<p>how much of your expected financial contribution do colleges actually give-</p>
<p>i live in india and my parents earn in rupees and even though we are well off here , we cannot afford to pay tution in dollars, i am an american citizen and was wondering that how much the colleges would actually give me when my efc is 0?</p>
<p>The colleges do not give any of the EFC. That is the expected FAMILY contribution and the colleges expect your family to contribute that amount...at least. If your college meets full need, you could receive the cost of attendance minus your EFC, minus the student contribution. Most schools DO require a student contribution and this can be several thousand dollars. If the school does not meet full need, then you may or may not receive sufficient aid to cover the difference between your cost of attendance and your efc. Also, you need to keep in mind that many schools include loans as part of the financial aid package.</p>
<p>The EFC also makes you eligible for federal/state aid. If you are under the threshholds there are some grants, loans and workstudy that you may get. It also can affect eligibility for some need based merit awards. Most schools that use FAFSA only, do not guarantee to meet the EFC, but that doesn't mean that the most desirable students don't get full need met. </p>
<p>You may want to fill out PROFILE and see how you do there in terms of expected family contribution. If you apply to a school that guarantees to meet aid, they will ante up the amount left after your family contributuion figure. But unless you hit the merit jackpot, what you generally will get is a full financial package made up of loans, work study along with grants.</p>
<p>can you qualify for merit based award as well as financial aid award???
though i have read that all merit aid is above 1400 sat score and i have a 1340(regiving in december)</p>
<p>and btw- except the top private colleges-are there any universities which will give you the entire aid amount you need????</p>
<p>Do a search for a poster named momfromtexas. She has some schools that would be possibilities for you. She also gives you reference sources and how to specifically look for such schools.</p>