FAFSA and EFC discrepency by almost 10K, could this be a mistake?

Paying for College
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<p>Could anyone help me with this?
The school I'm attending next year calculates EFC with the CSS Profile, FAFSA, and W-2s. Anybody that's done FAFSA knows that FAFSA gives you an EFC based on your family's assets and income, calculated by federal methodology. Ours was pretty reasonable (as in, yes we'll have to pinch some pennies, forgo a vacation, and the like, but we can pay it). However, the EFC that came with my financial aid award was more than $10,000 more than the EFC that FAFSA calculated. I realize that Vassar probably uses a institutional methodology so our EFC will differ a bit, but isn't $10,000 a bit much? </p>

<p>I did some research on averages and found that my family's EFC usually corresponds to a family income more about $37,000 more than my parents earn (that is, a family with an income $37,000 more than my family's and an average amount of assets would usually expect to have the same EFC we did). I looked at Yale's average financial aid packages calculated under their old policy (which was similar to Vassar's) to find this: <a href="http://www.yale.edu/admit/freshmen/financial_aid/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.yale.edu/admit/freshmen/financial_aid/index.html&lt;/a>. We don't have an extremely high amount of assets or anything like that. I will be attending a private school with a need based policy that has a relatively large endowment and is committed to helping low income students attend, and I'm frustrated that they have not shown the same commitment to families in the upper middle class. </p>

<p>What makes it harder is that if I get any merit scholarships, they will take away all the aid they gave me first. I recieved a $4,000 merit scholarship from an outside source, and they reduced all my loans ($3,500) and also $500 from the grant aid they gave me. This pretty much shut down my plans to earn merit scholarships to help pay for college. </p>

<p>What concerns me even more is that I applied ED, (I'm afraid this is the reason I'm not receiving the amount of aid that everybody praises Vassar for giving), so I received my financial aid estimate last december. Since then, tuition for next year has been hiked up $2,000. Our EFC has been hiked up $2,000 as well, so they didn't even look at our FAFSA's and W-2s for the final award, they just gave me the same award they did in december (which was already very, very small...we expected they'd give us more after 2008 returns since, like everybody else, we lost a bit of money this year), which makes me feel like they didn't really calculate it at all, just set aside a grant allowment and left it up to my family to pay the rest. </p>

<p>This kind of puts me in an impossible position. ED bound me to attend next year, but I currently have to transfer after my freshman year because I just can't afford to attend Vassar. I'm just really sad, it has been my dream school since I was 15, and this places a lot of pressure on me to keep good grades so I can be accepted somewhere else as a transfer student. Could there be a mistake? Or did I just get ripped off because I applied ED and commited before receiveing a final financial aid award (I commited based on Vassar's promise that they would make Vassar affordable for everybody admitted, and I don't feel that they really lived up to that promise with me). But if Vassar is need based, that shouldn't even make a difference, should it? </p>

<p>Is there any hope at all that Fin. Aid will empathize with me? Please help!</p>

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<p>Impossible to know whether Vassar’s evaluation of your EFC based on the Institutional formula is correct because of lack of your family’s financial specifics in your long post. Vassar is indeed generally considered a generous school and they no doubt would NOT discriminate against you simply because you applied ED. So, Vassar has its reasons based on the information you provided then on CSS Profile, FAFSA and through IDOC.</p>

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<p>First, you aren’t bound to attend if you can’t afford it. When you signed the ED agreement with your application, it says that you can be released from the ED contract if the financial aid award is not sufficient. Now, you and Vassar obviously have different ideas about what is sufficient, but if you want to get out now and instead attend a public university that is still accepting applications, you should just start the dialogue with Vassar NOW. Tell them you need to be released from the agreement due to finances and get an application in to a state univ. It makes no sense to spend all that money to go to Vassar for one year.</p>

<p>The way Vassar treated your outside scholarships is totally standard. You will find that at virtually all schools. They do not apply outside scholarships to the family’s expected contribution. It is a wonderful thing, however, when they use them to reduce or eliminate student loans. Sometimes they will also reduce work-study awards if the scholarship is large enough, but after reducing student loans, work study, and occasionally summer earnings expectations, the excess will always go to reduce insitutional grant aid. So don’t hold that against Vassar, and don’t expect it to be different elsewhere.</p>

<p>Have you tried appealing the award to Vassar? It may not help, but you won’t know if they’ll make an adjustment for you if you don’t ask. I think your parents ought to be the ones to handle that though.</p>

