<p>Hello, i just received results from my SAR and it says my EFC is 0. what does this mean? i have a low income family and i'm hoping to get my bachelors degree at a college in the state that i live. can anybody give me an idea of what kind of financial help i can get based on the information given?</p>
<p>Expected Family Contribution = 0 means you are eligible for lots of aid.</p>
<p>Your EFC means nothing at all without knowing what your COLLEGE's policies on financial aid disbursement are. An EFC of zero means you would likely be eligible for the maximum federal money, but that wouldn't cover the costs of room and board at a four year college, never mind the tuition. Some schools have large amounts of institutional money which they use to assist students with low EFCs, but some do not and do something called gapping. This means that there is a difference between the amount of the EFC plus aid, and the cost of attendance. In some cases, this can be thousands and thousands of dollars of difference.</p>
<p>So...you may be "eligible" for lots of aid, but this doesn't mean you'll RECEIVE lots of aid. Depends on the school.</p>
<p>You need to know the types of aid your schools give and the percentage of need these schools meet. So contact your state school finaid office.</p>
<p>Beyond federal aid, it should also qualify you for the max in state aid, since you are going to school in-state. This is often a big deal; in my state, for instance, the max state grant is roughly twice the max Pell. You would also very likely qualify for the max subsidized loan, and work-study.</p>
<p>What state? Maybe someone here can give you some specifics if you name the state. Also, are you going into math/science or teaching? There are some specific grants available for those areas.</p>
<p>Very few public universities have the endowments to be able to meet the financial need of very low income students. Virtually public universities gap need-based aid, meaning students may get as little as 60% of the aid they need, and the majority of the aid that they get also may be loan aid.</p>
<p>Typically for very low income students, their most affordable way of going to college is to live at home, and go to community college, and then transfer to an in state public. Depending on the colleges and your stats, you may be able to get need based and merit aid from the community college and public university.</p>
<p>What are your stats? What state do you live in? What are you planning to major in?</p>
<p>The most generous private colleges are those with big endowments. Those are the most competitive colleges in the country, places like Harvard. If you have the stats to get into such a place, and also have the good luck to be selected over the thousands of other applicants with the stats to get in, you'd get generous financial aid.</p>
<p>NSM--many, many low income students go away to college, and go to four year colleges to start with. Virtually every student at the private four year college I work at is low income or low middle, maybe a few at actual middle--and we are not a rich school by any means. The bullk of their FA is federal and state grants.</p>
<p>I'm not downplaying the hardships, but I see much more gap problems for the middle income students who don't qualify for the public money, but whose parents didn't plan to pay anything.</p>
<p>yea agreed</p>
<p>My efc is 0. I have one loan out for each year (subsidized). The rest is payed by the state, federal government, and scholarships from my school.</p>
<p>EDIT: I go to a public school in my state. I applied to a lot of out of state schools and got very good offers from them, but still couldn't afford them. When I transfer I'm applying to more affordable out of state schools so I can hopefully afford to go. I might take out extra loans (nothing too much) if I get a reasonable amount of money for out of state but not the entire amount.</p>
<p>Garland,
Please post info about private schools that aren't supercompetitive that also are generous with financial aid for extremely low income students.</p>
<p>I know that Berea College in Kentucky is very generous -- and accepts only low income students -- but otherwise the low income students I know have had to go to public universities, and because of money, often have had to start their careers at community colleges, even if they had good stats.</p>
<p>From what I've seen, the private universities that aren't top ranked also are more likely than the most competitive universities to consider finances when accepting students, and to gap financial aid. </p>
<p>From a USA Today article on college and low income students:
"Financial aid funding hasn't kept up with rising costs. In the mid-1970s, for example, the maximum Pell Grant for low-income and working-class families covered nearly 40% of the average cost of attending a four-year private college; now it covers about 15%....</p>
<p>Increasingly, the federal government has shifted resources away from grants for the poor to loans for the middle class. It has also shifted to higher education tax breaks, which mostly benefit the upper-middle class. In fact, federal education tax breaks now cost as much as the entire Pell Grant program. One result: Today, low-achieving rich kids are just as likely to attend college as high-achieving poor kids...."</p>
