<p>I do :) the benefits of being poor lol</p>
<p>Sorry, but there's nothing good about having an EFC of $0. It greatly restricts your choice of college as well as some of the activities that you'll be able to do in college. </p>
<p>I hope that you will be able to get into one of the few colleges that are extremely generous with very low income students. Otherwise, things may be very tough for you. Even with schools guaranteeing to meet 100% of your need, you still may have to struggle if the college meets your need by loading you with loans that will be very hard for you to pay back.</p>
<p>way to rain on my parade :(</p>
<p>I'm not trying to be mean, but do think it's important for you to know that it will be harder for you to find an affordable college than it would be for someone who has more money. Consequently, definitely make sure that you are applying to a couple (to give yourself a choice) of safeties that you definitely know you can afford, will be accepted to, and would enjoy attending.</p>
<p>Often such safeties are public 4 or 2-year universities that one can commute to. </p>
<p>Also, do careful applications for all scholarships that you may have a chance of getting. The easiest merit aid to get tends to be that associated with individual colleges and merit aid that is offered by local organizations.</p>
<p>I am going to piggy back on NSM's post and repeat what I wrote in a previous thread on the topic..</p>
<p>Not necessarily true that there are benefits to being poor, because very few schools are need blind (if a school is at the end of their financial aid allocations and chosing between you and another similiarly qualified applicant, that person needing "less" aid than you would get the tip). </p>
<p>The overwhelming majority of schools do not meet 100% demonstrated need. theose that do not meet 100% of demonstrated need, gap which means that you must come up with the rest of the $ the best way you can.
the ones that meet 100% DEMONSTRATED NEED with a large protion of grant aid, are amongst the most competitive as far as admissions.</p>
<p>what your "0" efc will get you is:
the maximum pell grant (approximately 4000 depending on the cost of your school)</p>
<p>the maximum subsidized stafford loan (3500 for freshman)</p>
<p>federal workstudy (the amount depends on the school)</p>
<p>this is the only "sure thing" that you will recieve with your "0" EFC. If your cost of attendance (tuition, room, board, misc expenses) come in at this amount then yes all of your cost are covered. at most schools this will not make a dent.</p>
<p>At some (not all) schools your "0" EFC could get you (individual mileage may vary)</p>
<p>possibly a 4000 perkins loan which are allocated to those with exceptional need (not all schools give them)</p>
<p>some state grants from your home state (you would have to check with other schools regarding reciprocity agreements.</p>
<p>an additional 4000 unsubsidized loan (if your parents are not eligible for a plus loan)</p>
<p>SEOG (depending on funds availbity from the school, not all schools have funding)</p>
<p>overall having a "0" EFC is not necessarily a great thing!</p>
<p>And of course the full ride* at a need-blind...</p>
<p>sybbie u need to chill out. i am sure the financial aid people would love to hear you say things like that. "Our goal is to not help people that are in need!"Sorry if only high income elites can go to college. Keep the poor poor and the rich rich nice philosophy. Take a long look at yourself in the mirror buddy.</p>
<p>does the EFC of $0 affect admission process? considering needblind and non needblind? if i got into a college that is non needblind but my EFC is very low, do they revoke my acceptance?</p>
<p>I'm sort of in the same situation, as I have an EFC of 1000. I'm just hoping it won't hurt me during admissions</p>
<p>I want to wholeheartedly agree with Northstarmom's sentiments above. I also thought that having an EFC of $0 would be an good thing when it came to the financial aid process, but that was certainly not so. While I did get more aid than my wealthier friends, it was not nearly enough to compensate for the lack of funds that yielded my EFC of $0. This resulted in financial aid offers with massive loans that were virtually unacceptable, which did restrict my options considerably.</p>
<p>
[quote]
if i got into a college that is non needblind but my EFC is very low, do they revoke my acceptance?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>No they are not going to revoke your acceptance however, if that school does not meet 100% percent of your demonstrated need you will have a gap that you will have to fill the best way you can. If your school packages their aid where there are more loans than grants, it could be very hard for you to attend.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"Our goal is to not help people that are in need!"Sorry if only high income elites can go to college. Keep the poor poor and the rich rich nice philosophy. Take a long look at yourself in the mirror buddy.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If you think that the cost of education is expensive, try the cost of ignorance. Someone who doesn't do their due diligence to find out what percentage of need a school meets and how that need is met is really going to be in for a rude awakening when they admitted to a school that they cannot afford to attend because the money is short. A school could essentially give you an aid package that is all loans and will have still met your need.</p>