<p>Schools that offer need-based aid only (I don’t know whether Vassar is one of those schools) are often not a good match for students from upper middle class families that cannot afford the sticker price. Only a very few (like Harvard, for example) have aid policies that address the issues of families in your income bracket. Also, if Vassar just gives need-based aid, the fact that you applied ED probably had no effect on the aid award. The college will have it’s policies and formulas and they’ll just crank out an aid award accordingly. If Vassar has merit aid, that could well be a different story.</p>

<p>Do talk to the financial aid office, ASAP, though. You really should have done that when you got your preliminary award in December, but that’s water under the bridge.</p>

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<p>You might want to double check all of the entries you made on the Profile form, because if there were any errors (perhaps including an IRA or 401K balance in the investment asset category) that would go a long way toward explaining the discrepancy. Is the equity in your home correctly shown? </p>

<p>You’ll still need to talk with the FA officer, and I’d ask for an explanation of the items that led to your family’s contribution being so much higher than the FAFSA EFC.</p>

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<p>I’m guessing home equity? </p>

<p>btw: in another thread you posted that you would have sibling in college your senior year. If so, your expected contribution by Vassar would effectively be cut in half for that year.</p>

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<p>The OP mentions only income in the “EFC” comparison. They do not mention any other consideration of assets. This could include home equity, a second home or property, rental income, family owned business, college savings plans, large savings accounts, etc. </p>

<p>The Profile does NOT compute an EFC. The SCHOOLS using the profile compute a family contribution. These are NOT the same thing at all. Also keep in mind that the EFC computed by FAFSA should be viewed as a MINIMUM family contribution especially when schools do not guarantee to meet full need. I don’t know whether Vassar meets full need or not.</p>

<p>We don’t know the OP’s FAFSA EFC. We also don’t know (and the OP shouldn’t feel obligated to tell us) their family’s other assets AND we don’t know STUDENT income and assets which are also considered in the formula…whatever that formula is.</p>

<p>Remember, for Profile schools, it is the SCHOOL that uses the information to determine your aid and how much remains for your family to pay. These schools are dispersing THEIR money.</p>

<p>What is your aid at Vassar? How close is it to the Cost of attendance minus your FAFSA EFC? It is very possible that they did an excellent job of meeting your need.</p>

<p>Oh…and did they offer you loans as part of your package? Yes…those are a way to meet your need.</p>

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<p>Brassring: here are some specifics.
EFC: $40,000 (EFC on FAFSA was $29,000)
Combined family income: $142,000
Savings: $150,000
6 members in my family! </p>

<p>What I’ve found is that an EFC of $38,000 (mine before they hiked tuition up $2,000 and stuck in on my EFC) usually corresponds with a family income of $180,000 and $200,000 in savings (of which we are neither). Northwestern’s average grant aid for my income bracket was $14,200. </p>

<p>Fin Aid. package consisted of $3,500 loans, $10,000 Vassar grants and $1,700 employment allowance. Reduced my loans with an outside scholarship, as well as reducing my vassar grants by $500 </p>

<p>My public university that I’d like to attend is University of Washington (total cost about $18,000/year given that I get absolutely no aid). They are done accepting applications for the year, but I can transfer next year. UW accepts merit scholarships, which makes things much easier for me. Portland State, Whittier, and Portland Community College still accepting applications for this year. I’m pretty certain I’d be admitted. Portland State takes merit scholarships. </p>

<p>bluebayou: sis starts the year after I graduate, so EFC won’t be reduced</p>

<p>Is this a typical package for my income bracket? Everything I find suggests that it isn’t. </p>

<p>All I have to say is…it’s a good thing i like UW.</p>

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<p>Thumper1- Vassar guarantees to meet need. I knew EFC would vary somewhat, just felt $10,000 was a lot for it to vary by. No huge savings or anything like that. Family is very typical of an average $140,000/year family, which is why I expected aid pretty close to the average.</p>

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<p>Oh, and thumper1: Cost of Attendence - FAFSA EFC= about $26,000. ($55,000 - $29,000 = $26,000). Offered me about $16,000 in aid, $1,700 of which was from a work study. </p>

<p>I don’t mind posting further stats, just ask. just hope I can help someone else avoid the situation I’m in right now.</p>

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<p>You REALLY don’t think that’s substantial?</p>

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<p>You REALLY don’t think that’s substantial?</p>

