<p>I'm sorry if this has been asked (I'm posting from my phone and cannot use the search capability) but I have a question about financial aid. My sister attends a state school in Virginia, and upon being accepted we were told that our estimated financial contribution is ~$50,000. I've seen on the Princeton Review and other websites that some schools are more generous with their financial aid. Does this mean that our EFC may drop if I went to an Ivy League school (or another school mentioned on this list)? If so, by how much? If not, then why are some of these schools considered "better" for financial aid than others? Thanks!</p>
<p>I think the actual EFC is the same at all schools–it is based on the FAFSA. But at the same time, schools are not obligated to give you a financial aid package that makes up the difference between your EFC and their Cost of Attendance. I applied to a couple colleges who apparently expected me to pull an additional $9000 in cash or loans out of the ether.</p>
<p>With your EFC being $50,000, schools are going to expect you to pay $50,000 . . . unless you can get some merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Thank you very much! What makes the difference between a school such as Harvard in comparison to Georgetown? Both of these schools guarantee to match all demonstrated need. Does that mean that their financial aid packages would be matched?</p>
<p>Generally your EFC at schools at the Ivy League level will be <em>higher</em>, because they are counting more assets like home equity.</p>
<p>A few have policies that limit your EFC to a certain percentage of your income, up to relatively high levels. For example, Harvard caps your EFC at 10% of income up to $180K.</p>
<p>You can pretty much count these schools on one hand though.</p>
<p>Better financial aid means they will cover more of your need, but it is still subject to your EFC.</p>
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<p>Both schools meet full need. BUT both schools use the CSS Profile and they COMPUTE the family contribution as they choose to do. Harvard, I believe, has more generous need based aid…and may provide aid to families with higher incomes than G’town does. </p>
<p>Neither of these schools uses the FAFSA EFC to distribute their institutional need based monies.</p>
<p>FAFSA EFC is ONLY used to determine eligibility for federally funded need based aid. With an EFC per FAFSA of $50,000 or more, you would be eligible for a Stafford loan only in terms of federal funds.</p>
<p>Schools that take CSS Profile will have varying “EFCs”</p>
<p>Princeton, Yale, and Harvard (and maybe Stanford) have unique extra generous FA programs. Other ivies & elites are not that generous.</p>
<p>If your FAFSA EFC is $50k, then likely your CSS “EFC” will be similar or higher at schools other than H, Y, P, and S.</p>
<p>Mom2 is sort of right. But avoid confusion…I’ll add this. Schools that use the CSS Profile will likely compute a different FAMILY CONTRIBUTION based on the information provided on the Profile and the varying formulas the schools use. The Profile does not give an EFC. </p>
<p>EFC is a FAFSA computation.</p>
<p>True…</p>
<p>FAFSA has the EFC. I put CSS “EFC” in quotes because it’s just something people say for short-hand.</p>
<p>Hey guys, I actually just talked to my dad and we went over the calculator at FinAid. Our EFC is actually ~29k now (with an additional 1k contribution expected from me). He attributes this mainly to my sister being in college now. Does this mean that at most schools, we wouldn’t pay more than $30k per year? Thanks!!!</p>
<p>The Feds should really rename the EFC to something that doesn’t make it sound like that’s all you will have to pay.</p>
<p>NO.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that you’re using a institutional method calculator (not the federal method calculator).</p>
<p>Either way, a high family contribution like $30k does not often mean that is all you’ll pay.</p>
<p>Some schools don’t meet need and some schools would determine your need using different formulas. Also, some will put loans in the package to meet “need” so you’d have to (eventually) pay for that, too.)</p>
<p>What schools are you considering? What are your stats?</p>
<p>* SAT I: 2030
720 M
640 W
670 CR*</p>
<p>While your SAT is good, it’s not high likely high enough for schools that “meet need” and give the most generous aid. </p>
<p>And, if you’re considering OOS publics, you can’t really expect much/any aid from them.</p>
<p>I see that you’re instate for UVA. that will likely be your best bet, unless you go to a school that will give you a big merit scholarship for stats.</p>
<p>At this point, I don’t know exactly what schools I’m considering. The 2030 was done without any preparation (I’ve allocated about 3-4 hours per day this summer to preparing. I don’t want to sound overoptimistic, but I think that I can show some improvement.). I did in fact use the institutional calculator. I don’t fully understand the difference - it seems to me that the institutional calculator is for private schools whereas the federal is for public (although I’m sure that my assumption is incorrect).</p>
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<p>The FAFSA is used by pretty much every school to hand out federal aid (Pell grants, Stafford loans, federal work-study, and Perkins loans). Some schools have, in addition to the FAFSA (federal) form, the CSS profile and other institutional forms, that they’ll tell you about on their website. </p>
<p>Your EFC has nothing to do with how much you will be asked to pay for college. All it really does is determine whether or not you qualify for the Pell Grant, the federal work-study program, and certain subsidized (interest-free until you graduate) federal loans (Stafford and Perkins). The lower the EFC, the more federal aid you are entitled to (but federal aid isn’t a lot of money, so you can’t count on it to pay for anything more expensive than your local in-state public school).</p>
