I recently submitted the FAFSA and was given an EFC score of 012561. What exactly does this number mean? I don’t know whether or not this score will give me financial aid, but my parents are planning on contributing exactly $0 to my education. So, in my situation, where does this put me?
EFC means that is the minimum a college will expect you to pay towards your education. Why will your parents not contribute anything? What is their income and assets?
If your parents will not contribute and they have no savings set aside for your education, you will need to look for schools where you would be eligible for merit since your EFC shows you will not qualify for any federal aid other than the unsubsidized student loans which total only $27K for the 4 years.
Why not subsidized loans?
@BelknapPoint: If OP’s EFC is $12562, would they qualify for subsidized loans? I thought only low income students would be eligible for subsidized loans?
I’ve seen a FAFSA EFC of more than $30,000 qualify for subsidized loans. I don’t know how the cutoff for subsidized loans is calculated or where it is. Hopefully someone with that knowledge can chime in here and educate us.
COA - EFC = Demonstrated need. You can get subsidized loans for the demonstrated need amount (up to the grade limit: 3500 for first year).
(Both of these assume there is no other aid awarded)
So 60K COA - 15k EFC = 45K need = subsidized loan.
15K COA - 15K EFC = 0 need = no subsidized loan.
Ah, thank you romanigypsyeyes, I should have known that. So it’s dependent on both the student’s FAFSA EFC and the school’s COA. Obviously, the more expensive a school, the more likely that a subsidized loan will be available.
COA - all aid received - EFC = eligibility for subsidized loans.
Daughter had a COA of $27k, EFC of $19k, grants/scholarships ~ $10k. ($27k-10k<EFC= no subsidized loans)