<p>We never truly know what our friends’ financial situations are. Don’t concern yourself with anyone but yourself, because it will drive you nuts. :)</p>
<p>perfectly said Kelsmom. I’ve done this and it does drive you nuts! I’ve found that people will only reveal what they want you to know. So, you cant compare with limited facts.</p>
<p>Hey parents, is an EFC of 4k about right for my family? It seems a bit high. 3 people, one going to college. 25k AGI, 20k in 401k and IRA.</p>
<p>By “20k in 401k and IRA” do you mean your parents contributed 20K to their 401k and IRA last year, or do you mean that is how much they have in there?</p>
<p>If that is their contribution, then their total income was about $45K, and a $4K EFC seems about right.</p>
<p>However, if it is the amount “IN” the 401K/IRA, that should not have been reported. Only the contribution to a 401k or IRA made IN THAT YEAR is reported (as untaxed income).</p>
<p>* One of my friends had an EFC of like 40,000 and another had one of around 80. HOW THE HECK IS THAT POSSIBLE??? *</p>
<p>It’s very possible. It sounds like one family has either a highish income or high assets, and the other family either has a more modest income and/or maybe more than one child in college.</p>
<p>That said…people do make mistakes on their FAFSAs that get corrected at some point. I know a parent who accidentally indicated that the student had a dependent child, which made the EFC 0 and got Full Pell award. They had to pay it back when the mistake was discovered.</p>
<p>@notrichenough, kelsmom</p>
<p>It was 20k in contributions. Thanks for the input!</p>
<p>My friend with a 40k-some EFC has two parents who make about 80k a year. There are two kids already in college. I don’t know too much about their assets, but they don’t owe anything on their house/cars.</p>
<p>My other friend has an EFC of more than 20k, but I don’t understand why. One parent works, and this parent makes about 50k according to my friend. Her parents are also older. Not sure if one is retired. They live on a lake, but housing info unless you could assets is not on the FAFSA. </p>
<p>It’s hard for me to grasp the asset significance simply because my parents don’t have any, if that means land, property, cottages, etc.</p>
<p>They may have assets that you don’t know about. The student may have money saved in their name which is assessed at a much higher rate. The student may not have a firm grasp of what parents make. However, the FA expert who gives seminar at D’s school listened to my story in a nutshell and estimated 11k-14k for efc for our family, but calculators and FAFSA results ended up slightly less than yours but in same range. (this is number from FAFSA not Profile or what a college has determined using their own method). When I ran the calculator using profile information it turned out about 1k higher, but in the same general range. it remains to be seen how that translates into aid packages, but your baseline number from the FAFSA sounds fine to me. I did not make the “taxes paid mistake” that has been discussed. However, in another week and a half I will update FAFSA from IRS and we’ll see.</p>
<p>rbou, stop looking at your friends’ finances. For one, it’s not your business. For two, you (and their children most likely) DO NOT know the whole story.</p>
<p>Hey, I didn’t ask them about their finances. The students were practically boasting about them at lunch…</p>
<p>My EFC is 01610
How much aid will I receive?</p>
<p>I live in CA and I applied to UC Irvine, Davis, LA, SD, and Berkeley.</p>
<p>Seanoh you would get better advice if you start your own thread& post w more info.</p>