<p>What all does that entail?</p>
<p>it means that your family is expected to contribute nothing to your education. so, if you go to a school that meets 100% of need, then you should have everything paid for. but if you go to a school that doesn't meet 100% of need, then you'll have to find some way to make up the difference.</p>
<p>Thanks. That is what I assumed, but was just seeking reassurance. Is this generally a good or bad thing?</p>
<p>it is generally good in terms of college because you can go to some schools for free basically.</p>
<p>on the other hand, to have an efc of 0, you must be pretty low income so who knows what stuff you had to deal with growing up.</p>
<p>brandonk, its difficult to have an efc of 0. Yes, there are schools that meet 100% of need. But I don't know how many and I believe they tend to be the top schools though I could be wrong about that. Our family has an efc of 0. The actual financial aid packages we received varied. At one school we would have had to pay 0. At another they looked to us for about $15,000. a year. I make a very small contribution to the school my son is attending. But my son has to come up with about $4000-$5000 a year, its split between money from his savings, work study and summer jobs. Schools that require Profile in addition to FAFSA have a different way of looking at family resources. There have been lots of threads started by students with an EFC of 0 and suddenly find themselves unable to pay what the schools expect them to pay. So when deciding where to apply look carefully at what percentage of need is met and whether the schools use Profile or not. Also keep in mind that many/most schools will apply any outside scholarships you receive to student loans and workstudy first, then to the school's aid and the very last thing to be reduced by outside scholarships is the family's contribution, so unless you receive huge amounts of outside scholarships, your family will still have to come up with their contribution.</p>
<p>I was told that outside scholarships reduce the family's contribution. (and if efc is 0, there is no contribution), then school's grant money. In most instances, if the student is expected to contribute via work study and summer jobs, they will have to be responsible for that amount.</p>
<p>On this site, you will chat with many posters from a more elite status that often think if your efc is zero, you do not have the education, nor the ability to acquire those skills necessary to apply to top schools. The only solution is community colleges. Be diligent in your college searches. Look at schools from all tiers. If you have the grades and the test scores, many colleges will meet full need. It won't be easy, but it will be worth all your effort.</p>
<p>The only thing that your FAFSA "0" efc does is determine that you are eligible for the maimum amount of federal aid (as the FAFSA uses federal methodology):
PELL grants- $4310
subsidized stafford loan of 3500 freshman year
Academic achievement grant of $750( if you meet the requirement)
SEOG (if that school has funds available)
State grant aid (if you go to school in your home state and they have funds available)</p>
<p>People make the misconception that if you have a "0" EFC that you will essentially get a free ride and will not have to pay anything out of pocket. This is not true because:</p>
<p>Most FAFSA only schools do not meet 100% demonstrated need. If you are a NYS resident you can apply to HEOP and if accepted to a school that has a HEOP program you may end up paying very little out of pocket (but there will still be loans). Some schools participate in EOP (educational opportunity programs). Even then there are only a small number of students admitted to these programs and you have to check with the individual schools.</p>
<p>I would suggest doing a google serach for educational opportunity programs and you will get a list of schools and their requirements.</p>
<p>There is only a small handful of school in the country that meet 100% demonstrated need giving large amounts of grant aid or having low income initiatives where there will be a reduced efc/ or no loans.</p>
<p>These schools are amongst the most competitive as far as gaining admissions.
They also require the CSS profile, which seeks information from non-custodial parents & step-parents (if applicable). They also further look into your assets (home equity, contributions to yoru retirement accounts, etc).</p>
<p>Student loans (subsidized and unsubsidized stafford loans, perkins loans and the schools own loans ) are still considered financial aid and is counted as meeting your needs.</p>
<p>The difference between financial aid using the federal methodology and institutional methodolody (schools that use the profile or their own FA forms) are as follows:</p>
<p>The fafsa and the CSS profile use 2 different set of methodologies when calculating your EFC. </p>
<p>At minimum you file the FAFSA (at almost every school) to determine your eligibility for federal aid (Pell/ seog grants, stafford and perkins loans). Most public univeristies will just require the fafsa (the exception may be UVA, UNC- CH, Mich and a few others which may require their own forms)</p>
<p>The CSS profile is used at different colleges that distribute their own institutional aid (Many of these schools have much deeper pockets).</p>
<p>Many schools that use a federal methodology to determine EFC will require only the FAFSA. </p>
<p>Schools that use an instutional methodology or a combination of the 2 will require the CSS profile or their own FA forms.</p>
<p>Differences between the IM and FM models are</p>
<p>IM collects information on estimated academic year family income, medical expenses, elementary and secondary school tuition and unusual circumstances. FM omits these questions.</p>
<p>IM considers a fuller range of family asset information, while FM ignores assets of siblings, all assets of certain families with less than $50,000 of income, and both home and family farm equity.</p>
<p>FM defines income as the “adjusted gross income” on federal tax returns, plus various categories of untaxed income. IM includes in total income any paper depreciation, business, rental or capital losses which artificially reduce adjusted gross income.</p>
<p>FM does not assume a minimum student contribution to education; IM expects the student, as primary beneficiary of the education, to devote some time each year to earning money to pay for education.</p>
<p>FM ignores the noncustodial parent in cases of divorce or separation; IM expects parents to help pay for education, regardless of current marital status.</p>
<p>FM and IM apply different percentages to adjust the parental contribution when multiple siblings are simultaneously enrolled in college, and IM considers only siblings enrolled in undergraduate programs.</p>
<p>The IM expected family share represents a best estimate of a family’s capacity (relative to other families) to absorb, over time, the costs of education. It is not an assessment of cash on hand, a value judgment about how much a family should be able to use current income, or a measure of liquidity. The final determinations of demonstrated need and awards rest with the University and are based upon a uniform and consistent treatment of family circumstances.</p>
