<p>I'm so mad right now. I've had my heart set on going out of state to a private school for quite some time, and today I got my results from FAFSA. They expect us to pay $30,000+ per year, which is absolutely RIDICULOUS when you take into account what my parents make (I'd rather not post it here). Basically, my parents told me flat-out that they cannot afford this, and I can't say I blame them. It's just a terrible disappointment...I've worked pretty hard the last couple years (my stats aren't that great though), and I'm going to be forced to go to my safety school in-state that I could be accepted to with a 2.5 for God's sake. </p>
<p>I've gone through 10 pages of Financial Aid topics on this forum, but I can't find any answers to this, so forgive me if it's been covered before.</p>
<p>If a school that I apply to doesn't participate in the CSS profile (my first choice, for example), is that really it? Nothing I can do? I mean, will I definitely be paying (or not paying, in my case) $30,000 per year? I'm not going to qualify for merit aid.</p>
<p>Also, why doesn't FAFSA take into account house payments, credit card debt, etc. etc.? It just doesn't seem fair. This is even $9,000 more than our EFC was, and my parents thought that was too high. </p>
<p>no they don't take into account debt so much- however
PROFILE and the schools may take into account extraordinary expenses like if your parents are paying for a kidney transplant for your little brother or living expenses for a grandparent</p>
<p>But debt? not really cause much debt is the result of choices- if your housing expenses are too high for your income or if you have huge amounts of credit card debt, why should you be eligible for more aid than a family who tried to live within their means?</p>
<p>schools will consider your circumstances, but different schools will vary depending on their resources and what the applicant looks like- thats why if money is a consideration, it is always good to have something to compare.</p>
<p>Always have a financial safety a school that you want to attend and a school that you can afford- instate schools are also not so bad- one was my Ds 2nd choice, but private schools really vary as to their resources, does the school you are interested in offer merit aid?</p>
<p>If the EFC is really far off of what you expected, it is possible that there was an error, talk to the aid office they may be able to help
The aid forms can be confusing and easy not to have all the data entered correctly.
<a href="http://www.finaid.org%5B/url%5D">www.finaid.org</a></p>
<p>FAFSA does take into account a familys financial situation, sorta of. You talk about your parents and you, so Im assuming that there are 3 in your household. </p>
<p>Your familys EFC is the sum of a percentage of four factors: parents income, students income, parents assets and student assets. </p>
<p>As to parents income: depending on the number of dependents with FAFSA (using my assumption of 3 in your household), there is something called the Income Protection Allowance. For a family of 3, approx. the first 18K of parental income (AGI) is not included when your EFC was determined. Any parental income (AGI) over this was assessed by FAFSA. This 18K is what FAFSA believes a family of 3 needs to feed, house and clothe themselves for one year. So, FAFSA is taking into account your parents mortgage payments in a very sad, sad way, but thats the reality.</p>
<p>As to parents assets, FAFSA does not include the equity in your parents residence, nor money in retirement plans, except if your parents made a contribution to a retirement plan for tax year 2005. After the residence and retirement plans are excluded, depending on the age of the older parent and whether a family is a two or one parent family, FAFSA excludes some of their remaining assets when an EFC is calculated (Asset Protection Allowance). Let say your dad is older and is 51, after the residence and retirement plans are excluded, approx 53K of any other assets would be off the table. Any assets still on the table were assessed when EFC was determined. </p>
<p>As to students income: FAFSA would automatically use an Income Protection Allowance for the first $2700 of your income. Only your income above $2700 in 2005 was used in determining EFC. </p>
<p>As to assets in your name, there is no Asset Protection Allowance. If you listed any assets as being yours on FAFSA, you were dinged alot.</p>
<p>FAFSA doesnt consider credit card debt or car debts. Schools dont care about what they perceive as lifestyle choices.</p>
<p>Financial aid is intended to help low- and moderate-income families bridge the gap between what college costs and what the family can reasonably afford. Financial aid is not an entitlement for relatively well off families who are reasonably able, through the choices they make, to afford a college education.</p>
<p>To put things in perspective, the median household income in the US is roughly $45,000.</p>
<p>If your family's EFC is $30K+, that means by most financial aid calculators, your household income is above $100k, and probably in the ballpark of $120K, or there is some combination of relatively high income and assets. (If this is not the case, then there seems to be some sort of error in how your family calcuated the FAFSA EFC). Even if your parents were to allocate $30K of their annual income towards college for you, your parent's income would still be about twice the national average. Think about that for a moment and you'll realize how very fortunate your family is. Your parents have options in terms of how they save and spend their money that many families do not.</p>
<p>Families with higher than average incomes also have the ability to set aside a certain amount of the family's disposable income towards college savings in the years leading up to college. You don't say if your parents did that, but with that high of an income, that is certainly something that is reasonable to have been done. In addition, it's reasonable for the institutions and federal goverment (who provide the financial aid money) to expect the family to borrow that money now and pay it back later on the strength of their earning power. If you didn't save in advance, then you can borrow now and pay it back later.</p>
<p>Each school calculates EFC and puts together financial aid packages differently. If your FAFSA EFC is around $30,000, chances are it will be in this ballpark give or take a couple of thousand dollars if there is no merit aid in the mix, so you probably need to plan accordingly. Keep in mind the first $6-$8000 is usually in the form of work study and student loans. That means your parent's contribution will be in the $22K range. That can be paid through a combination of college savings, current income, and parent or home equity loans. The question for them is whether they have set aside money for this purpose, and whether it's a priority to spend their present and future income for your college education.</p>
<p>Take your question to your school financial aid office. There might be circumstances they will reconsider, but be prepared to provide specific documents, for example-high medical bills. They will ask you to fill special circumstances application.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"If your FAFSA EFC is around $30,000, chances are it will be in this ballpark give or take a couple of thousand dollars if there is no merit aid in the mix, so you probably need to plan accordingly. Keep in mind the first $6-$8000 is usually in the form of work study and student loans. That means your parent's contribution will be in the $22K range. That can be paid through a combination of college savings, current income, and parent or home equity loans. The question for them is whether they have set aside money for this purpose, and whether it's a priority to spend their present and future income for your college education.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>My parents are way too nice, and I bet with some convincing I could get them to do whatever necessary (selling, etc.) to fund whatever college I wanted to attend. However, even though my number one school (Eugene Lang, among others) seems to offer the kind of education that isn't offered anywhere else and seems perfect for what I want to study, I can't justify spending an extra $20,000 of their money per year to get an "excellent" education with many internship opportunities instead of an "average" education with little or no internships. I don't think any school in the country is worth $20,000 more than an "average" school, especially when it's not my money that I'm using.</p>
<p>If my FAFSA EFC had been around $22,000, like the EFC calculator came up with, it would be an entirely differen't story. Is it typical for the FAFSA number to be a great deal larger like that?</p>
<p>I found the finaid calculator to be pretty close to the FAFSA EFC however our income and assets are pretty straightforward-and I know some people with more complicated numbers, don't really know until they do the FAFSA- ( have your parents done their taxes already? it might still change for the better)</p>
<p>Can you get an estimate using the institutional method? Or does it just give you the federal methodology? The school I'm going to uses institutional. I haven't filled it out yet.</p>