<p>Good morning all, quick question how can the Fafsa and the college have 2 different EFC scores, the Fafsa said our Efc was 6539 and JMU says it is 10834, how is that possible? Of course we received the so called award package after hours. I thought the FAFSA was the authority on this help</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you are saying. Is JMU saying your PAYMENTS would be $10,000 a year? They can do so because they DO NOT guarantee to meet your full need. Your FAFSA EFC is the MINIMUM your family would be expected to pay at your college.</p>
<p>The FAFSA really is used to determine eligibility for federally funded money. With a $6000 plus EFC, you would not be eligible for any federally funded grant money (Pell or SEOG). Your child would be eligible for the $5500 Direct Loan. </p>
<p>Any additional aid would come from the college itself. It sounds like they have given you only enough that your balance would be $10,000 plus. The FAFSA EFC does NOT regulate institutional aid allocations.</p>
<p>Yes it was in the financial award. but as a single parent with 2 dependents, making 55,000 a year AGI am I missing something? I just think that is high.</p>
<p>No…it’s not high…it sounds about right to me…for a college that does NOT guarantee to meet full need.</p>
<p>Did you contribute any money to a retirement account in 2012? If so, that money is added back in as income in the FAFSA formula.</p>
<p>JMU is a public university that does not meet full need. Having said that, it is a great bargain for Virginia residents…as are the other public universities in VA.</p>
<p>But also why would I have 2 different EFC scores? I checked my FAFSA app and that amount has not changed, is it possible that the school made an error?</p>
<p>Yes we are in state</p>
<p>You did NOT have two EFCs. You had a family contribution based on the aid JMU provided to you. and you had a FAFSA EFC that is used to compute eligibility for federally funded aid.</p>
<p>Schools that do NOT meet full need usually “gap” their students. In other words, there is a gap between the FAFSA EFC, and the aid offered relative to cost of attendance. JMU gapped you about $4000. Not surprising. They are a public university, and their endowment isn’t huge.</p>
<p>Also, if you are getting an aid package just now, it is a bit late in the cycle. Perhaps JMUs own grant money was already fully allocated by the time you applied.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help, I understand it a bit more</p>
<p>As a parallel example, friend’s Fafsa EFC was 9k. Single parent, two in college. All W&M could give her son, left her with a 15k bill. Based only on the Fafsa info, yes, but dependent on the U’s funds and at their discretion.</p>
<p>thought the FAFSA was the authority on this help</p>
<p>No. FAFSA EFC has no “authority” over schools. It’s just an app for federal aid, which isn’t much.</p>
<p>FAFSA EFC isn’t some directive to colleges to only charge you a certain amount. The fed gov’t can’t order JMU or some other school to give you aid up to your EFC. How could it? these colleges don’t have unlimited funds.</p>
<p>*But also why would I have 2 different EFC scores? I checked my FAFSA app and that amount has not changed, is it possible that the school made an error?
*</p>
<p>You don’t have two different EFC scores. You have one…and that ONLY determines federal aid which you got. Federal EFC is just that. It’s not a guarantee that schools won’t charge you more. There are 1000’s of colleges in the US…nearly all have very little money to give away. Do you think if a bunch of low EFC students suddenly enrolled that those schools would magically have millions of dollars to hand out? No.</p>
<p>If your child, with the same EFC applied to an OOS public that cost $40k per year, your aid pkg would likely be the SAME…and you’d be expected to pay $25k-30k+ per year.</p>
<p>There is so much info, this is new for us. Thanks for the help and breakdown</p>