<p>looking over at your posting, I see you have an interest in UVM and Univ of colorado. Unless you have divorced/ separated parents who are residents of each state, you are going to be out of state at one or the other.</p>
<p>lets say that you have a "0" EFC and are in state at UVM and out of state at colorado</p>
<p>Cost of attendance in state is $14,312. Lets say that you are one of the students who UMV on average has met 82% if their need and the average aid package 56% grants and 56% loans .</p>
<p>You come with your "0" EFC:</p>
<p>okay, you get the max pell of 4000</p>
<p>you get the max seog of 4000 (even though it is highly unlikely because of the limited seog funds)</p>
<p>you get the max loan of 3500</p>
<p>you get work study of 1500</p>
<p>you get an instate schlarship of 1000</p>
<p>vermont has essentially met your need but you are starting out the gate with 7500 in loans that will only go up year over year.</p>
<p>You get admitted to colorado where the COA out of state is 32925.</p>
<p>You get the max federal monies (Pell, seog,perkins, stafford)</p>
<p>this comes out to $17,500. where are you getting the balance from (especially when on average they package aid 45% grant aid and 55% loans)?</p>
<p>Yes, there are schools that for example princeton, where you will have an EFC of "0" and will have no worries if accepted, because of their generous financial aid and no loan policy. Now the only obstacle is to be part of the 9% admitted and not the 91% of the pool who will be denied admission.</p>
<p>Excellent post, Sybbie. Yep, kids, it's all there. Unless you are considered a highly desirable catch for the school, or get into a needblind 100% of need met school that gives mainly or all grant money, it is tough to get the funds for college. Most of what is given in most schools are loans. And loans have to be repaid. If your EFC is low, it generally means your family is not going to be able to help much in repaying those loans, so you will have to do it. It means that you are not on the same playing field as those who are loan free after college. You need to very carefully weight your college options considering the costs heavily. You should be well aware of this because Sybbie is so correct in saying the cost of ignorance can be a lot more than that of education. </p>
<p>This does not mean that college is not for you, or that you should not try to get aid at the colleges you want. It's better you know the situation up front while you can do something about it, like look for financial safeties, programs (like ROTC), free schools (Cooper Union, Webb, some state options, all if you qualify, of course), non traditional routes. There is a thread a mom started who found ONLY free rides for her kids. Her methods are ones that you should know. Maybe you will get a free ride, maybe many generous offers, and if you do, then wonderful, good for you. No need to do another thing. But if you don't, and you run into the situation these moms are describing, if you do not have some alternative plans, it can be very painful and your choices are much more limited in March and April than in January, that I can guarantee. We are not causing the situation, but pointing it out since it appeared that you did not see some "dangers" looming out there.</p>
<p>One last thing: It is essential to start combing the bushes now for local scholarships and for colleges that are likely to give you generous aid. If you are a high school senior, you already are very late in doing this. You've probably missed many local merit aid deadlines as well as deadlines for colleges offering merit aid. Colleges often have merit scholarship deadlines that are due before the colleges' admission deadlines.</p>
<p>Don't think that if things don't work out at your original school, you can be there a year and then transfer and get more money. Many schools have no aid for transfer students. </p>
<p>It also is far easier to get merit scholarships -- local, national and college-sponsored - when one is a high school senior than when one is a college student. </p>
<p>Probably the majority of organizations that sponsor merit scholarships for students who already are in college are doing so for student who are in majors that are related to the organizations. The organizations are trying to support students who'll be entering fields in which the organizations need workers. Consequently, the organizations usually sponsor students with high grades in majors related to the organization who will be entering senior year of college. </p>
