<p>My parents just got back our FAFSA amount. Combined income is appox. 180,000 a year for total salaries. Our EFC is 98,000 dollars. Does this amount make any sense given that no school even cost this much money per year.</p>
<p>This doesn't mean you have to pay 98,000. It means that your EFC could theoretically go up to that, if any school were to cost that much, which none do. You won't pay more than the sticker price (and it could still be less, if you got some sort of merit, non-need based aid.)</p>
<p>Just based on income alone your EFC would not be that high - though still pretty high - higher than most colleges will cost anyway. But there must also be some other numbers bumping the figure up - parent assets, student income, student assets all contribute to the EFC. Run the nubmers through one of the EFC calculators (finaid.com has a good one) and it should give you an idea of how the figure is arrived at.</p>
<p>One of my friends calculated his EFC at over $400,000.</p>
<p>Okay now, I guess I'd better not complain about $98,000. At the rate costs are going, it will probably be 98,000 before I graduate.</p>
<p>Your family income is in the top 5%. Congrats to your parents. But did you think the government (meaning the taxpayers) was going to subsidize your education? Your parent's considerable taxes will be going to help others attend college who have significant need. Not the other way around. </p>
<p>In answer to your question: the EFC does seem high for that income. I suspect a big hunk of the EFC is due to parental assets, or student assets. You can use the calculator at FinAid to find out where the EFC came from.</p>