<p>Should I be worried if my EFC is somewhere between 2000-4000? Will that make me ineligible for all the partner colleges?</p>
<p>Not at all. This is the financial profile students who were accepted through National College Match 2013
INCOME
29% had family income less than $20,000.
73% had family income less than $40,000.
95% had family income less than $60,000</p>
<p>So, more than 25% were maybe not even Pell grant eligible. And 5% of matched students had income over 60K.
For finalists the income standards are even less stringent. As long as everything else is great, you will be accepted, perhaps even matched, by partner colleges who want you - your FA package might not be as generous as someone with EFC 0 - but it will be calculated based on full COA so there should be a work-study guarantee. Plan to work the summer before college and apply for small outside scholarships to offset the student requirement a/o EFC. Or just take out a small loan if you don’t want to work during the academic year.</p>
<p>Also, I strongly recommend you look into QB partner Liberal Arts Colleges. You have heard of the big name schools, but the LACs (except UVA and Rice) give much more comprehensive match packages, they are easier to get into, and in many cases the education is better for undergrads. You can always go to a university for grad school. </p>