EFC increased by $27,000, but how?

Both the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 FAFSAs ask for 2015 tax information. Parents went line by line and made sure that the information is the same. Last year, my EFC was $30,000, this year, it is $57,000. How is that possible if the information is the same? I already know I’m not getting any federal aid, but how will this change the way my school gives me aid? Will they just go by the CSS profile and the university application? My parents can’t afford to pay 2x more. Northwestern guarantees aid will stay more or less the same all 4 years, barring any significant changes, but as you can see, the information is the same.

Do you have any siblings who graduated? Do your parents have a lot more in savings than they did?

@twogirls No and no. And all of the information in the FAFSA is the same. They finished their mortgage but again, that information is not reflected in the FAFSA because they are requiring info from 2015.

If I recall correctly, didn’t you meet with the FA office before enrolling in the school your first year and this resulted in more FA?

Yes, I was just rereading that thread. You appealed last year to get to the level of aid they gave you. They probably bent their own rules somewhat last year.

@twogirls That would be correct. But idk how much they rely on FAFSA to make decisions.

@intparent But this is the government calculation, not Northwestern’s (unless Northwestern has their own calculation through FAFSA that impacts the EFC I see). I appealed for more aid two years ago. My aid for this past school year was consistent with what I got the first year. This EFC increase has really come from out of nowhere.

Print out the form and go over it line by line checking for mistakes. If you saved your report from last year, compare the two forms.

They likely use the FAFSA and css profile to come up with a final number. I would call the FA office and remind them of the appeal and how you are still using those numbers.

If your FAFSA EFC has increased that much then you need to look line by line.

Oh, EFC for FAFSA. Got it. Yes, I’d print and look line by line.

Did NU use professional judgment and CHANGE the FAFSA? The school can do that, but it won’t carry over to the next filing. If they did, they’d have to do it again, manually.

That’s right they probably used professional judgment and changed the FAFSA- I would call the school and talk to them. Since they are using the same tax year you could ask for another professional judgment.

Remember the school only uses the FAFSA to determine your eligibility for federal aid. Remember they use the profile to give their own federal aid.

Weren’t you close to full pay in your first year? You appeal because there were some extenuating circumstances. Maybe from the school’s perspective, they feel they have given your family 2 years to straighten out their financial situation. Maybe this is why they are now assessing you with what they truly feel your parents can pay.

@sybbie719 No. I got roughly half the COA in aid. But again, this is the FAFSA. I signed it through the federal website and immediately after it was submitted, the new EFC appeared at the bottom. I don’t understand how Northwestern could have anything to do with my EFC. Isn’t that decided by the federal government calculations?

I have ** not ** gotten a financial aid package from Northwestern for this year.

This is just from the federal government and I am wondering how it happened and how it will impact my aid from NU.

Have you received a financial aid award from NU? Does your CSS Profile also look the same?

The fafsa EFC isn’t what the school will use to determine their institutional need based aid anyway.

I agree…look lone by line. Remember that the line numbers from year to year can be for different things. It is possible you put something on a line that belonged elsewhere (this is an example…not a real number even…maybe line 10 was a certain item last year…but this year…line 10 is something entirely different).

Look for additional accidentally placed 0’s. And look for misplaced decimal points.

Does this year’s FAFSA include money paid on your behalf (from your grandparents?).?

Look very carefully.

Then look at your current FAGSA online…and see if the college made a change to your form. They might have.

Will your sibling be in college for the 2017-2018 school year?

Your parent primary home mortgage is NOT on the fafsa AT ALL. But it will be on the Profile.

Perhaps you should make an appointment with the financial aid office at NU. What younREALLY need to know is how your need based aid will be affected for the 2017-2018 school year.

If NW previously gave you a reconsideration and then approved a new FA package, it means that they could have manually gone in and changed the FAFSA. You need to call the FA office and explain the situation to them and ask for another reconsideration like you had last year. Hopefully they will put you on their “reconsideration list” and then re-do your aid.

What year are you in right now? Sophomore?

I agree that you should check your FAFSA. Do you have a copy of your 2015 tax transcript in your files? Check it against that to make sure everything is correct. Did you use the DRT this year?

Is any part of your financial aid package income which needed to go on your fafsa. Did you make sure that you put in only the non QEEs and not the full amount you got in aid?

Oh…and if the school used professional judgement last year…and the year before to reduce your EFC…it is very possible they are no longer doing so.

What was your family income? To be full pay at NU, with 2 in college…you would need income in the over $200,000 range…and some assets.

Does your family own other real estate?

Think about the basis for the professional judgement they used tomgive you more aid. Any chance those circumstances no longer apply.

Okay, maybe I’m not being clear. I do not have a financial aid package from Northwestern. Those will be released next month. This is about the ** FAFSA.** We submitted the FAFSA today. On the confirmation page immediately after submitting, I saw my EFC which is where I saw the $27,000 increase from last year. I haven’t even completed all of my forms for Northwestern. This is exclusively about the FAFSA. We have triple checked an in addition, you * could not * enter any information that did not match exactly what was entered last year. The information is the exact same which is where my confusion comes in. Again, I have *not * received a financial aid package from Northwesern. I am trying to address this preemptively.

@thumper1 is right. Look at the reason why you received a professional judgement and see if it still exists. If it has to do with income earned in 2015 that can’t be touched ( for example) but is still listed as income, maybe they can remove it and re-do the aid. This means they manually re-do the FAFSA.

Question: was the reconsideration used during the 2015 tax year? My guess is yes… But now you have to ask for it again. It will not happen automatically.