<p>I just finished filing the FAFSA app and it showed an EFC of well over $60K. The app reflects that I will have two children in college for 2014-2015.</p>
<p>I went to the EFC Calculator on the College Board site, and it showed about the same for Fed EFC, and over $70K for Institutional Method.</p>
<p>Would you agree that there is no sense in filing for any financial aid? The only factors that the CSS App will "see" that FAFSA didn't is that a good chunk of income ($20K) was cap gains on a stock that I'd held for many years in order to help pay for college. Also, FAFSA didn't "see" all the tuition money couple of years ago, when it was just one kid in college, the Northwestern finaid office said "go ahead and apply just in case," when the FAFSA EFC came out at $50K. (Later, another finaid advisor privately laughed out loud, saying I should never have bothered as I was destined to be a "full payer.") </p>
<p>Kid #2 is applying to NU, Wash U, Penn, and others known to pay only need based aid. I do NOT have extraordinary medical or dependent care expenses, but, I nor do I own a second home, a fancy car, a club membership, nor do I travel outside of the U.S. for vacation. (But, I do drive a '94 Volvo and clip grocery coupons every Sunday a.m.!</p>
<p>Thanks for your opinion. I think we can safely let the CSS Profile rest.</p>
<p>Personally, I would do it “just in case.” The just in case is … some schools may surprise you; some schools won’t consider you for merit without filing for aid (doesn’t always mean you have to have need to get the scholarship, though); some schools won’t look at you for future aid (if something unforeseen happens) if you don’t file for aid right at the start. On the other hand, sometimes it could jeopardize admissions in a need-aware school if your child is not at the top of the heap. I would lean toward filing. I will be honest, though, and admit that while I did file for child 1 … and I did file for child 2 the year he & child 1 were both in school … I have not filed for child 2 for the past 3 years. The COA is MUCH lower than our EFC, so I skip the FAFSA & fork over the money. </p>
<p>Hmm. Interesting thought. I appreciate that you admit you did not file yourself in recent times; for me, too, the COA is WAY lower than the EFC. I would be interested to hear if anyone else concurs with the reasons to file “just in case.” I almost prefer a visit to the proctologist over the CSS Profile form. </p>
<p>You can always file it if you want/need to take out the Stafford loans or if some scholarship requires it. Everyone says to hurry and file it, but you can file at any time through that school year.</p>
<p>Just file it…it’s no big deal and doesn’t take long to do it. I know my DD’s school requires the FAFSA in order to be considered for all departmental scholarships. If may never help you…however, the possible payoff could be thousands of dollars…for 30 minutes of your time…not too shabby! I always do it “just in case.”</p>
<p>If you have your kids’ college funds locked up in some kind of super-safe account, and each of them have enough money stashed away to cover four years of expenses, it is OK to skip filing. Truly.</p>
<p>However, if you are paying some of the costs out of current income, there always remains the chance that your family could suffer a truly disastrous financial reversal while the kids are in college. Some colleges and universities that require more than just the FAFSA will not give any aid at all in future years if the student doesn’t file the paperwork for the freshman year. Should any of the institutions on child 2’s list have that type of policy, file the FAFSA and CSS Profile and any other paperwork they ask for this year just to be on the safe side.</p>
<p>The EFC is per student or total? Has the halving process already been taken into account? I know a family with an EFC of over $100K, but with two, both in private schools, that still leaves some $20K uncovered. </p>
<p>In your case, what is possible is that if the official COA for either of your kids’ schools exceeds the EFC, your student can get some of those Direct Loans on a subsidized basis if the FAFSA is filed. Also, some schools do give flex with work study when there is that differential between Federal and institutional EFC, since the students meet that qualification for federal work study funds. Again, the COA of the school comes into play. You should ask the fin aid office what the specific COA is for each kid. You might be surprised how high it is. That number is simply the maximum that a student/parent can borrow that year from federal sources so that official COA is often quite generous (and scary high, IMO). </p>
<p>If there are schools in the mix that truly high on the list and need aware, it might be a good idea to simply file the FAFSA and later deal with the school about eligibility for federal funds, but be aware those are the very such schools that do often have penalties for fin aid apps later for their own money. Look at what their policies are for that. Many may just require you to show a drastic change in need by backfiling from year one, some may have a sit out period. Just know what the rules are and what you have to lose in your situation this year and future ones. </p>
<p>You can fill out the FAFSA and not send the info to any schools or designate which ones get it, and you can also appy to fin aid at some schools and not others. It’s not an all or nothing process.</p>
<p>We are in the same boat… ELC is higher than the COA (state school). But I filed FAFSA just in case.
If I were to lose my job or something happen to reduce our ELC it would be easier to find aid if needed… I was told this some time ago. </p>
<p>Our EFC determined by the FAFSA is also higher than COA for any of the small liberal arts colleges on my daughter’s list. Our income is moderate, but assets are high. All these schools are suggesting that we need to file the CSS/Profile. A couple of the schools have indicated in their materials that families that make over $100,000 get need-based financial aid which makes me wonder if we should file. I hate to pay the College Board even more fees to fill out this form. If you ask me, it’s a racket.</p>