EFC! - faint

Paying for College
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<p>all 100% need based aid is not the same. Daughter applied to 7 schools all meeting 100% demonstrated need. accepted to all 7 schools. & different total EFCs and there was over a $10,000 gap between the 'best" and "worst' packages.
Each school is not going to calculate your EFC the same.</p>

<p>Rice need based= 84% grants, 16% loans/job</p>

<p>CMU= 70% grants, 30% loans/job</p>

<p>JHU 74% grants, 26% loans/job</p>

<p>Cornell 70% scholarship/ 30% loans/job</p>

<p>Chicago 79% grants, 21% loans /job</p>

<p>I remember you said that you also live abroad, if you are not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, then none of these schools are need blind to you and your ability to pay will be a factor in the admissions process as there are limited funds for international students.</p>

42

<p>Sybbie</p>

<p>Thanks for posting the above. It is a GREAT example of how different each school can be in calculating the financial aid package!</p>

43

<p>Fresnomom,</p>

<p>The information about % grants to loans and work can be found on the collegeboard website.</p>

44

<p>Sybbie, I hope you won't mind my asking, but what was the gap between the different recalculated EFCs. Was that in the thousands as well?</p>

45

<p>During the admissions cycle D got accepted to amherst, dartmouth, williams, barnard, tufts, bryn mawr and Mount Holyoke.</p>

<p>There was a total of $12,256 between the Barnard package and the final offer we got from dartmouth (we used the Williams offer to negotiate a better offer from Dartmouth where D is now attending. However, the williams package was not the overall best package, we were just negotiating between 2 comprable schools). </p>

<p>Originally Williams gave more grant money,less loans, a less student contribution, less parent contribution than Dartmouth. </p>

<p>Dartmouth met Williams' EFC, lowered the loans, and met the grant aid.</p>

<p>EFC 2221 lower than barnard
student contribution 585 higher than barnard)
Grant money 7720 higher than barnard
loans 2600 less than barnard
work study 300 less than barnar
total 12256</p>

<p>difference between Williams and Amherst</p>

<p>parent contrib 2251 higher at amherst
student contribution 975 higher at amherst
grant money 4906 lower at amherst
loans 3500 higher at amherst
Workstudy 100 higher at amherst
11732</p>

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<p>Thanks for sharing Sybbie. There really was a large difference.</p>

47

<p>hey thanks,
First of all.. congrats on your 5000th post.. That really screams experience
And I am abroad but am a US citizen.... so that isnt an issue</p>

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<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>been posting for a long time. It seems like an never ending story as the search will begin for grad / professional schools in a minute :)</p>

<p>Plus you make a lot of friends and this is what keeps you coming back</p>

49

<p>hmm...
Is there any chance of getting more aid than your EFC?
As in, will they look at the Tax returns again and CSS...? or is the EFC the end of the road?</p>

50

<p>Antarius</p>

<p>remember that the COA - EFC = demonstrated need.</p>

<p>If your cost of attendance is more than your EFC and the school meets 100% of your demonstrated need, then yes you will get the aid that meets your need.</p>

<p>The FA office will use your all of your documentation including your most recent tax returns to determine your EFC.</p>

51

<p>i mean, if my FAFSA EFC is 13k, is there a possibility (after using CSS and Tax returns) that I will pay less than 13k?</p>

<p>I mean, can my COA be lvery low? or get ~100% aid if my FAFSA EFC is 13k?</p>

52

<p>It really would depend on the information listed on your CSS profile. If your schools are using the Profile they are either using a combination of FM and IM methodology or a concensus methodology to put to gether your aid package.</p>

<p>Differences between the IM and FM models include:</p>

<p>IM collects information on estimated academic year family income, medical expenses, elementary and secondary school tuition and unusual circumstances. FM omits these questions.</p>

<p>IM considers a fuller range of family asset information, while FM ignores assets of siblings, all assets of certain families with less than $50,000 of income, and both home and family farm equity.</p>

<p>FM defines income as the “adjusted gross income” on federal tax returns, plus various categories of untaxed income. IM includes in total income any paper depreciation, business, rental or capital losses which artificially reduce adjusted gross income.</p>

<p>FM does not assume a minimum student contribution to education; IM expects the student, as primary beneficiary of the education, to devote some time each year to earning money to pay for education.</p>

<p>FM ignores the noncustodial parent in cases of divorce or separation; IM expects parents to help pay for education, regardless of current marital status.</p>

<p>FM and IM apply different percentages to adjust the parental contribution when multiple siblings are simultaneously enrolled in college, and IM considers only siblings enrolled in undergraduate programs.</p>

<p>The IM expected family share represents a best estimate of a family’s capacity (relative to other families) to absorb, over time, the costs of education. It is not an assessment of cash on hand, a value judgment about how much a family should be able to use current income, or a measure of liquidity. The final determinations of demonstrated need and awards rest with the University and are based upon a uniform and consistent treatment of family circumstances.</p>

<p>Except in the most extraordinary circumstances, Colleges classifies incoming students as dependent upon parents for institutional aid purposes, even though some students may meet the federal definition of “independence.”</p>

<p>Students enrolling as dependent students are considered dependent throughout their undergraduate years when need for institutional scholarships is determined.</p>

<p>For institutional aid purposes a student may not “declare” independence due to attainment of legal age, internal family arrangements, marriage or family disagreements.</p>

<p>Your COA (cost of attendance) is tuition, room board, books travel expenses and some misc. expenses associated with attending a particular college.</p>

<p>for example : the Cost of attendance at JHU is $44,394
and your EFC is 13,000* (your actual numbers may vary depending on how the college evaluates your CSS profile in conjunction with your FAFSA)</p>

<p>44,394-13,000 = 31,394</p>

<p>31,394 would be your demonstrated need. </p>

<p>JHU states the following: they meet 99% of your demonstrated need</p>

<p><a href="http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=808&profileId=2%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=808&profileId=2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>if your demonstrated need is 31,394 , JHU will meet 31,080 (you have a gap of $314)</p>

<p>31,394 * .99 = 31,080</p>

<p>they package 74% grant aid which means you would get $22,999.24 in grant aid.</p>

<p>31,080 *.74 = 22,999.24</p>

<p>they give 26% in loans and study =8080.12</p>

<p>=31,080 * .74 = 8,80.12</p>

<p>hope this helps explain it for you.</p>

53

<p>Antarius,</p>

<p>Sybbie spell this out well. To add just a little, if you submit information to a school in letter form facts that are not covered on the Profile and FAFSA that have impacted your circumstances, sometimes they will use a Professional Judgement to adjust your aid in your favor. Also, sometimes schools do find some ways to adjust aid through the tax return: Brown gave us about $2000 more in grants after seeing the tax return and after we sent documentation of medical expenses.</p>

54

<p>One other thing to consider is that there are no guarantees about what FORM of aid you receive and loans are considered aid, even tho the loans will need to be repaid.</p>

<p>Schools do have the ability to consider additional circumstances that you document in a letter & back up with other docs, especially exceptional medical expenses, etc in Professional Judgment, as was mentioned above.</p>

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<p>hey, thanks a lot..
That was very helpful</p>