https://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/2021EFCFormulaGuide.pdf
Here is the PDF with worksheets to figure the EFC by hand
One other thought, after the DRT to import tax information, there are questions about untaxed income on the FAFSA, such as pre-tax retirement contributions. Did you by chance only list them on one FAFSA but not the other?
Maybe, I’ll double check that. thanks
Are they twins? Or are they born in different years? Are they in the same year in school? Not sure if the FAFSA result gets affected by whether one student is a different year in school than another (in the same family) - freshman vs. junior - for example. Some colleges seem to adjust for that in their calculations as they assume the same student in a higher year in school should be able to contribute more…usually it is a summer earnings implicit assumption.
@Gen1111
This is not a school calculation. It’s the FAFSA EFC calculation. If ALL data is identical, then the EFC’s should be the same. Doesn’t matter what college or what year in college. That is a school based need based aid calculation.
In this case, there will be a difference of some number because one kid had $150 more in savings the day the FAFSA was filed…so that would be $30 additional for that kid.
Well, I double checked and with the exception of the twice noted income difference, all matches except the final answer. I guess it is what it is. Probably won’t really matter as both attend CSS profile schools.
The only reason this would matter is if one student is Pell eligible, and the other isn’t. But if $1000 is 10% difference…that doesn’t sound like it would be the case.
In terms of need based aid, yes, the Profile schools will use the Profile information.
Have you run net price calculators for these two students? Really, that’s more important for the one who is a freshman (or both if both will be freshmen).
Just remember that at Profile schools, your family contribution will be at least 60% of what it would be for one student…at least. It’s not 50/50, it’s 60/60.
One is current freshman in college and one is current sophomore in college, so we know how the financials played out this past year. Can’t wait for this ridiculous system to be changed. Thanks.
What change do you want? No forms to fill out?
If I ran the world…
A system where, like any other service, the service provider tells you the real cost up front ( and no, the NPCs aren’t a reliable tool at all) and you decide if you would like to shop around for a better cost.
Most kids are applying to more schools now than ever: 8-12 schools? Evaluating “fair value” in the post high school education industry, without this level of easy to come by, transparent information, is a difficult and time consuming task without really knowing if you, the consumer, are getting the “best” deal. This, coupled with the federal loan aspect (which basically means the tax payer hands over $5,500 to a private industry for most students every year), makes for a pretty shady transaction/ experience. Other countries seem to have figured this out in a better fashion than we have in the U.S.
Curious as to why you asked and your thoughts on my response to your question.
I’m not going to get into a debate on the application system for financial aid because it’s against the terms of service on this site to debate.
I will say, there are lots of situations where you don’t know the “real cost” up front. When was the last time you bought a car or house?
This has been discussed numerous times on this forum with reference to other countries. The tax and economic structure of those countries, as well as even access to college, are different than here.
this NYT article is timely https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/your-money/fafsa-financial-aid-student-loans.html
Here is the already started CC discussion of that article.
@thumper1 - I know- I started it! 
(after posting it here first). After posting it here I thought it was interesting enough to have its own discussion so posted a thread.
Oh, so the question was rhetorical. I didn’t understand that you were trying to state a position via a question.
Yes, true, car and house are two examples that the cost may vary by a small percentage from the asking price, perhaps a 10% variance. As the NYT article states, however, college cost variance can be 100% or more from the EFC. Our experience has been that college cost variance from specific school NPC’s can be upwards of 30%. So yes, while house and car are the only two examples I can think of that don’t let you know the true cost, those aren’t services, so it’s a false equivalence, and the price variance is far out of line from the college cost variance.
The article makes the point parts of the EFC calculation hasn’t been updated in over 50 years, not that most schools meet need anyway.
@chipperd- Not sure who you are posting to (I don’t think its me), but as for the variance in schools’ NPCs, this is not news. Schools use different calculators, include different factors, offer different potential incentives, etc. This is why most folks say that while running a generic NPC (like in CollegeBoard) may be a good start, running each schools’ specific NPCs is essential.