<p>Still confused on how it all works~! Theoretically, what if DD applies to a private and our EFC is less than the tuition, room, board, etc. Does she qualify for financial aid? My son is going to be a junior and his costs are less than our EFC at a state school, but we are still taking out loans. Poor financial management, although we are making great strides. </p>
<p>When his sister enters and our EFC will be split between 2, at least for a year, will we be elegible for aid at a private? Or a public for that matter?</p>
<p>Financial aid is based on the COA of the school. The COA usually includes tuiton&fees/room&board/books/travel/personal expenses. So if the EFC is below the COA their should be aid eligibility. What the aid will be is another matter. Though if there is need your son may at least qualify for subsidized loans and work study.</p>
<p>As noted what is generally considered is what they deem to be the total cost of attending which includes tutition, fees, R&B, and their estimate (not yours) of books, an allowance for personal expenses, and a travel increment. So it is that total cost minus your EFC. However, most schools do not guarantee to meet 100% percent of need and thus just because $X are designated need does not mean there will $X in aid.</p>
<p>If your EFC is too high for a Pell grant, nothing is guaranteed. Some schools do provide institutional funding to help bridge the gap between EFC and COA; others do not. I work at a public U with a COA of about $19,000 (on campus). If a family has an EFC of $20,000 there is no need based aid. The student will be offered $5500 unsub Stafford & $13500 PLUS loan. If that same family adds a student in college, the EFC becomes $10,000. There is now $9000 need to be filled. At a $10k EFC, the aid package will be $3500 sub Stafford, $2000 unsub Stafford, and $13500 PLUS loan. The bottom line isn’t much different between the two scenarios. It all depends on the school, its aid policies, and in some instances how much they want your child (for private schools, that is). There are lots of great threads about schools with excellent need based & merit aid … search for those.</p>
<p>How are people determining their EFC, from FAFSA?? If so, and you are looking at private schools that use the Profile, be aware that there is no fixed EFC for these schools as they consider different financial information in their formulas and have different policies on how much FA they give and in what form they give it.</p>
This is where some of the private colleges come out to be a much better deal. At my kid’s university, which meets 100% of institutionally determined need, the need would be met with grant, plus $1800 of work/study for families with incomes below $80,000; or grant, plus $2500 sub. loan (max. of $10,000 total loan at student’s graduation), plus $1800 of work/study.</p>
<p>I normally 100% agree with Swimcatsmom. On this one…I think the word “should” should be changed to “might”. You MIGHT be eligible for aid…no guarantees…it depends on the policies of the college and what %age of need they meet (remembering these are averages so some receive more aid and some less that they might expect). </p>
<p>Our EFC was $22,000 at a school that cost $50,000. DD received $6000 in grant money, Stafford loans (subsidized) and work study. She got some need based aid (that $6000 grant and the work study).</p>
<p>DS had the SAME EFC at a school that also cost $50K. He had a $12K scholarship which reduced our need to $10k. He didn’t get a dime of need based aid at all…not a penny. Even his Stafford loan was unsubsidized.</p>
<p>Also, there are private schools that will not give more grant money than xyz amount, regardless of a family’s need. In such a case, if the COA is 40,000, and your EFC is 5,000, that EFC might be meaningless other than to say that the school will offer the maximum in grants that they offer plus loans and work study. Some schools are just not going to give away that much in grants and you will be gapped (a big hole where need will not be met in the form of institutional grants, federal loans, and work/study). </p>
<p>There are also schools that will practice preferential packaging, giving a better aid package to a student that they really want to have at their school.</p>
<p>Correction on my post 9. My son’s school cost $50K. Our EFC was 22K. He got a $12K scholarship which made the total of our EFC plus the scholarship $34K. Still not close to the cost of attendance. he didn’t get any need based aid.</p>
<p>His school did not meet full need. Neither did DD’s.</p>
<ol>
<li>cost of attendance - EFC = demonstrated need</li>
</ol>
<p>Unfortunately, your EFC is too high to make you Pell eligible. Is the school asking for the CSS profile or their own instiutional financial aid form? If yes, then your EFC could change.</p>
<p>If your son is attending a school that only uses the FAFSA, then your son has a need of $23,368. THere are a lot of factors to take into consideration:
does the school give merit $$
does your child qualify for merit $
does the school meet 100% of demonstrated need(the marjority of colleges do not),</p>
<p>the need may be filled with a combination of things:</p>
<p>Institutional aid (if the school has $)
College work study
Stafford loans
Merit $$ if eligible
Possble parent loans</p>
<p>The FAFSA EFC determines eligibility for FEDERAL AID.</p>
<p>Two types of federal aid are guaranteed.</p>
<p>If EFC is less than a certain threshold (typically very low), then the student will be eligible for a Pell grant. The amount of Pell grant varies, depending on EFC and COA, but the maximum Pell grant would only make a small dent in the overall cost of a private college. A student who is Pell grant eligible may also be eligible for an an additional academic competitiveness award – this is essentially an extra merit award for Pell grant recipients. </p>
<p>Whether or not eligible for a Pell grant, if the COA (cost of attendance) after subtracting out EFC and grants is more than 0, then the student is eligible for subsidized stafford loans. Again, the overall amount of subsidized loans is limited. </p>
<p>Everything other than Pell grants (+ACG if appropriate) and Stafford Loans are a matter of the individual college’s policies, and may or may not be available to the student. For example, work study and Perkins loans are federally subsidized, but colleges have discretionary control over such funds and the degree of their participation in those programs. College grants and scholarships are entirely within their control. </p>
<p>So the answer is, yes – if COA is more than EFC, you “qualify”. “Qualify” is not the same as “get”.</p>