FAFSA Rookie

Paying for College
1

<p>I've just started filling it out and don't have taxes filed yet...awaiting one more form. Can I do an "estimated" form without being locked in and then change it when my tax return is complete or am I better off just waiting. My son is a junior in high school.</p>

2

<p>Why are filling out the FAFSA now? Is your son planning to start college early, in the 2011-12 academic year?</p>

3

<p>No, he starts in 2012. Wanted to get an idea of what sort of aid we might be eligible for. Can you recommend sources to find out? I guess I should wait on FAFSA until next year?</p>

4

<p>FAFSA is only going to give you a Federal EFC. That really doesn’t tell you what aid you’ll get from a school. If you have a low income/low assets, then your EFC will tell you that you will get Pell Grant. If you EFC is above Pell limits, then the only think your EFC will tell you is whether your child will qualify for small subsidized student loans.</p>

<p>The phrase Expected Family Contribution is a misnomer. The number is not the amount that you have to pay. Schools do not charge a sliding scale based on EFC.</p>

<p>If you want to get a rough idea of what your EFC will be, use this…
<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid;

5

<p>The EFC calculator on the CollegeBoard website is a good one: [EFC</a> Calculator: How Much Money for College Will You Be Expected to Contribute?](<a href=“http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp]EFC”>http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp)</p>

<p>Some areas of the FinAid site are a bit outdated, but I don’t know about their calculator. The CollegeBoard calculator is current, though. FAFSA has its own pre-app calculator, too: <a href=“https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm?execution=e1s1[/url]”>https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm?execution=e1s1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>But, yeah, the EFC it generates doesn’t tell you much except what sort of federal aid your may be eligible for. It doesn’t really predict how much you’re going to have to actually pay. It depends on the college, on its financial aid policies, its endowment, whether merit-based aid is part of the picture, and so on.</p>

6

<p>Thanks so much. Incredibly helpful.</p>

7

<p>I’ve run both the College Board calculator and the Finaid calculator each year that I’ve filed the FAFSA. The Finaid calculator has been about 5% higher than the FAFSA results, and the College Board calculator has been exact to the dollar.</p>

<p>You also can print out the FAFSA formula itself, and work through it on paper so that you see which factors most affect your results. <a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;