I’ve been having a ton of PIN trouble filing FAFSA today, but I was able to use the FAFSA4caster to predict our EFC and it came back with $28,855. Does that mean we would get zero aid at most places? We certainly can’t pay that much for college!
For example, at the U of Denver where he’s already been accepted, the tuition is around $42,000 and the room and board is around $12,000 for a total of approximately $54,000. The school offered him a big scholarship of $23,000, but that still leaves $31,000 of cost for us. So would we expect to see around $3000 in aid from the gov? Or how does it work? Even bringing it down to around $28,000 wouldn’t make it affordable anyways, we would really need the cost of attendance to be more in the $20,000 range and even that is pushing it…I’m just curious how it works.
The way I understand it, the EFC is the minimum you are expected to pay. So if the cost after the scholarship was $31,000 then you would probably be offered a loan of $2,000 and be expected to pay the remaining $29,000.
Did you run any net price calculators on the websites of the schools your son applied to? Did he apply to any affordable schools?
Well…if yoir EFC is $28,000, the colleges will expect you to pay $28,000. Need based aid is not awarded to meet the EFC. Any chance your son will get a merit award anyplace which will bring your net cost in the $20,000 range?
ETA…University of Denver also requires submission of the CSS Profile for consideration for institutional need based aid.
Also, Your son will be eligible for a $5500 Direct Loan if you complete the FAFSA.
You need to run the net price calculators at the colleges. But generally you will pay MORE than the FAFSA EFC at many schools. The FAFSA EFC is only to help figure out if your student is eligible for federal loans and Pell grants (others on this forum can tell you more about Pell grant eligibility).
The Net Price Calculators are on each school’s website, usually a link from the financial aid page. They are reasonably accurate unless parents are divorced, own a small business, have rental property, or there are trusts in the family.
Unless he is eligible for a Pell Grant, he won’t get any aid directly from the government. He is likely eligible to borrow up to $5,500 freshman year, $6,500 sophomore year, and $7,500/year junior & senior year via federal loans.
@ahsmuoh That needs clarifying. The mom is asking if she’d get $3k from the gov’t. She would get NO free money from the gov’t, but would get a loan…maybe some work-study
@chris17mom
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So would we expect to see around $3000 in aid from the gov?
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You wouldn’t get any free money from the gov’t. Only those with EFCs below about 6000 get Pell Grants.
You would qualify for some sub loans and unsub loans…and maybe some work-study.
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I’ve been having a ton of PIN trouble filing FAFSA today, but I was able to use the FAFSA4caster to predict our EFC and it came back with $28,855. Does that mean we would get zero aid at most places? We certainly can’t pay that much for college!
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When people have unaffordable EFCs, then they only have a few options:
pick a school that gives SO MUCH merit that remaining costs bring COA down to an affordable level
pick a school that has a COA that is below EFC and is affordable.
commute to an affordable school
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For example, at the U of Denver where he's already been accepted, the tuition is around $42,000 and the room and board is around $12,000 for a total of approximately $54,000.
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The school offered him a big scholarship of $23,000, but that still leaves $31,000 of cost for us.
So would we expect to see around $3000 in aid from the gov? Or how does it work?
Even bringing it down to around $28,000 wouldn’t make it affordable anyways, we would really need the cost of attendance to be more in the $20,000 range and even that is pushing it…I’m just curious how it works.
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This school probably won’t work. For that $3k difference, your child would be offered a sub loan and unsub loan.
But, you still can’t pay the $28k…or really even the $20k. Are you more comfortable with $15k per year?
If your son were to get an outside 4-year merit scholarship that the school will let you stack on top, then that could work…if that extra merit award were enough…these are very hard to get.
Keep in mind that no matter where your child goes to college, there will be some unexpected expenses.
