EFC with 3 students in college

<p>I used the EFC calculator on the college board site. THe result says " parents contribution for student = $15000/yr".
Does that mean per student or $45000 for 3? or does that mean $15000 is TOTAL the family has to pay?
Since they did not use the plural form "students" it seems they may mean EFC per student.</p>

<p>The EFC is always the EFC for the one student.</p>

<p>If you put that you have 3 students in school at the same time the formula will have calculated a total parent EFC based on parent income/assets and a student EFC based on the student student income/assets. The parent portion of the EFC will have been divided equally between the number of students. The student part remains the same. The EFC from the calculator will already have taken into account the number of students.</p>

<p>The EFC is not neccessarily what you will have to pay. it is a number used to calculate 'need' on which financial aid is based. The EFC is deducted from the schools COA (Cost Of Attendance) to determine 'need'. Need may be met with grants (with a 15k EFC you will not qualify for federal grants), loans, work study and possibly a gap (unmet need).</p>

<p>If 2 of the 3 students get accepted to private colleges where they meet 100% of need, does the college pay (for example) $50,0000 cost less the $15000 parent EFC and student part? The 3rd student goes to state school which is $15000 total.</p>

<p>So in the above example the parents pay $45000 total?</p>

<p>A lot of private schools require CSS/profile or their own financial aid forms in addition to FAFSA. The EFC produced at schools that require these will vary from school to school as each has their own way of treating data - for instance FAFSA does not consider home equity at all. CSS/profile does consider home equity but school A may consider the full equity while school B may cap the equity at a certain level. SO the EFC at school A may be higher than at school B.</p>

<p>Sorry I'm being so dense, but I still don't understand if the parents contribution for the 3 students is $15000 or $45000</p>

<p>$15,000 for each student.</p>

<p>Do you have 3 students all starting college at the same time? That was good timing from a financial aid point of view!</p>

<p>Junior in college and twins starting 09. Thanks for your help!</p>