<p>My parents and I just completed our FASFA, and I just got our EFC and am SHOCKED at how high it is. I'm not going to throw out any numbers, but as a kid, not completely sure of parent's income, I must admit it seems ridiculously high. Does the EFC tend to be fairly harsh on family's??</p>
<p>Does the EFC tend to be fairly harsh on family’s??
For families that don’t realize that student expenses will expected to be paid with a combination of savings, loans & current income- yes.</p>
<p>My guess is that your parents make a lot more money than you imagined. My kids sometimes throw numbers around and they have not a clue about our income.</p>
<p>Many folks are surprised by their EFCs. The EFC is typically about 1/4 to 1/3 of your gross income for the year. Yep…seems like a lot.</p>
<p>Yep, I think most people are SHOCKED by their EFC when they first compute it. We sure were! It is good if you do this sometime during Junior year so you can have time to come to grips with it, and come up with plans that include schools you can afford. Good luck!</p>
<p>Please note that EFC is the MINIMUM you will be expected to pay at any need-based school.</p>
<p>Yup, I was shocked too. Fortunately, Happykid was in 9th grade when I first ran the calculators so we had a bit of time to get our heads straight about out options.</p>
<p>2collegewego is mostly right on with the reminder that the EFC is the minimum you will pay if you have only need-based aid, a small minority of schools (mainly those that also require the PROFILE or a college-specific financial aid form) may compute their own “institutional” family contribution, which can in some cases be lower than your FAFSA EFC.</p>