<p>Schools have no obligation to charge you only the EFC, and most schools will leave you with something called a “gap” (that is to say, you have to pay your EFC and then a lot more money on top of that).</p>
<p>Virtually all schools use FAFSA (federal) to determine what federal aid you’ll get. In your case, all you can get from federal aid is a student loan. But, if you want aid, you’ll have to do a FAFSA…even at a private school that uses CSS Profile. And, some private schools ONLY use FAFSA.</p>
<p>But, there are private schools that use CSS Profile. At those schools, you’ll have to fill out FAFSA and CSS Profile and anything else the school requires. So, check what each school will give.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s possible for you to increase your SAT with practice. However, even if you were to get a higher SAT, that’s no guarantee that you’ll get accepted to the top schools that give the best aid.</p>
<p>Ivies and other elites are only accepting 5-12% of applicants - and they reject kids with very high stats all the time simply because these schools get lots of apps from many, many (too many) super stats students. Those who are from an unusual part of the country or have URM status sometimes have a better chance. </p>
<p>For instance…at Princeton…the mid-range of students have the following stats…</p>
<pre><code>Middle 50% of First-Year Students
</code></pre>
<p>SAT Critical Reading: … 690 - 790<br>
SAT Math: … 700 - 790<br>
SAT Writing:… 700 - 780<br>
ACT Composite: …31 - 35 </p>
<p>So, the top 25% of their students have either an ACT 36 or a SAT 2390. Those in the mid-range have high stats, too. To have a decent chance (no guarantees of course), then you should have scores in the upper range.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the financial aid info everyone. I’m looking for this information more, as I understand that I’m not a prime contender for HYPSM.</p>
<p>The feeling I’m getting from you is that you want to go out of state, but you can’t afford to pay for all the costs.</p>
<p>HOw much will your parents pay for you? Do you know for sure that they will pay $30k per year for you?</p>
<p>If so, then you should look at some schools that will give you merit scholarships for your stats so that combined with your parents’ money, the school will be affordable.</p>
<p>There are probably schools that would give you enough merit money where your parents might only have to contribute $15k-20k per year (or less if your scores go up a bit.)</p>
<p>Anyway, you should apply to a couple of schools that will give you big merit scholarships for your stats as “back up choices”. This will give you more choices and flexibility.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Isn’t it ever so confusing? EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution and is the figure generated by FAFSA for each student. It is a firm number, that can be adjusted for error and some judgment but pretty much cast in stone. It also doesn’t mean much expect that it determines your eligibility for the PELL grant and subsidized loans. There are colleges that use just that number to come up with financial aid packages, but I don’t know any that guarantee to meet full need that do not ask for more information, most often the CSS PROFILE if the school gives substantial aid as a rule.</p>
<p>So an EFC above about $5K means you are not eligible for PELL grants. An EFC above the cost of the college you pick means no subsidized Stafford loans. It may also be the indicator for state aid if your state has such programs. </p>
<p>If you apply to colleges that also use other aid calculators, they come up with their own family contribution figure that is likely to be different from that EFC. Such schools have their own definition of need. So you can get the federal/state funds from your FAFSA EFC, but to get any college money, you have to be eligible by each college’s own standards of what need is. Then they each meet it in their own ways. </p>
<p>So your FAFSA EFC can be a useless number other than to qualify you for Stafford loans if your schools have other calculators to determine need. Even the number that some schools generate are not useful if the schools do not guarantee to meet it or if they meet it with a bunch of unaffordable loans. </p>
<p>Using a schools contribution calculator, and getting a figure of $29,000 means that school is going to expect that your family contributes at least that amount to your college costs. </p>
<p>So depending on what you define as EFC, whether it is the FAFSA EFC which is the official government EFC or what each college determines as what your family contributes, it is so that colleges differ in what they feel your family could contribute to your education. And those numbers can differ from the one FAFSA EFC. But it is not determined by college cost at all, but by your family income and assets.</p>
<p>This makes me curious as well. If I use the institutional calculator, my finances are about 35K. Some of the schools that I’m thinking about are Pomona, Amherst, HYPS, Dartmouth, and Columbia. Which of these schools would cost me about that if I miraculously got in?</p>
<p>It’s hard to tell since each school has its own rules about what they consider. Some consider home equity, some consider other things. Some schools weigh assets quite heavily. Some schools expect students to contribute “summer earnings” to their college costs. </p>
<p>If a school determines that your EFC is about $35k, then don’t expect much free money. Some schools will fill most of your need with Work-study and student loans. </p>
<p>More importantly…have you spoke to your parents about how much they will pay each year? If they have no intention of spending $35-45k per year for college, then you need to pick your schools carefully. </p>
<p>BTW… of your list, HYP would be the most generous.</p>