I have 2 children who I’ve filled out the FAFSA for. Their EFC’s for the past 2 years is different by about 10 K. They have the same parents income and roughly the same personal finical situation (couple thousand in the bank plus nominal income from working). Does it make sense that the EFC’s are so different??
I have two children with two very different EFCs as well. I have one who is at a FAFSA only school and I have one who is at a FAFSA/Profile school. The one at the FAFSA/Profile school has an EFC that is so low that I had to do a double take to make sure that I was reading it correctly. This school also recalculated our aid at my request because of a one time occurrence that increased our FAFSA EFC big time. To this day I still check her portal because I feel like I am dreaming. The one at the FAFSA only school has an EFC that is $25,000 more than the cost of the school.
My experience is that if you have two kids in college, their EFCs can be different depending upon how their school calculates need. If your kids two schools only require the FAFSA and if the EFCs that the schools show on their FA portal are different, then it seems as though they both calculate need differently (hope this makes sense).
Question: Do you mean that their FAFSA reports that are sent to you are different, or do you mean that the EFCs from the two schools are different?
The one at a CSS Profile school could have a huge difference in family contribution, but the FAFSA EFC shouldn’t be different if the financial info is about the same. @twogirls It sounds like your CSS school DD is attending a school that gives super-aid…HYPSW or maybe Vandy
For the OP, the FAFSA EFC numbers should not be that different. Look to see if you’ve indicated 2 in college for both, and that family household size is the same. When doing the second FAFSA, did you use the populate feature?
@mom2collegekids what is the W?
OP, I agree, if your FAFSA is different that is odd. Your award sure, how the school calculated need on CSS yes but your FAFSA should be the same unless one has more assets. Are they in the same grade? Maybe their assets count differently for a senior than a freshman (just completely guessing, anyone know if that is true?)
@SeekingPam - I was wondering if that (different class years) might be the reason as well. But I just checked my kids (2 years apart) and their EFCs are very similar. (Difference easily accounted for D making more money last year than S)
There is no student asset protection for dependent students no matter the age/year. They’re all assessed at 20%.
OP, please clarify. Is the actual EFC number on the FAFSA different OR is the difference in their respective financial aid packages?
My daughter with the good aid is at an OOS public that meets need. I had the same question as @romanigypsyeyes
What OOS public other than UNC meets full need? Actually curious since currently shopping for K2. Looked at UMich, UWisc, UVA, UMary. UNC was the only one I found of the ones I checked but to be honest only checked about 10.
UNC meets need, and I thought UVA?
I think it’s important to know whether the actual FAFSA EFCs are different, or whether the FA packages are different.
Agreed, we need clarification. My answer (that the EFCs are similar) is assuming that the OP really means the FAFSA EFC and not the actual school calculated contribution (which, of course, can vary greatly!).
For FAFSA, my understanding is it will calculate a “parent EFC” from parent income and assets and divide that by 2 for two in college.
Then each child’s income and assets make up their “student EFC” and the two numbers get added together to get the EFC that appears on the SAR.
@SeekingPam UNC-CH and UVA meet full need for all accepted students. UMIch is working toward doing so…and is very close. I believe all three also require the Profile.
W=Williams
@redridgie Please clarify…are you saying that each child’s SAR from the actual FAFSA is very different for each child…or are you saying the amount that the schools are expecting you to pay differs??
Some other LACs like Grinnell could be very generous as well.
Fin aid could differ quite a bit among Profile schools.
@thumper1 UNC NPC came out with a number similar to the more generous non HYP ivies. UVA was ok but it would have cost more than most of the full needs privates I priced. UMichigan would have been MUCH more, to the point where I will not allow K2 to apply or visit.
Just for fun I ran the NPC for UVA, UM and a private. Using the same numbers the private was under 20, UVA was 30 and UM was over 40 net cost for us.
@thumper1 in fairness to the schools there may be something about our particular situation that makes certain schools cheaper and others more expensive (eg home equity is or is not counted), so for someone else UVA or UM may be cheaper even with the same W2 income or assets, as they say YMMV.
@SeekingPam This thread is about FAFSA EFC…home equity doesn’t count
But I think that’s just it, some people are talking about FAFSA EFC and some are using EFC as a term forthe contributions families need to make.
I don’t think a FAFSA EFC for siblings should vary by more than a few hundred dollars unless one has a huge savings or big time job (actor, model, rock band). My kids’ EFCs were within a few hundred dollars because on had some savings the other didnt.
OP said FAFSA EFC but hasn’t clarified if the difference was off a SAR or generated by the schools.
OP has not clarified. I took her initial comment to mean FAFSA EFC which of course does not count home equity @mom2collegekids. I agree with everyone that when only referring to FAFSA, the two kids should be the same barring some windfall that only one received from work or a relative.
I was responding to Thumper1 and the comment about UNC and UVA meeting full need and UMich trying. Admittedly off topic but again in response to twogirls saying her kid was at an OOS Public that meets full needs.
Im saying that the EFC on the SAR is very different. Child one: Entering Junior year at GWU - EFC= $23k; Child 2 has finished 4 years of college and will be starting a 2 year combined program in engineering. This child had Columbia and Washington University St.Louis on the FAFSA. EFC=$15k. Does it make sense?