EFC not reasonable. Is this a mistake?

<p>I did FAFSA a few days ago and it said my EFC was $100K+. I have been reading online and haven't seen anyone with an amount so high. I will be able to afford college, but that number doesn't make any sense to me. I've never filled out FAFSA so I don't know if we did it right or we made mistakes. Is it too late to go back and fix it, or is this a normal EFC?</p>

<p>There’s no way to know if it is accurate without the input information: parent and student income/assets.</p>

<p>As BobWallace as written, we can’t tell without a lot more information. What are your parents’ and your income? What are the assets inputted. If the numbers are, say, $100K or less, yes, some mistake there. If $200K, maybe not. Yes it’s a normal EFC for those who make over a certain amount and have a certain amount in assets. </p>

<p>I have no income. My dad won’t really tell us his income, but I will ask him later. I guess if it’s right then I made the wrong mistake in college choices. Oh well. I’ll reply back after school. Thanks!</p>

<p>We have seen a few posts this year with EFCs higher than that. And yes, they turned out to be mistakes. Review your SAR line by line for mistakes, parent info put in student section, extra zeroes etc. If you want to post income and asset info you can get a more informed opinion here.</p>

<p>Do you have any idea what your parents’ income might be? Yes , there are people with those EFCs, and that is correct if they make that kind of money or have the assets. There are multimillionaires out there, and those who make in the 6 figures get hit hard on the EFC as the % of income used rises as the income does. There is an EFC formula, and you can get some idea if this is off simply by getting income and asset figures to plug in.</p>

<p>But as Annoyingdad says, there have been some mistakes as well. You put in an extra zero, something in the wrong line, report things that should not have been reported. Does your family run a a business? </p>

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<p>Well, if your dad won’t tell you, then asking won’t make a difference.</p>

<p>Your parents may have a strong income AND have assets. Income alone probably isn’t driving that EFC, unless income is VERY high…and likely you’d know that. (for instance if dad is a surgeon or prosperous business owner).</p>

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<p>What do you mean? Did you expect to get FA??? </p>

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<p>Price doesn’t matter, as long as it’s not $60,000!
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<p>Aren’t you going to Bama? If so, then the cost is much less than $60k</p>

<p>Ask your father for some ball park numbers and whether this EFC looks like a mistake to him. If not, then, yes, you picked the wrong colleges if they are more than your parents are willing to pay and you were counting on financial aid. I think you need to talk to your parents and find out what they are willing and able to pay, and that if the EFC is indeed correct, you aren’t going to be getting any aid, other than the ability to borrow $5500 freshman year and a bit more each subsequent year. You can ask them if they are willing and able to borrow, or if it’s off the table. Also if there is a familiy business, or an owned business in the picture, make sure that it had to be reported as it was (if that’s the case). It is possible there are mistakes there.</p>

<p>Be aware that your parent’s assets in formal retirement accounts, 401ks, IRAs etc., aren’t to be reported on fafsa. Also, if there is a business, review the rules for reporting when there are 100 employees or less.</p>

<p>In your OP, you say YOU did FAFSA. If YOU did the FAFSA, then YOU have a very realistic idea of your parent income because YOU had to input it on the FAFSA.</p>

<p>The mistake we have seen the MOST here…folks have listed parent income in BOTH the student and parent income sections. </p>

<p>You need to have your parent check line by line on that FAFSA. Make sure an additional zero wasn’t added someplace…and that the fields are accurate. For example, if YOU (the student) had NO income…that field should read $0.</p>

<p>Sounds like a trolling thread to me.</p>

<p>I don’t think it’s a trolling thread. When the questions asked can be answered without getting truly ridiculous and if there is a chance that it is someone with a legitimate concern, I address it, I don’t tend to go sniffing out trolls. If the poster gets offensive, I just stop responding. Some trolls actually bring up issues that lead to facts given that are helpful. </p>

<p>This student is NOT a ■■■■■. I know that for sure.</p>

<p>When she says that she “did FAFSA” she probably means that it was submitted then. Either her parents put in their info, or they did something to keep their income info secret from her.</p>

<p>Well…if the student has her PIN, she can access that FAFSA and read for herself :)</p>

<p>Did the parents TELL her that the EFC was $100k? And what did they say to that?</p>

<p>You just need the PIN, DOB, or SSN (any 2 of the 3) to access the FAFSA data. If one found out the EFC, I doubt if he/she does not know or cannot find out the household income. Also, the OP said “I did the FAFSA…”.</p>

<p>If it is not a ■■■■■, there must be some information missing somewhere.</p>

<p>^^^her parents could have told her their EFC.</p>

<p>Some kids do not know that they can find out the parents’ income.</p>

<p>Our friends questioned how and why we would tell our child our income. I told my friend that there wasn’t really a way to hide it from our child. She disagreed and said her daughter never knew or had a clue about it. The parents filed it, I so guess they kept everything to themselves.</p>

<p>Her daughter wasn’t as involved in the whole college process. Most people are not involved like they are here on CC. </p>

<p>The FAFSA belongs to the student. It is in the student’s name and can be accessed using the student’s PIN. THis student can go into her own FAFSA with her own PIN and see the parent income and asset information. </p>

<p>Unless the parent applied for the student PIN without the student’s participation, filled out fafsa on their own and ‘forged’ the fafsa student signature with the student PIN. I’m sure it happens and could have here.</p>

<p>If the EFC is over 100,000 and the student wanted to question it. He/she could start a conversation with “is parent surprised by that number?” generally income under 100,000 generates about 25% and over 100,000 it will be about 33%. And see if the parent is surprised and starts to doubt the math.</p>

<p>We have never shared income or assets with our kids. S sat in the room while we applied for both PIN (s). He chose his own password. He didn’t write it down and wouldn’t know how to look up the FAFSA info. We won’t tell him our EFC, what we spend on college is our choice. He knows exactly how much is in his college fund and knows we will not co-sign loans for him. </p>

<p>He also know that he won’t qualified for need based scholarships, and that rules out 3/4 of our local scholarships. </p>

<p>^ You do realize that he is almost certainly going to know his EFC once the FA package comes in, right? </p>