<p>Except in the most extraordinary circumstances, Colleges classifies incoming students as dependent upon parents for institutional aid purposes, even though some students may meet the federal definition of “independence.”</p>
<p>Students enrolling as dependent students are considered dependent throughout their undergraduate years when need for institutional scholarships is determined.</p>
<p>For institutional aid purposes a student may not “declare” independence due to attainment of legal age, internal family arrangements, marriage or family disagreements.</p>
<p>Your COA (cost of attendance) is tuition, room board, books travel expenses and some misc. expenses associated with attending college.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I was told that outside scholarships reduce the family's contribution. (and if efc is 0, there is no contribution), then school's grant money. In most instances, if the student is expected to contribute via work study and summer jobs, they will have to be responsible for that amount.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This will almost never happen. In order for outside scholarships to reduce the EFC, you would pretty much have to cover all of the school based FA before this happens. Usually outside scholarships reduce in this order:</p>
<p>Student self help aid ; student loans & work study (brown is the exception because they will let you reduce one but not both).</p>
<p>After the self help aid, outside scholarships reduce the schools need based FA (and grant money that the school gives the student).</p>
<p>Sybbie is correct - We have a low EFC. My Ds financial aid package (at a State U) consists of about half in merit aid and scholarships (nothing to do with financial need), Pell grant, a State grant, ACG, Work Study, and loans. Currently she is 'overawarded' as she won some additional scholarships and was verified for ACG after her financial aid package was offered. The additional money will be used to reduce the loans and/or the WS. The family contribution will not be reduced. (my understanding is that the only way family contribution is reduced is when merit aid and scholarships eliminate the 'need based aid' and exceed the difference between COA-EFC).</p>
<p>Even with an EFC of $0...you will still be required (at most places) to pay the student contribution. This amount varies from school to school, but it is generally about $2500 per year for freshman and increases each year. The assumption is that you can and should earn that money working in the summer and on vacations...and maybe have a small part time job during the school year.</p>
<p>Having an EFC of 0 is generally a bad thing. Most colleges can not afford to meet 100% of the financial need of students who have a 0 EFC. Many of the colleges that do promise to meet 100% of all students' financial need do so by giving very loan-heavy financial aid packages.</p>
<p>Does taking out $30,000-$35,000 a year in college loans sound like a good deal to you? I doubt it.</p>
<p>The colleges that are the country's most generous -- guaranteeing to meet 100% of financial need with having little or no loans for very low income students -- also are some of the country's most difficult to gain entrance to, places like Harvard, Princeton and Bowdoin.</p>
<p>Few if any public institutions guarantee to meet 100% of students' financial need -- even for in-state residents.</p>
<p>So, when you apply to college make very sure that you apply to a couple (to give yourself a choice) of colleges that you know you'll gain acceptance to and definitely can afford. For very low income students, that usually means applying to a local community or 4-year public institution that they can commute to college from.</p>
<p>Even the most generous colleges -- places like Harvard require students to contribute some money toward their college educations. This typically is by taking out loans and/or working summers and doing the school year.</p>
<p>Unless you are a superstar in terms of grades and scores or are a recruited athlete, it will be difficult -- next to impossible -- to get the financial aid you need from an out of state public. Indeed, you may have difficulty getting 100% of your need met even from your in state publics because public universities usually don't have the $ to guarantee to meet 100% of students' financial need unless, perhaps, the students' need is very small.</p>
<p>So, to avoid disappointment make your college list by figuring out which places are likely to give you the money that you need. Check their financial aid web pages and also invest the $15 to fully access US News on-line college guide, which provides detailed information about individual colleges' admissions policies and financial aid policies (such as info about on average what percentage of students' financial need the college meets, and how much of that aid is in loans and grants).</p>
<p>
[quote]
you may have difficulty getting 100% of your need met even from your in state publics because public universities usually don't have the $ to guarantee to meet 100% of students
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</p>
<p>My Ds State U did actually meet her full need - BUT anything over the federal & State grants was in the form of loans and workstudy (quite a chunk by our standards though not compared to private schools). The schools 'need' grant is in the form of a partial tuition waiver and she already had a full merit tuition waiver. Fortunately the extra scholarships she won will eliminate a large portion of the loans. </p>
<p>OP - make sure you file FAFSA early. We thought we were doing ok and filed at the beginning of Feb - but were to late to get a SEOG grant as they are limited and go to 1st come 1st serve. </p>
<p>We are planning to file FAFSA January 1st next year. But I am wondering if the fact she has some good scholarships will cause the school to consider she does not have enough 'need' to get a SEOG grant even though her EFC will probably be zero next year (unless we win the lottery :) :) ). Anyone out there have experience of this?</p>
<p>It happens at Yale. Family contribution can and will be reduced but the student will have to cover that portion. </p>
<p>Virginia has two fantastic, state universities, meeting full needs for their low income students. Virginia and William and Mary each have programs. Gateway at William and Mary is only for instate. AccessUVA is for all students with a parent income under a certain amount.</p>
<p>It happens at several Institutions. Family contributions can be reduced by the scholarship awards...even though schools are not required to. The best advice is to thoroughly look into each of the schools your child would like to attend so that you get a crystal clear picture of what will happen. Each school can handle aid differently.</p>