I do not understand the FAFSA info. If someones FAFSA info is $30,000 does that mean if your son or daughter goes to a $50,000 college that you are only responsible for $30,000? I am so confused what the FAFSA means and does.
Please help this confused Mom.
Thank you
IF the FASFA EFC= $30,000, then that is the minimum an applicant will pay for a college. It also means that your income is too high to qualify for any federal aid or grants, but your student can take out unsubsidized loans (total of $27K/4 years). Most schools do not meet 100% need and most will gap you meaning you will pay your EFC+ more. To make up the difference in a $50,000 school, a student can look for merit aid by having high GPA and test scores.
If the school costs less than your EFC, then you would be paying full price.
The FAFSA number really only has any meaning in relation to federal student aid – Pell and other grants, federal student loans, federal work study. Labeling this number “Expected Family Contribution” really does a disservice to student and families who are just learning about the process, because it really has nothing to do with how much the student/family will be expected to contribute to annual college expenses.
This thread may answer more questions: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1486647-financial-aid-faqs.html
But if the school costs more, than $30,000 then are we only responsible for $30,000? Sorry I hate to sound like a dummy, but this is very confusing. We also filled out the CSS Profile which I don’t really understand as well.
No, that’s not what that means. About the only thing you can tell from a FAFSA EFC of $30k is that the student is not eligible for a Pell grant. How much you will end up paying is based on many factors, including academic stats (for merit aid, at schools that offer merit aid), the school’s budget for need-based aid and whether or not the school meets 100% of need for all students, and your family’s specific financial situation and ability to contribute to college expenses, as determined by the college (not as determined by FAFSA).
I defer to @BelknapPoint a CC expert on financial aid. ^^^^. Have you run the Net Price calculators on the schools to get an estimate of your costs?
OK if the school costs $60,000 and the school is giving her a scholarship of only $15,000 then we are responsible for the remaining $45,000. With the FAFSA report it also said she may be eligible for stafford loan of $5500.00
@kaylamissy yes, you will probably get the $5,500 Federal Stafford loan.
The important question is…do you actually have the EFC to pay without going into Parent loan debt?
Yes, and you can come up with that $45,000 with a combination of savings, current income, outside scholarships, PLUS loans (not recommended), private loans (not recommended), or…
…federal guaranteed student loans made available through FAFSA completion, with a maximum amount of $5,500 for first year students (some of this loan amount may be subsidized by the federal government, meaning they pay the interest on the loan while the student is in school).
No I don’t have the actual EFC to pay without going into Parent loan debt. But if my daughter is trying to decide between a $30,000 public school giving no aid or a couple private schools between $50,000 to $65,000 and my EFC is around $30,000 I’m trying to figure out which is best and how much I would have to pay for a private school if thats what she prefers.
@kaylamissy almost always at those privates you are still going to have to pay your EFC and sometimes even more.
Only certain schools will fill in the gap between cost of attendance and your EFC. Most schools don’t. It looks like your daughter’s schools included:
Clemson
USC Columbia
Wofford
Furman
Elon
GPA unweighted 3.7, weighted 4.3
New Sat 1170
ACT 24
Rank , top 15% , 44 out of 300
Honors Classes
Will graduate with 17 hours of IB classes
Most of my extracurricular activities revolve around dance since I spend 4 days a week in a dance studio.
Are you guys IN-state in South Carolina?
How much would you have to borrow with Parent Plus loans to make the schools work?
We are in state SC. She got into Furman, USC, Elon, College of Charleston, Presbyterian, HPU. Still waiting on Wofford and Clemson. Not sure if she will get into Clemson wither her test scores.
I was hoping not to go over $30,000 to $35,000
@kaylamissy --ok good. I was hoping those were IN-state options for you. That’s good she has acceptance to her state school.
So have Furman and Elon given you a financial package yet?
Furman has but only $15,000 year plus her life scholarship of $5,000. I have not heard from Elon about any scholarships. I also filled out the CSS Profile if that matters.
The answer is, it depends. The FAFSA is a federal form for the express purpose of determining your eligibility for federal aid. But individual colleges also look at it to make determinations for distributing their own financial aid funds. Most colleges won’t give you anything. Some well-endowed colleges may give you enough money so that you end up paying $30k per year out of pocket (and the rest would be covered by federal loans and the college’s aid to you). That’s why you fill out:
The CSS is used by the well-endowed colleges to determine if they are going to give you any of their institutional funds.
Also-- you don’t sound dumb. It’s confusing. Glad you are here asking the important questions!
Thanks but I’m still a little confused. I still don’t understand exactly how much Furman will cost if my daughter decided she wanted to go there. 
Total COA at Furman is around $63k right? And so far she has $20k In Scholarships, will likely get the $5,500 loan.
So the total remaining looks to be about $37,500. I’m not sure… Does Furman guarantee to meet full need? I don’t think they do but I haven’t fact checked.
I think you should plan on roughly $37-38k and just be pleasantly surprised if it’s lower.