Do most colleges come up with about the same EFC?

Paying for College
1

<p>I understand that each college has its own calculating policy when it comes to financial aid. However, each institution gets the same information regarding a family's financial resources. This leads me to my question: Do most colleges overally estimate pretty much the same EFC?</p>

2

<p>Your EFC per FAFSA will be the same for EVERY college. However your need based aid will vary wildly from school to school. </p>

<p>The FAFSA EFC is primarily used to determine eligibility for federally funded need based aid. Some schools DO use the financial information from the FAFSA for need based instructional aid (aid from the schools). This is where the schools can take the information and put it into that school’s formula.</p>

<p>If you are applying to schools housing the CSS Profile, the schools using that have various formulas to determine what they think your family can pay. The Profile delves much more deeply into your finances than the FAFSA.</p>

<p>So…for determination of Pell Grant eligibility (federally funded grant for low income students), the FAFSA EFC is used the same by every school. For any other aid, YMMV. Oh…you can take the Direct loan of $5500 for freshman year.</p>

3

<p>I’m sorry, I should have specified in the first post: I am an international applicant. Therefore, I will not be filing FAFSA, just CSS. I’m specifically asking whether after different colleges receive one’s information from the CSS Profile, they calculate around the same EFC, or whether the EFC number fluctuates greatly from one institution to another?</p>

4

<p>The term ‘EFC’ is a FAFSA term, not a CSS term.</p>

5

<p>Well, I am not asking about the term itself; I’m asking about it’s meaning - would most colleges expect my family to contribute to my education financially about the same amount?</p>

6

<p>No they won’t since each school uses different formulas. The amounts can widely differ. Some schools will consider home equity, some won’t. Some just have harsher formulas.</p>

7

<p>For an international student, the numbers can vary a great deal. Many colleges give no aid at all to internationals, so your family would be expected to pay full price. Others may expect you to pay less, depending on many factors.</p>

8

<p>How much can you and your family pay per year? What are your stats?</p>