<p>Wow...they differ by $10,000! Huge disappointment to me...</p>
<p>Is there something wrong or does Tufts typically do this? I'm gonna ask them to reevaluate, but geez...if they're this stingy with their finaid, I don't think I can possibly attend.</p>
<p>Wow, ok. That's really terrifiying. I have heard them claim that their EFC is higher. I really hope I don't have to turn down my first choice because of $.</p>
<p>My d package was a $2k below our family efc. That's about what I expected</p>
<p>Make that $2k above our efc. That is we are expected to contribute $2K less than the govt estimate.</p>
<p>Hmm...ok, im definitely calling/e-mailing today. </p>
<p>They don't offer merit scholarships, correct?</p>
<p>Tufts gave me SO MUCH MONEY... probably because I'm a very low income family, but their EFC is about 1000 above my FAFSA EFC. Not bad at all.</p>
<p>Nope Tufts doesn't give any merit $ :(</p>
<p>My Tufts EFC is $3k lower than my FAFSA EFC.
(EFC refers to expected family income, therefore, Tufts expects my family to be able to pay $3k less than FAFSA does)</p>
<p>Okay, here's the deal on fin. aid calculation.</p>
<p>FAFSA is what the federal govenrment thinks you can pay, based almost solely upon your parent's current income, savings, and your own savings. Hey, it's not their money, so the feds can have a low EFC there.</p>
<p>You all filled out the College Scholarship Service form for Tufts. Your parents probably did most of it, but it includes things like home equity in the calculation. Ergo, that number is going to be different from the FAFSA. Tufts uses the CSS calculation.</p>
<p>Finally, Tufts is very, very generous to those with little or no money. On the other hand, if your family earns between $100k-$150k/year, you will have a lot of trouble paying. Generally, that is the range in which you make too much money to get much aid, but don't have enough to have saved up for college. </p>
<p>Some people have re-negotiated aid. Only merit aid is a small amount for National Merit Scholars.</p>
<p>Grr...ariesathena, you're right, home equity IS the problem. My income falls in the $40,000 - $60,000 bracket (is that considered low? middle?). My parents have worked very diligently to pay off their debts in the past few years and we don't want to take out another mortgage on our home to pay for my college education, especially since my little brother's heading for college in a few years, too. I'm gonna attempt to renegotiate my aid with them, but if it stays the same, I sorely doubt I'll be going to Tufts next year. Plus, a lot of the finaid they're giving me currently is in the form of loans, too.</p>
<p>The one thing that shocked me with Tufts was that they even asked the year/model/make of our cars on the Profile. This was the only Uni son applied to that went that detailed into the financial profile. Sad thing is, my son is waitlisted. Although he wants to go to Tufts badly, Tufts will not release any financial aid to us unless my son is accepted off the waitlist. They won't share any figures with us now. I wish we knew, what a shame it would be to be accepted off the WL only to not be able to afford it!</p>
<p>Phantom: it is also common for the first kid to get NO aid, and then the second to get a lot. Here's why: colleges assume that the first kid could be the only one going through. Sure, there might be 10 kids afterwards, but they could all be slackers who drop out of high school, or they could all go to state schools or get merit aid. Basically, since they are unknowns, it is assumed that no money is spent on them. So parents are supposed to spend the bulk of their money on the first kid, and they will get more aid for the subsequent children, as kid #1 has raided the coffers.</p>