<p>Can anyone tell me why the Princeton Aid estimator has a lower EFC than the one on collegedata. I put in the same numbers and collegedata calculator came up $8000 higher.
Thanks</p>
<p>Estimators can calculate:</p>
<p>1) Your Federal EFC which comes from FAFSA and will be the same for any school in the country. This determines how much Federal aid you qualify for.</p>
<p>or </p>
<p>2) Your Institutional EFC which comes from the Profile and asks for additional financial information. However, since individual colleges use this information differently, you have an EFC for each college, based on their particular policies and calculations. </p>
<p>I don’t know which one the collegedata website is giving, but either is likely to be low compared to the P estimator. If it is the Federal EFC, this is often (but not always) lower than the Institutional EFC because it doesn’t include some factors such as home equity. If it is the Institutional EFC, it is just a general estimate (the College Board has a similar estimator). The P calculator is specific for it’s FA calculations and since P (along with HYS) has one of the most generous FA policies in the country, the EFC it calculates is likely to be lower than a generalized Institutional estimate.</p>
<p>Princetom uses their own methodology which yields some of the most generous aid of any college.</p>