<p>I sent my CSS into my early decision college (Brown University) when I applied in October. With my acceptance, my financial aid package gave me about $12,000 in financial aid with a $35,000 EFC.</p>
<p>Today, I filled out my FAFSA. When finished, my estimated EFC with that was only $4,015. This seems very odd to me because, despite my parent's negative adjusted growth income, they do have about $290,000 in real estate/assets.</p>
<p>We've checked the numbers very carefully and haven't found any errors. What could be causing this extreme difference in EFC? Is the FAFSA EFC realistic at all?</p>
<p>If the value of your home is included in the assets that could account for a large chunk of the difference.</p>
<p>That sounds right-- the Profile considers home equity as an asset, and most privates consider it to some degree or another. FAFSA doesn't consider home equity an asset.</p>
<p>There's a thing in the Federal Methodology called the 'siimplified needs test' that might apply in your situation that could reduce your EFC to 0 because it wouldn't consider any of your parent's assets. They have to be able to file a short form tax return, and have an AGI under 50K. If they meet those criteria, assets (including savings, etc) aren't considered at all, and the EFC drops to 0.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.finaid.org/educators/needs.phtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.finaid.org/educators/needs.phtml</a></p>
<p>If you haven't applied to some schools that utilize the FAFSA standard as opposed to the Profile standard, then you should do so immediately.</p>
<p>I have a hard time justifying an extra $120,000 for a degree at any college.</p>