Can anyone give me a basic FAFSA calculation?
I thought they take a percentage of our annual income plus a percentage of our savings and then they figure out our expected contribution amount? Not trying to get into specifics, but those 2 pieces so I can figure it out.
Jenn
Your income and assets are a part of it, but there’s also more. If you really want to figure it out, you do need to get into the specifics.
The 2021-2022 FAFSA EFC formula can be downloaded here:
Use the link labeled “The EFC Formula.”
It depends. At low income levels, that sort of calculation is different than it is at higher income levels. In addition, there are factors such as age of parents, household size, number in college. It’s actually very easy to get a decent idea of your EFC using an EFC calculator like this one: Expected Family Contribution (EFC) – BigFuture | College Board.
It’s important to understand that the EFC is simply a calculation that determines eligibility for federal aid . It’s not the true expected contribution. Few schools promise to meet full need (cost of attendance less expected family contribution). Those that do often recalculate the EFC for institutional aid (which may result in a higher EFC than that of the FAFSA). The vast majority of schools are unable to offer enough aid to bridge the gap between cost and expected contribution.
Thanks, that answered my question!
You can run the FAFSA formula by hand. I think I am attaching the thread with a link to it. Click this link…the first post contains the 2020-2021 FAFSA formula link.
@mommdc hopefully she is seeing this…and can provide it.
Here is the link to the 2021-2022 EFC formula: https://ifap.ed.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/2020-08/2122EFCFormulaGuide.pdf.
You can do the Net Price Calculator for each college to which your student plans to apply. These NPCs are on each college website and will give you a decent estimate of the aid your student could receive. Right now, they are set up for students enrolling in fall 2021…so if your kid isn’t a current HS senior, this would be a gross estimate as awarding policies do change from year to year sometimes.
If the parents aren’t divorced, don’t own a business, aren’t self employed, and don’t own real estate other than the primary residence, the NPCs can be pretty accurate.
Really, the NPCs have the potential to give you better information about your net costs than just the FAFSA formula. Schools use the data from the fafsa (and Profile if required) in varying ways.