<p>What does an EFC of 4202 mean? I know it's not the actual amount of money you will have to pay for college, and that it varies from institution to institution, but does anyone have a general idea of how much that will be?</p>
<p>EFC= Expected Family Contribution.
It is the dollar amount that the Federal Government expects the college student and his family to contribute that year toward college.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>it varies from institution to institution, but does anyone have a general idea of how much that will be?>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>What it means is that you will be paying AT LEAST $4202 for the upcoming year. There is NO WAY to tell you anything more than that without knowing the %age of need based aid your schools award, and the total cost of attendance.</p>
<p>It is easy to waste a lot of time trying to predict what your financial situation will be while your kids are in college. The best thing to do is apply to a range of schools, including a solid gold financial safety that the student would be happy to go to. Then wait and see what offers you get. </p>
<p>While you wait, take up knitting or woodworking or something like that. This Jan.-March time frame is tough on everybody.</p>
<p>Each school has a COA (Cost Of Attendance) - you should be able to find it on the school web site somewhere. The COA is made up (generally) of average annual student expenses tuition and fees/books/room and board/travel/miscellaneous</p>
<p>The school takes your EFC away from their COA to find out your 'need' on which financial aid is based. So if your EFC is 4202 and their COA is 20,000 your 'need' is 15798. Your financial aid package may consist of grants, loans and work study. Many schools do not meet full need so there may be a gap (ie your need is 15798 but you only get aid of 10,000 that would be a 'gap' of 5798). If you have any merit scholarships that reduces your need. So, for instance, if you have a $5000 merit scholarship your 'need' would be 10798. (20,000-4202 -5000).</p>
<p>With an EFC of 4202 you just miss qualifying for the pell grant which means you will not qualify for the ACG or any grants that require Pell grant qualification. Your aid package will depend very much on the type of school and their financial aid policies. For instance State Us have less grant money available so, as you do not qualify for Pell, your aid will probably be mostly loans and work study (hopefully you have some merit money also). Private schools have more in the way of grant money available.</p>
<p>"What it means is that you will be paying AT LEAST $4202 for the upcoming year"
Not necessarily so. D's financial aid package for her freshmen year yielded an EFC from the school that was several thousand dollars less than the FAFSA EFC.</p>