<p>USATODAY.com</a> - Low-income college students are increasingly left behind</p>
<p>As of 2006, these are the schools that US News said guaranteed to meet students' full financial need (i.e. their need as determined by the college):</p>
<p>Amherst College (MA)
Antioch College (OH)
Barnard College (NY)
Bates College (ME)
Beloit College (WI)
Boston College
Bowdoin College (ME)
Brown University (RI)
Bucknell University (PA)
California Institute of Technology
Campbell University (NC)
Carleton College (MN)
Chapman University (CA)
Claremont McKenna College (CA)
Clarke College (IA)
Colby College (ME)
Colgate University (NY)
College of the Holy Cross (MA)
Columbia University (NY)
Connecticut College
Cornell University (NY)
Dartmouth College (NH)
Davidson College (NC)
Duke University (NC)
Emory University (GA)
Franklin and Marshall College (PA)
Georgetown University (DC)
Gettysburg College (PA)
Grinnell College (IA)
Hamilton College (NY)
Harvard University (MA)
Harvey Mudd College (CA)
Haverford College (PA)
Lafayette College (PA)
Lake Forest College (IL)
Lawrence University (WI)
Macalester College (MN)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Middlebury College (VT)
Mount Holyoke College (MA)
Northwestern University (IL)
Oberlin College (OH)
Occidental College (CA)
Pitzer College (CA)
Pomona College (CA)
Princeton University (NJ)
Rice University (TX)
Salem College (NC)
Scripps College (CA)
Smith College (MA)
Southern Arkansas University
Stanford University (CA)
St. Olaf College (MN)
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Swarthmore College (PA)
Talladega College (AL)
Thomas Aquinas College (CA)
Trinity College (CT)
Tufts University (MA)
University of Chicago
University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
University of Northern Colorado
University of Pennsylvania
University of Richmond (VA)
University of Virginia
Vassar College (NY)
Wabash College (IN)
Washington University in St. Louis
Wellesley College (MA)
Wesleyan University (CT)
Williams College (MA)
Yale University (CT)
Money</a> & Business: Schools That Say They Meet Full Need - US News and World Report</p>
<p>
[quote]
I know that Berea College in Kentucky is very generous
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Indeed they are. From Berea's web site. "Each of our 1,500 students receives a full-tuition scholarship. In addition to tuition scholarships, students receive financial support through our required work program, which enables them to earn money for other educational expenses such as housing, meals, and books."</p>
<p>If you have the scores, Cooper Union is free.</p>
<p>That's great! It means that you aren't expected to pay a single penny towards your college education.</p>
<p>However, the next part comes the aid. Though, being in a situation of EFC=0 is the best you can get for financial aid. Welcome to the club.</p>
<p>"Though, being in a situation of EFC=0 is the best you can get for financial aid."</p>
<p>No, it's not because there are a lot of colleges that factor need into admissions, and at such colleges it's harder for low income students to gain admission. If the OP gets gapped for aid, it's less likely that his parents can scrimp and save to make up the difference.</p>
<p>DePauw, Wabash, and Manchester in Indiana meet 98-100% of need. In the situations of which I am aware, they met 100%. Good schools, great aid, not super-competitive.</p>
<p>Realize, though, that even though a school may "meet 100% of need," much of the package may be loans. One school on the long list posted earlier met our need ... with a lot more loans than several others. </p>
<p>A good way to check out schools is to search for their common data sets. You can search on the school website for common data set, or try to find it through the institutional research link (or "facts" link). You can't find them for all schools, but you can for <em>most</em>. Look for the financial info page & see the average loan indebtedness. That will give you an idea of the loan component of aid packages.</p>
<p>It also depends on what state you're in. For instance, UDel meets full need for in-state students who satisfy particular course and grade requirements. Other universities might meet full need for the honors college.</p>
<p>My EFC was/is practically zero. This is an advantage at institutions that give generous aid. But as Northstarmom pointed out, this is a terrible position to be in for most people, since college is unaffordable if the institution does not meet full need. In fact, even with my school, which gave very generous aid (but not a full ride), we struggled and accumulated significant debt just to live reasonably. If you don't already, I would recommend working as much as you can and saving up to help pay for college, not only to make your education possible but also to ease the possible burden on your family.</p>
<p>UC Santa Cruz = State U that does have need-based full rides for strong EFC=0 students. It's not true that public universities don't do it, or that they always have loans.</p>