<p>The majors most likely to get such support are the sciences, health, education, engineering, computer science, agriculture, journalism, math and business. There's little merit aid support for students in majors like sociology, political science, philosophy, psychology or English. Why? There are a glut of people with such undergraduate majors who are looking for jobs. There also are an overabundance of people who majored in such fields who are plannning on going to law school or to grad school in psychology, social work , English or creative writing. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, fields like chemistry, physics and engineering are desperately in need of students -- particularly Americans -- now that it's so hard for foreign students to come to the U.S. to study.</p>
<p>Um our EFC was 0 daughter got into top 20 school and will graduate with hardly any student loans (very very low) so don't worry about it if you are accepted to a need blind and highly endowed school. Just make sure you look for those when applying. If you live in a state with a scholarship program (like Bright or Hope) then use those schools as a back up.</p>
<p>Being poor is a great thing especially in terms of a higher education. Being wealthy has its obvious benefits. Being Middle simply means your screwed.</p>
<p>My family is poor. We have an income of perhaps $18,000 after my (extremely minimal) college expenses. This is not including the bit that I make through working, which perhaps amounts to $4,000 a year.</p>
<p>No, we are not better off than families making $160,000 and paying full freight.</p>
<p>"Being poor is a great thing especially in terms of a higher education"</p>
<p>Not at all true. Probably most students who are poor lack the academic background and scores to get into the highly endowed colleges that give excellent deals to poor students. This is because: 1. Those colleges may accept as few as 10% of their applicants; 2. Since the quality of public schools depends on property taxes, most poor students go to some of the country's worst schools and consequently lack the academic background and guidance counseling to get into those competitive colleges with excellent financial aid.</p>
<p>Many poor students also have to work to help support their families -- parents, siblings. Even with excellent financial aid, going to college -- any college -- can be a financial sacrifice.</p>
<p>"Being Middle simply means your screwed"</p>
<p>Middle class people typically can afford to go to some kind of college, even if that means starting at community college or living at home and commuting to a local 4-year college while taking out some loans that the student and their family would feel confident about being able to pay back. </p>
<p>Being able to do these things -- which many middle class people on CC look down on -- are what poor students would consider being very blessed.</p>
<p>adidasjed:</p>
<p>sybbie and Northstarmom are two of the absolute best parent posters on this board. Anyone would be extremely foolish to ignore their advice, which is spot-on. </p>
<p>Or, better yet, at least check it out for yourself. Take a look-see at the websites for a popular school like Syracuse or NYU or George Washington. Unless you have a hook that they really want, the gap and self-help portion is huge. Even at public Unis, the taxpayers dictate that self-help money is awarded prior to grants, so the "free" ride is really a lot of deferred loan payments.</p>
<p>If your EFC is zero, then it is just that...zero. I think that if one is coming from circumstances that humble, then they should maybe think about going to Community College and taking on a part time job or volunteer position (for just a handful of hours a week) which reflects their academic goals or major in some way.</p>
<p>Then, you could transfer to a University with your GE's knocked out of the way as well as some humble experience which pertains to your major and do lots of things. You will not have to worry a whole lot about scads of student loans. And, if you study really hard, you could obtain a nice internship.</p>
<p>Just a few short years ago, I used to witness folks (fellow classmates and the like) who wanted the best of the best right out of the box. I come from super humble circumstances, and it used to flip me out when I would observe folks who would go all out with loans and the like for University without thinking of more viable as well as less expensive options (like Community College and even taking a few CLEP tests). </p>
<p>So, OP, stay true to yourself. But, please try to not go for broke with stuff just because you have an EFC of zero. If you are pretty sure that your parents finances are not going to have an increase any time soon, then please think of coming up a bit frugal and maybe do the Community College thing for a little while. I am just expressing my opinion and am not trying to disuade you from anything at all.</p>
<p>Its not as bad as everyone thinks. Colleges calculate personal expenses into the total cost of attendance. The aid they dont cover mostly will come from non compulsory costs. If you survive without a car, buy your books off amazon, and limit your personal expenses, the aid they give you will cover almost everything.</p>