<p>I have applications pending at several colleges right now and my family filled out a FAFSA and Profile. We were stunned that the FAFSA came back with an EFC of $70,000 -- more than any college to which I've applied. My dad is trying to decide whether to spend the weekend rushing to pull together our tax returns as requested by some schools or whether this is a hopeless cause (my parents are not rich, and figure we can afford about $30,000 a year for my college.) I've applied to some pricey schools, including Tufts, NYU and GW. Do those schools ever give FA to somebody with a higher EFC? I'm not a star athlete or 2400 SAT kind of kid. (GPA 3.88 UW, 4.2 W, SAT 2170) Should I just call the college and ask to have my FA application cancelled? Might that even help my chances if they know I'm a full-pay? I could always take a third job and hope to win the lottery!</p>
<p>I don’t know about Tufts and GW, but NYU is awful with aid, so you likely wouldn’t have gotten anything from them anyway.</p>
<p>If your parents feel that $30k is the max they can afford, you’d really have a hard time coming up with $20k plus on your own. Especially since you’re going to need pocket money while in school.</p>
<p>Since you have good stats, did you apply to any financial safety schools that will give assured merit for your stats?</p>
<p>my parents are not rich, and figure we can afford about $30,000 a year for my college.</p>
<p>THats a pretty healthy sum. 
FIlling our the FAFSA will allow you to take out loans each year of $5,000 or so.
Chipping in summer income of say $2,000 and a job during the school year earning about the same should pay for personal expenses and books.</p>
<p>Add it up and you should be able to find a great many schools where you can attend for $39,000 or less if you also get merit aid.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m a Californian and did apply to five UCs, but I really would love to go to school on the East Coast. I’ve visited Tufts, NYU and GW and found specific features appealing. However without merit aid from them I’ll probably be attending a UC. Just trying to figure out if I should tell my parents to give up on sending in tax info, etc, and sounds like the answer is yes…</p>
<p>Keep in mind that EFC is intended to come from savings, current income, and loans on future income, roughly in thirds.</p>
<p>I’ll address NYU most, since that’s the only one with which I’m more familiar. Don’t you HAVE to file FAFSA to be considered for any of their aid? I could be totally wrong, but I thought that was true.</p>
<p>Some of that aid is merit based. And you have nice stats. To which school did you apply? Example…The top 5% of applicants to CAS get invited to the HOnors program. That includes merit money. The lower end of the pool gets only about $1000…but that’s still “found” money…and all the way up to $25,000. </p>
<p>I’ve heard their aid called “hybrid” aid…because they look at need the most, and slightly merit. But then I’ve also heard people on here say they got merit aid with very high income. </p>
<p>BUT…when were these forms due? Aren’t you late? Because I know that NYU has already started offering admission to their top applicant pool RIGHT NOW/this week.</p>
<p>Also - don’t you have to fill out aid forms even to be offered loans? I know I just got my financial aid package from my daughter’s in state safety…and the balance after scholarships was showing as an unsubsidized Stafford Loan…if we wanted it.</p>
<p>I was in a similar situation. My parents said they might be able to help with 20k/year and my brother was headed to college in 2 years. They’re a bit older so they have the house paid off and are saving for retirement and I think that’s what did it, but the EFC was supposed to be 55k or something terribly optimistic.</p>
<p>I wanted to go to a couple ivies and top 20 schools as well as NYU, but I ended up going to the state flagship because it was the only way I could graduate without a ton of debt. There I met quite a few people from out of state who showed me how lucky I was to have in state tuition at a good university. I did a bit more research just for kicks and the more I did, the more I learned that my state flagship was probably a better choice for my major and career path than a lot of the more expensive ones I was considering.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley just happens to be the best public school in the US. It’s one of the most expensive, but with 30k/year you should be fine in-state. With your stats, I’d imagine you made it in, so you might as well suck it up and be happy that you have that opportunity.</p>
<p>Tufts does not give merit aid.</p>
<p>To answer your original question I think your dad should spend the weekend having fun instead of trying to put together the tax information that some colleges have requested because with an EFC of $70,000 the idea of you getting any need-based assistance is indeed a lost cause.</p>
<p>You’re in a better position than some of the people I’ve read about on other threads because your family feels like they can afford $30,000 per year. I’ve seen threads where families feel like they could afford a lot less than this and they have also found out that they aren’t eligible for any need-based assistance.</p>
<p>I don’t know whether you should withdraw your financial aid application from any of your schools.</p>
<p>As far as what to do about where to go to school, I know your parents have already said they would pay the very generous amount of $30,000 per year. But now they know there will be no need-based assistance. As parents sometimes the amount we think we can pay goes up as we have time to mull over the numbers and we realize that we really want to send our kid to a particular school. I’m not saying that is how they should think, not at all. Maybe $30,000 is a well considered sum and it would be irresponsible to spend more. Or maybe $30,000 was the first number off the top of their heads and they will now realize that they will just be another in a large group of full-pay parents who are stretched.</p>
<p>At any rate, it sounds like you will be attending a good school next Fall, so good.</p>
<p>I’ve got the same situation ($100k EFC according to CollegeBoard). I never did file FAFSA.</p>
<p>Anyways, try for the Ivies. Their new pricing policy will help you out a lot. </p>
<p>Otherwise, it sounds like you need to look at private schools that are not in USNWR top 30 and your state schools more heavily. Some public schools can be cheap for good enough stats, though, like U Alabama, LSU, and U Minnesota already offers a low price for tuition :)</p>
<p>Good Luck!!!</p>
<p>You might be in the running for merit aid at GWU.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No it won’t help the OP. With an EFC of $70,000…the family income likely exceeds $200,000 a year. The Ivies generous need based aid does not apply to students with family incomes in this range.</p>