<p>Help!! I am now more stressed out then ever! I did my CSS Profile and figured I would get fee waivers based on our income and family situation. Well, I thought wrong! Then, I went on an EFC calculator and punched in our numbers and found out that our EFC will be almost $9000! I really thought it was going to be sooooo much lower. I can't imagine that a family of 8 with an income of less than $60000 and other issues would not qualify for grants etc.</p>
<p>If you have an unaffordable EFC, then your child will need to have a strategy for applying to college.</p>
<p>1) apply to a local state univ that she can commute to.</p>
<p>2) apply to some schools where her stats will get large merit scholarships.</p>
<p>3) start at a community college.</p>
<p>What is your FAFSA EFC?</p>
<p>edited to add…</p>
<p>My daughter has listed Dartmouth as one of her possible schools. We have not been able to visit, and all we hear about is HYP etc. I was wondering if you could give me some feedback as to if your children are happy there. Also, I know my daughter wants a very social school with Greek life and sports</p>
<p>If your D has the stats for ivies, then she has the stats to get large merit scholarships to other schools. She needs to apply to some as back-ups and financial safeties.</p>
<p>If your D does get into Dartmouth, she will get grants, but it sounds like you want her to have a “free ride”. Do you have a lot of assets/equity/savings?</p>
<p>No, that is the weird part. Almost nothing in savings. My husband is unemployed and I am supporting everyone on my salary. (8 people in total).</p>
<p>I don’t know how all the calculations go. Do you have home equity?</p>
<p>Go over the numbers again.</p>
<p>Does your D earn a good bit of money? Does she have any savings?</p>
<p>Do you deposit money into a 401k?</p>
<p>You have 6 minor children?</p>
<p>*Also, I know my daughter wants a very social school with Greek life and sports
*</p>
<p>Are you aware that sororities cost a good amount of money to belong to? these can cost a few thousand a year (plus clothing) and aid doesn’t cover this expense.</p>
<p>The weird part about the EFC formula is that more kids doesn’t equal a lower EFC. After a couple kids, there is no break given. However, I am surprised that the EFC is that high, to be honest. I would suggest getting your tax return and carefully inputting numbers based on the instructions.</p>
<p>Okay, I just did a quick EFC calculator. Your EFC should be much lower (2237 when I input $60,000 with 0 taxes paid & 0 assets). You really need to double check your numbers.</p>
<p>I think they are hitting me with the worth of my house, and an IRA that I haven’t touched. Everything my husband had has been wiped out</p>
<p>The money that is already in the IRA shouldn’t be included in the FAFSA calculations, and the value of your home isn’t considered either. Print out the formula and work through it on paper and see if you can figure out where you went wrong: <a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/082511EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/082511EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf</a></p>
<p>If you are doing a Profile calculator, the retirement account and house may be taken into consideration, but each school treats those things differently. Definitely no IRA or house for FAFSA, though!</p>
<p>Happymom is right for FAFSA, but it sounds like this mom is doing a CSS calculator.</p>
<p>If you use a FAFSA calculator, then home equity & retirement acct won’t count. But, privates like the ivies use an institutional method which can include that info.</p>
<p>If you’re making a retirement contributions to a 401k or IRA, then this year’s contribution will count.</p>
<p>If your D has the stats for ivies, then she has the stats to get large merit scholarships to other schools. She needs to apply to some as back-ups and financial safeties.</p>
<p>I see that you are interested in Ivies ( all of them? * really*?) but there are also schools that will be offering merit aid as well as need based aid if she is a competitive candidate for Ivies- and while she very well may be- it is a crapshoot for anyone to get into an Ivy university unless perhaps you are Jodie Foster.</p>
<p>I was using an EFC calculator, so maybe that is why the numbers were off. I haven’t contributed to my IRA in years, but have not touched what is in mine either. </p>
<p>Yes, she is applying to some ivy’s (not all), but we are well aware that the chances of her getting accepted are very slim. She does have great grades, good test scores and some good extra curr. so who knows!</p>
<p>Depending on amount of equity in your home, schools that meet 100% need will expect you to borrow against it- at least in our experience.</p>
<p>Do look at the merit scholarship links on here. There are some fine schools that offer nice money to students.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that public universities often have honors colleges where you can get a great education for less cost.</p>
<p>Schools ( except for Ivies which often limit loans), which meet 100% of need, will do that with any combination of loans, grants & work study. This would be on top of whatever loan you need to pay EFC.</p>
<p>I have also known students who have attended a community college for two years and then transferred to an expensive private school. Their degree is from the top tier school, but they saved a heck of a lot of money!</p>
<p>Transferring into a top tier college from community college is very difficult.</p>
<p>^^ As is being admitted in the first place.
But if you consider that some students wouldn’t be able to even attend the top tier college unless they were able to knock the price down & if you consider that doing well at a decent community college makes the student a proven entity re: college level work, then it is certainly worth taking seriously.</p>