Ok thanks everyone! Yes we definitely applied to schools we can afford. He already has great offers at the U of Alabama and Arizona State University that are in the right range ($10,000-$20,000 cost of attendance). Our financial situation is somewhat a matter of bad timing, with regard to financial aid. AGI for 2014 will be around $100,000, however this is the first year it’s been anywhere close to that (previous years were around half that amount), and I have had enormous expenses as a divorced parent of two boys with no financial support coming in from the other side. So even though I made a good amount last year, it has just been used to try to catch up with years of indebtedness. I have basically zero assets, so that might help a little. If I can continue to make a good income over the next few years, this situation should right itself eventually, but there are unknown factors of course. In the meantime I can’t possibly pay $30,000 per year for my son’s college education, I simply don’t have it. Even $10,000-$20,000 will be a stretch since I literally have zero money right now and tons of debt. But I do have an income coming in, so I’d be paying in ‘real-time’ not from any savings accounts. I expect to have to pay something for his higher education of course, and he has worked extremely hard through all four years of high school, so we are very lucky to have Alabama Honors and ASU Honors as options.
Yes, way more comfortable with $15k. I’m definitely looking for that range. It was really nice of U Denver to give him a top award, but it’s probably not going to work out there.
No, his dad won’t/can’t pay. He doesn’t have a lot of contact with us and he has basically zero money (he’s essentially unemployed). He was helpful enough to fill out the CSS quickly when U of Miami asked us to send it in early. He said it was easy because he was mostly putting down zeros! I thought that was kind of funny since it was a huge pain when I did it. In any case, he will fill out forms but there’s not much to declare, and he definitely won’t be helping out.
Chris worked over the summer and earned about $3000. He is willing to do work/study if its available. He doesn’t have any assets except what’s left of his work earnings.
Is the increase to $100k AGI related to the divorce? For example, you had to take 401k or IRA withdrawals to buy chrisdad out of the home equity to stay in the family home? I wonder if you could explain this to the FAO and request more institutional aid (if school meets need).
Oh my gosh!!! So I finally was able to submit the real FAFSA (I was having PIN problems), and now it is coming back with “Estimated Expected Family Contribution (EFC) = 016488.” WEIRD!!! If they really determine our EFC to be only $16488, that might change things for us! That’s actually about how much we can pay! But keep in mind, I chose “will file” and I had to guess at the numbers, since I won’t have the forms back for a few weeks at the earliest. I am so totally confused by all of this…but it’s definitely an interesting twist!
Why do you think the EFC of $16488 might change things (make U of Denver affordable)? What schools has Chris applied to that guarantee to meet full FAFSA need?
If the school gaps Chris, and the gap is more than the amount of cash you have on hand to pay plus loans you and Chris are willing to take out, it does not matter if your EFC is $16488 or $28855.
If he was accepted at a school that meets need, like Stanford, he would be in a much better position with an EFC around $16,488. He applied to 14 schools and so far the only ones we can afford are the U of Alabama and ASU. Both have great honors programs, so I’m happy with either one (leaning towards Bama though), but if FAFSA comes back with an official EFC of around 16k, things could get interesting, depending on where he is accepted and what their final offers are. It may not make a difference at Denver, but it could make a difference elsewhere. I was not expecting an EFC that was at all affordable!
Madison brings up a good point. No school guarantees to meet need as defined by EFC. The numbers most valid for each school, you get from each NPC, but even they are tend to be averages and not so precise when the schools do not guarantee to meet full need, and there are merit awards in play. UDenver falls into both categories. Also, they define need by PROFILE, not by FAFSA EFC.
However, it’s good news that the EFC is lower rather than higher since the general rule is that you have to pay that EFC before getting penny one of any federal aid, and in most cases any school money either.
Yes! It may not make a difference, but I’d still rather have a lower EFC than a higher one. At least there is a chance of some need-based aid somewhere along the way. With 14 schools in the mix, you never know what might happen…Of course he won’t be accepted at some of them, like Stanford, which would probably give him a better deal than a school like Denver. In any case I’m happy with Bama or ASU, I just thought this was an interesting development!
An EFC of $16,000 means that is the MINIMUM you will be expected to pay. Most schools don’t meet full financial need. U of Denver doesn’t meet full financial need.