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<p>First of all…stop comparing the average financial aid award at other schools. That doesn’t matter at ALL when it comes to Vassar. You mention Northwestern University’s average award to folks in your income bracket. That is what NU computes and has probably NO relationship to what Vassar does.</p>

<p>Your savings should have been included in the FAFSA calculations. What about home equity? </p>

<p>Our income is similar to yours and our EFC is in the $40K range.</p>

<p>Re: loss of assets…if this was investment assets, that would not affect your financial aid award which is primarily based on income and more liquid assets such as savings/CDs etc. And then home equity.</p>

<p>If your stock portfolio or retirement accounts or mutual fund VALUES took a hit, that really wouldn’t affect the EFC or the financial aid award.</p>

<p>Did you amend your FAFSA and Profile to reflect your 2008 taxes AND if so…when did you do that?</p>

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<p>@applicantnot LOL.</p>

<p>$150,000 is a LOT of money. You should be grateful - and thankful - to your parents for saving so much money. No wonder you didn’t get too much fin. aid… through the college’s eyes, you can afford 3 yrs of Vassar WITHOUT aid!</p>

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<p>neethus1…I’m not sure that Vassar would expect the family to use their asset in total to pay for college. For FAFSA purposes, for example, first of all there IS an asset protection for some of that money. AND the remainder if in the parents’ names is only assessed at 5.6% (I think that is the correct number). </p>

<p>Now…if that money is in the STUDENT’s name…the assessment is at a much higher %age…(is it 20? I don’t remember). AND there is no asset protection for student assets.</p>

<p>Of course THIS is for FAFSA EFC purposes, not Vassar institutional aid…and perhaps Vassar DOES look at that parent savings and assesses it at a higher rate. Even if the family only used 20% of that money ($30,000), they would still have $120,000 left. </p>

<p>Adding that $30K from my example above to the aid the OP posted…and adding in the FAFSA EFC…you would be able to cover the cost of attendance at Vassar or very close to it.</p>

<p>It sounds like the family does not wish to use this savings for college purposes.</p>

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<p>Neethus/applicannot: yes, comparatively, it’s a lot, as is our combined income of $140,000 a year. However, most people that earn $140,000 a year do have about $150,000 in savings. And it’s still not enough to go to Vassar w/o aid. </p>

<p>thumper1: it was mostly investments, I think, so that explains that. Home equity…about $200k. FAFSA was initially done with 2008 numbers. Your EFC is in $40k too? I’m assuming you’re a parent. So, um, how are you paying for it? (you don’t have to answer this…but it would help. Right now I just don’t understand where Vassar thinks the $40k will come from. )</p>

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<p>also- I have $300 in my account. My contribution was $1,500, which I found reasonable.</p>

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<p>Sorry…but I would like to see the data on which you base the above. What makes you think that most people with $140,000 incomes have the same savings as you? And what difference does that make anyway…you have it.</p>

<p>College costs in this household are being paid by a COMBINATION of savings, current income and loans. Kids also work a LOT both in the summer and during school. We are very careful spenders.</p>

<p>Oh…and we did not start college bill paying with $150,000 in the bank. Sorry…we just didn’t.</p>

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<p>@ the OP: Ah, I see, investments. For some reason I was imagining liquid cash, sitting in the bank.</p>

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Yes, I thought that the institutional EFC would expect the family to take a chunk out of those savings and contribute it to college. I would not be surprised if that accounted for the 10000 increase in EFC as the OP was surprised at.</p>

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<p>thumper1- taking out 30k from savings the first year is only 20%. however, over four years would be over 80% of our savings. </p>

<p>My point here is not that my family absolutely can not pay for it without, say, auctioning off the house. It’s that they can, but at our current EFC it would wipe out almost all of my parents savings, as well as a substantial amount of our earned income. Nobody I know has had to do that at a wealthy school that guarentees aid, and that is why I keep comparing aid packages and wondering if there has been a mistake.</p>

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<p>Contact the fin aid office and ask what accounted for the large increase? Chances are they won’t tell you… at least, not without a large struggle… but you can always try.</p>

<p>And besides, you’re not paying for all of college out of current savings. Your parents DO make a 140k income. Unless you have extremely high expenses (i.e. large mortgage, property taxes, medical expenses) your parents will probably be putting out 10k or something like that from their income (10k is an arbitrary number but you can negotiate with your parents to see how much they can afford).</p>

<p>Plus, won’t your parents be replenishing their savings?</p>