<p>On a side note, I have recently been getting rejected from almost every college I applied to, but I forgot to check BU and I saw that I did get in, however I received no aid. I was really perplexed by this, and when I went to check my FAFSA, I noticed that my father had entered "99999" for the EFC instead of "9999" (we definitely don't have that kind of money!) Do you think Boston will do anything if I call them and talk to them about this issue? And what about for Brown and Berkeley, which come out in 2 days????? I just feel like so many things are going wrong for me :(</p>
<p>Yes, call financial aid and let them know. Mistakes do get made and in such situations, your file will be reviewd. For Berkley and BU, they do not guarantee to meet need, so who knows what will happen there. If you are OOS for Berkeley, ummm, I’ve heard that the UCs are not at all generous for OOSers. But Brown does guarantee to meet need. Do let each school that accepts you know, and start with BU right now.</p>
<p>First…the schools receive your FAFSA and that includes your EFC. You father doesn’t enter it for financial aid determination. There is NO PLACE on the FAFSA where the parent enters the EFC. My kid is a BU grad. There is NO PLACE on their application where YOU put your EFC. What are you referring to?</p>
<p>What is your family income? That is primarily what determines how much colleges will expect your family to contribute. </p>
<p>Neither BU NOR Berkeley guarantee to meet the full need of all accepted students…and they don’t.</p>
<p>Both BU and Brown use the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA to determine need based aid. I hope you and your family completed those or you will be getting NO institutional aid from those schools.</p>
<p>Thumper is right. Your dad doesn’t submit the EFC to BU, that is generated from the FAFSA app.</p>
<p>So, you need to look over your FAFSA and see why your EFC came out so high. Did your dad accidentally list his 401k as an asset? Did he accidentally put too many 0’s for his income? Did he accidentally put too high of a number for savings?</p>
<p>Do you really think schools process FA based on what a parent would put down as EFC? NO. The schools rely on what FAFSA says the EFC is…and CSS info if it’s a CSS school. also…CSS schools look at home equity and other things. </p>
<p>when I went to check my FAFSA, I noticed that my father had entered "99999</p>
<p>Your dad didn’t enter that number. That number (result) was generated from calculating the other info that your dad inputed. If your dad’s input was “garbage,” then the output was “garbage.”</p>
<p>IF your FAFSA EFC is wrong, then it will be wrong for your other schools as well…not just for BU.</p>
<p>How is the EFC determined then? I will take a look at the income and savings but I know for sure that on the CSS it asks for how much money my parents expect to provide, and by looking at that it says $10000</p>
<p>And I’ve only been admitted into UTD, other than BU, which gave me a merit scholarship already, so I don’t think I need to call the other schools anyways.</p>
<p>I think the OP miswrote. If for whatever reason, some incorrect info was entered where ever, it should be corrected and schools will redo the calculations for a true mistake. That is one case where some reconsideration would be done. Not to say that any money would be given out , but the calculations will be redone.</p>
<p>Yes, CSS PROFILE does ask how much money your parents are willing to provide. If the amount your father put in was way too high because of a mistake, yes, let the school know. There has been speculation as to whether that answer means anything. If a parent writes down a large amount beyond what the formulas give as contribution, I don’t know what the fin aid department would do. But, any mistake like that, absolutely let them know as it can give you an opening to go over the aid process with the school.</p>
<p>Yes, there is a question on the Profile
That asks how much your parents plan to pay. That number is NOT used in the computation for need based aid.</p>
<p>When you completed your FAFSA, you should have gotten an SAR that has your FAFSA EFC right on it. What is THAT number?</p>
<p>Did you and your family use the net price calculators on any of the college websites? If not, do that.</p>
<p>Things that impact need based aid…is either parent self employed? Do you own rental properties or any other real estate in addition to your primary residence? What is your family income? Do you have money in regular savings? Do you have investment income? Do you, the student, have significant savings in your name? Are your parents married (if divorced that can create financial aid issues, especially if they are remarried).</p>
<p>Ok thank you guys! I’ve been on the phone with them the entire time and they said they would take another look. Thanks for all the information!</p>
<p>We noticed that my dad entered all of his information relating to savings, investments, and income also under my name, or the student’s section…did that have anything to do with it? But that was a mistake and we told BU that so I’m just hoping for the best now.</p>
<p>How is the EFC determined then? I will take a look at the income and savings but I know for sure that on the CSS it asks for how much money my parents expect to provide, and by looking at that it says $10000</p>
<p>Are you talking about your FAFSA EFC?</p>
<p>There isn’t a CSS EFC generated. CSS schools just use the CSS info to determine what your family should pay…but that’s not a EFC technically.</p>
<p>Also, it doesn’t matter that your family put $10k as what it can provide. that is an irrelevant question and doesn’t get considered at all…otherwise rich people would put some low number. It’s just a nothing question which may be used to determine who expects lots of aid but won’t qualify for such.</p>
<p>Your EFC is detemined by a calculation. And if your dad put in a wrong number for income, or savings, then the EFC will be wrong.</p>
<p>Look at it this way…if you got all 100’s on your math this quarter, but your teacher accidentally put in a few 10’s instead of 100’s, then guess what? The outputted grade would not be a 100% (A)…right? So, you and your dad need to carefully review to see if there’s an error.</p>
<p>OR…maybe it’s not an error. maybe that really is your EFC. Do your parents have rental properties? investments? other homes? ???</p>
<p>Whatever error was made should be corrected. I don’t know what the error is for sure. If it is the PROFILE question about how much parents are willing to pay, I do wonder what would happen if a parent should put in a high number when the EFC and any other expected contribution would be a lot lower. I know that if you put in a very low number or zero, it is ignored and the actual PROFILE formula would prevail, but if someone should enter that s/he was willing to pay some higher figure, what would a school do? If they ignore it, then why have the question at all?</p>
<p>Your parents should only list YOUR assets (accounts in your name) as a student asset. They list THEIR assets under their name only. If you had significant assets, and you listed them twice, yes, this would have an impact on your family contribution and possible need based aid. This needs to be corrected. You can correct the FAFSA online. You need to find out from the Profile schools how they deal with corrections to the Profile.</p>
<p>You need to do this quickly. You really are not supposed to change assets on the FAFSA once it’s been submitted unless there has been an error. Yours sounds like an error so you should correct. However, it seems to me that a significant reduction in assets would set you up for verification.</p>
<p>But seriously, income is a huge driver. HUGE. Even at 20% (FAFSA assessment for student held assets), you would need a huge amount in assets to get to a $99k EFC. But then…what WAS your FAFSA EFC?</p>
<p>You need to go back into the FAFSA and make corrections to anything that is wrong. If your father put his savings under both you and him, he needs to delete it from under you. Things should not be entered twice. There is a section for your parents financial information and a section for yours. You can go back in, look at each section, correct anything that needs to change, and resubmit.</p>
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<p>That would have made a SUBSTANTIAL difference . . . and could well explain the extraordinary EFC you’re looking at.</p>
<p>We noticed that my dad entered all of his information relating to savings, investments, and income also under my name, or the student’s section…</p>
<p>Oh my…huge mistake. That’s a big problem. Student assets are “hit hard” with the calculations.</p>
<p>I don’t think that “telling” BU is enough. I think you have to go back on FAFSA and fix that. Then all your schools will have the right info.</p>