrow against your R 401K or cash value of your insurance policies, and maybe you should be driving a cheaper car.</p>