<p>we do have assets, but how much would be responsible for this</p>
<p>Assuming we had say, $200,000 in assets. (fictitious assumption)
By the time room and board etc. is covered also, that will qickly vanish..</p>
<p>They dont expect u to sell all ur assets do they?</p>
<p>It is not so much that they expect you to sell your assets, but they do expect your parents to make them available to pay for your education.</p>
<p>It's like saying I should only pay 200 toward my kids edcuation even though I have $100,000 in the bank.</p>
<p>Maybe people with the foresight to save should hide it in their mattresses. (JK, but you get my point!)</p>
<p>You don't have to hide it in your mattress, but you really should do some investigating.</p>
<p>Most of the methods being "pushed" out there have some pretty nasty consequences. The problem is those pushing them have no idea of the end result.</p>
<p>We have a relatively low income, but when we ran the numbers on the financial aid calculators a few years ago, we realized that it was our assets that were making our EFC higher than anticipated.</p>
<p>So I read up on financial aid and that helped us make some simple changes starting about three years ago:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Most important for us was to fully fund our IRAs. Because we are a farm family, we need a lot of liquidable cash so most of our money was in a savings account (which is fully counted as assets). Roth IRAS are perfect for us (we can take out the principle if needed) and FAFSA doesn't take IRAs into consideration when calculating EFC.</p></li>
<li><p>We also had some money saved in EE Bonds. That was like our emergency fund and I was pretty sure we would need to cash them in sometime within the ten years that my 3 boys would be in college. So, we made sure to cash those before January of our son's junior year and used the money to pay off debt and major expenses. </p></li>
<li><p>Our son works and had about a thousand dollars in his savings account. When it came time to pay for some of his senior year expenses, we had him pay for it out of his account (FAFSA asseses the students assets at a higher percentage than parents' assets)</p></li>
<li><p>In January of this year, before we filled out the FAFSA, we tried to pay all our big expenses. We made our 2006 IRA contributions, we paid for our health insurance premiums for the entire year, things like that.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>All this is legal and ethical. I know it didn't lower our FAFSA EFC by a huge amount but every little bit counts.</p>
<p>A really good book is Paying for College Without Going Broke by Kalman Chany. They come out with a new edition every fall. I try to read it once a year.</p>
<p>I know these suggestions may be too late for OP, but hopefully they can help others that are in similar situations.</p>
<p>Unless you have some really large assets or savings, its shouldn't be that high</p>
<p>My family has the same income and number of ppl but the efc was only 1200</p>
<p>Follow some of the strategic advice posted and maybe you can get a lower efc for later years</p>
<p>hmm.... will do</p>
<p>Agrophobic, if it isnt confidential, approx what kinda assets do u and ur family have?</p>
<p>It doesn't take a great deal of assets in the student's name to throw EFC's out of line. $10,000 alone will knock you for an additional $3500 on the the EFC.</p>
<p>we have 3000 in the bank and thats it</p>
<p>ohh thanks a lot....</p>
<p>antarius: If you live in India and your family makes 30k/year.....you are rich. But to answer your question, about 5-6% of your assets are considered in EFC calculations.</p>
<p>I had a small commercial farm (orchard) and agric degree. I ve notice in my years that people who had a farm background, certainly planned more and prepared more than nonfarm people. Although agric people cannot predict the future, planning and preparing goes a long way towards making it or losing it. There is much too much at stake to do anything else.</p>
<p>itstoomuch</p>
<p>I agree! So much of farming is out of our control (weather, unexplained lose, market prices) that we have to be really careful managing our resources. A very good year could be followed by a lousy year, and we have to be prepared for that.</p>
<p>"antarius: If you live in India and your family makes 30k/year.....you are rich."</p>
<p>Relatively in a way yes... but that dont aid any cause as its the US where I want to study</p>
<p>any other views?</p>
<p>And does EFC count towards everything? as in Entire price - EFC is aid? (entire price incl. Room and board, etc.0</p>
<p>EFC is the Expected Family Contribution. It is the amount that you and your family is expected to be able to contribute to the cost of college. </p>
<p>a person with an EFC of 13.000 is expected to pay at least that amount towards the total cost of college for that year. the EFC is recalculated each year, since income and savings changes year to year.</p>
<p>You may pay more than your EFC if the college you attend does not meet 100% need. Also, the financial aid that the package gives you to meet the additional college costs (the amount beyond the 13,000) may include loans -- which you will eventually pay for.</p>
<p>Antarius</p>
<p>EFC is confusing. At most colleges, it is NOT the "entire" price of what you will pay for college. It is usually the bare minimum of what you will pay.</p>
<p>Here is an example to give you an idea:</p>
<p>College A costs $40K and they say they will meet 100% of need. $40K - $13K = $27K is the amount they will try to help you finance. But of that $27K, approx $5K will be loans (which you will have to pay back), $3K will be work study and $2K is summer employment. </p>
<p>So, you will be expected to contribute $13K (EFC) + $5K (loans) + $3k (work study) + $2K (summer employment) = $23K</p>
<p>Most colleges do not guarantee to meet 100% of need. If College A usually meets 90% of need then the numbers will be</p>
<p>$13K (EFC) + $4K (10% need college doesn't meet) + $5K (loan) +$3 work study + $2 (summer employment) = $27K</p>
<p>This is a gross simplification. But it helps to show that your EFC, most likely, is NOT the amount you and your family will contribute.</p>
<p>Our FAFSA EFC is fairly low, and in my planning, I am adding $10K - $13K to that amount, assuming that my son's financial aid package will most likely include $5K in loans, $3K in work study and $2K expected from summer contribution.</p>
<p>hmm.... very deceptive
Thanks Fresnomom. That was very helpful..</p>
<p>Also, how much will the EFC decrease in a sibling enters college? My sister will be in another two years... and will the EFC for each be 13k/2?
(same amount as now, but half for each?)</p>
<p>Yes, when your sister attends college your parents EFC will be split in 2</p>
<p>Antarius,</p>
<p>Your best bet would be to check out your school in the college borad or looking at the schools common data set to get an idea of how much need the school mets and the ratio of loans to grant aid (remember a school can meet you demonstrated need and give you a lot of loans).</p>
<p>a huge stack are top colleges...
Rice, CMU, JHU, Stanford, Cornell, UChicago</p>
<p>many do meet 100%</p>