<p>I just finished my financial aid application and I received an EFC of 01420. I have no clue what that means. Is that the amount that I have to pay for school? Or is that the amount that I will be given for help? Please help, I am lost.</p>
<p>That is the annual amount you would be expected to pay at a school that provides aid that meets 100% of need. Caveats: Not many schools meet 100% of demonstrated need these days and most schools structure aid packages to include scholarships and grants (money that does not have to be paid back), work-study, and loans that do have to be paid back. In all likelihood, you will wind up paying more than your EFC, in some cases much more.</p>
<p>I'm a little confused. Did you do a Profile? I didn't think that yielded an EFC. The FAFSA does, but that isn't available for filing for next year until January 1. Did you use one of the estimators?</p>
<p>EFC is your expected family contribution. It is the MINIMUM amount your family will be expected to contribute to your college expenses for this one year. However, there is no way to tell you how much aid you will receive from the schools as many many schools do not meet full need so you would get a portion of the remainder of the costs in aid...and would have to pay the rest yourselves. And even with schools that meet full need, there IS an expected student contribution that is more than $1420. Also schools that meet full need typically use institutional methodology (and the Profile) to determine your financial aid award. These awards can vary from school to school, because the SCHOOLS determine how they are using the Profile information to award their money.</p>
<p>Good point, thumper. I had forgotten about the student contribution. Most schools assume a student can earn a few thousand over the summer and that they will contribute that plus a fairly large percentage of any savings that are in their name.</p>
<p>I entered all of my information into the "Online Financial Aid Website". When I went to check my status it said EFC 01402. I didn't understand what it meant so I asked here. I didn't use any other site.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>"Online Financial Aid Website">></p> </blockquote>
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<p>I have no idea what this is. I would suggest that you check the college finaid website to see when the Profile (if needed) and FAFSA due dates are. The college may have their own finaid application as well...but the FAFSA is a required form almost everywhere (not available until 1-1-08) and the Profile is used by a group of private colleges and some publics. It is available for priority filing now...but if you are applying regular decision, the deadline is probably the same as for the FAFSA for your schools. BUT you need to check.</p>
<p>If you have great grades and test scores, you should definitely apply to schools that meet full need. These are schools with large endowments which can give you excellent financial aid.</p>
<p>The college board web site (free) and US News and World Report-Premium (on-line and costs $15/year) will give you lots of information about whether particular schools meet full need AND how they structure their need packages. The last is important because, as other posters have pointed out, aid packages usually contain some amount of loans.</p>