<p>I recently filed the FAFSA and it determined my EFC to be 6k and my family income is 60k, 0 assets (parent & me) and I earned 4.6k. However my friend also filed the FAFSA with a family income of 56k and ~20k in assets with 30k of foreign assets and had an EFC of 5k. He also earned over 10k with ~15k-20k in savings bonds. Both of our family have 4 members with only 1 working parent. I am also part of the free/reduced lunch program at my school and he is not. I am wondering if this correct why are our EFC over 1k apart?</p>
<p>You never have an accurate picture of another’s financial situation. </p>
<p>I could tell you, for instance, that my AGI for 2010 was 59K. I had an EFC of 16K. My EFC was not boosted by assets. All true statements. Why was my EFC so much higher than yours? There’s a reason. You just can’t figure it out from the data you’ve been given. Obviously, you’re missing some data. </p>
<p>In the situation you’ve presented, depending on the age of the older parent, the majority, if not all, of the 50K in assets are going to be protected (everybody gets a certain amount, based on age of the older parent, no matter where the money is held). Your friend might qualify for simplified means test, in which case the assets also don’t count. Honestly, there’s no way for you to know exactly WHY your friends EFC is lower than yours, and fretting about it will only make you crazy.</p>
<p>Are you saying that the other student has $15k-20k in savings bonds in his name? If so, that should have raised his EFC…unless they’re in his parents name…then less effect…or they didn’t declare the bonds???</p>
<p>Anyway…it’s doubtful that you have all the details.</p>
<p>(I think both families’ incomes are too high for simplified means…but maybe I’m wrong.)</p>
<p>$50K from what I’ve read for the simplified needs test.</p>
<p>If you google EFC formula 2013 you will get a link to the FAFSA formula itself. You can print out the worksheets and run the calculations by hand. That will let you see which factors affect your own EFC.</p>
<p>Never mind. (doing my best Gilda Radner impersonation).</p>
<p>^ According to this: <a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/010512EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/010512EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf</a> It’s still 49,999.
<a href=“2”>quote</a> The 2011 income of the student’s parents is $49,999 or less.
• For tax filers, use the parents’ adjusted gross income from the tax return to determine
if income is $49,999 or less.
• For non-tax filers, use the income shown on the 2011 W-2 forms of both parents (plus
any other earnings from work not included on the W-2s) to determine if income is
$49,999 or less.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think you might be confusing two different things. The auto-0 formula dropped from $32k to $23k.</p>