<p>My EFC was 2510 which is good i thought, However for the CSS profile, my family has the house paid off and ivestments and such, do you think that will hurt my need based award? What could i have to look forward to paying at a school like NYU or Boston College?</p>
<p>I had a similar EFC, 2800.</p>
<p>I also have a slightly similar situation, nothing excessive, but when I do EFC calculators using institutional methodology it's usually around a 3500, which is fine for my family.</p>
<p>Yours could be similar, depending on the value of the investments and such.</p>
<p>Depends on the value of the house and the investments. NYU does not guarantee 100% of need and is notorious for gapping. Don't know how BC gives aid. It depends on their particular methodology.</p>
<p>NYU doesn't ask for the CSS profile -- FAFSA only. NYU will give generous aid to the top 5% of its applicant pool -- so if you are very high stat, you might get a nice award. Aid is not so good for everyone else -- they will not meet your full need or anything close to that.</p>
<p>We have a home equity out pf proportion to our income and we do much better either with FAFSA schools or with Profile schools which put caps on- I do not think NYU is very good in this situation, not sure about BC, but you really need to look at each school. My first 2 kids have ended up at FAFSA schools and #3 is definitely applying based on where they don't use profile or limit equity for to a % of income. Try the finaid.org calculators, they were pretty accurate for the schools without limiting factors</p>
<p>We are in the same situation as Somemom. </p>
<p>My son received better FA packages from FAFSA only schools.</p>
<p>what does the number for the EFC mean? Mine is 3131. Is that bad?</p>
<p>3131 is good if you can easily afford to pay that much next year for your education.</p>
<p>But i still don't get is 3131 the maximum i have to pay for my college education per year or the minimum or does it still depend on aids?</p>
<p>My EFC is 07114. Hopefully it will go down for next year. But is that for the whole year or one semester?</p>
<p>Im with sweetdream. What exactly is the EFC?</p>
<p>Well, let's start with the initials E, F, C. Do you know what they stand for? What? What would you guess that is?</p>
<p>EFC = Estimates Family Contribution. This is an estimate of how much your family can pay for colllege. Colleges can increase or decrease this number, depending on what they deem your need to be and how much money they actually have.</p>
<p>Very good, kev. Maybe you can explain this to sweetdream and realest, who seem to be absent or asleep.</p>
<p>The hard part to understand is the word "Estimated" in EFC. Who gives a rat's about estimated? We want to know what the "Actual" Family Contribution is going to be, right? Where does that come from?</p>
<p>
[quote]
But i still don't get is 3131 the maximum i have to pay for my college education per year or the minimum or does it still depend on aids?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It most definitely depends on the financial aid package you are offered. At schools which guarantee to meet your full need, your will pay your EFC and be given a package of grants (free money, doesn't have to be paid back), loans (pay back later, with interest), and self-help (jobs for you). Most colleges do NOT meet full need though. Your goal should be to look for schools which meet full need with a higher proportion of grants instead of loans.</p>
<p>The people with EFC's around 2000-3000 how much was your AGI or total income..because i have a feeling that my EFC is way to big..could that be just me?</p>
<p>I agree with you BGjeez. It's so not fair for me. Is it possible the government made a mistake? My family only has one income and still my EFC is so high.</p>
<p>So anyone willing to share their total income so we can make some sense of what the proportion of EFC to total income is?</p>
<p>I will tell you mine, it's about 36000 and yet my EFC is 3131, almost 10% of that. Isn't that ridiculous?</p>
<p>my agi for 2006 was 52000 but they add back the 9K I put into my retirement. Savings of 57000. I'm a single parent of 1 child who never met his father and I've never received any child support. EFC 12000. Feel my pain</p>
<p>my net pay was about 36000. Yes, I have some savings, but I drive a 16 year old car and live very very frugally. ok, I'm cheap.</p>