FAFSA says that my EFC is 6000 more than what Yale said?

<p>FAFSA says that my EFC is 6000 more than what Yale said, based on the CSS PROFILE. Will they adjust because the federal government apparently thinks we should pay even more?!?!</p>

<p>Oh, your's is only 6000 above Yale's? Mine is about 20,000 above Yale's and trust me, my family isn't rich. Don't worry, when it comes down to it, Yale's the one that gets to decide how much money they'll give you, not the gov't. The whole reason they ask you to send in your family's entire financial life (W2s, tax returns, property values, etc.) is so they can get a decent estimate of what you realistically can pay. Yale has a pretty nice financial aid package so you'll be in good hands.</p>

<p>thank god yale has its own efc.
my fafsa efc is so much higher than i imagined.</p>

<p>oh wait i had a question.
so i filled out my css profile.
how do i find out my efc from them?</p>

<p>i'm pretty sure you don't. I think the op might have meant from the fafsa report.</p>

<p>To me, it seemed like the FAFSA and CSS PROFILE were pretty similar...</p>

<p>It seems like there are many cases of admits getting heinously high EFCs from the federal government and high (but not heinously so) EFCs from Yale.</p>

<p>The middle class gets the short end of the stick...</p>

<p>FAFSA and Profile are for two different kinds of FA support, FAFSA is for Federal funds, while the Profile is for Institutional funds. You don't get a single EFC for the Profile because schools use different formulas, therefore, they come out with different EFCs. Some people find that schools are very close in their Profile EFCs, while others see a wide range. </p>

<p>FAFSA and Profile look at some of the same and some different financial information. For instance, in the case of divorced parents, FAFSA only asks for financial data from the custodial parent, while Profile asks for both. FAFSA does not count home equity, schools that use the Profile range from not counting it, to counting part of it, to counting all of it.</p>

<p>The FAFSA EFC TENDS to be lower than the EFCs that Profile schools calculate. But it varies from family to family and with the new FA policies at schools like HYPS, you may actually qualify for Institutional FA while you don't for Federal FA (that's the case for our family).</p>

<p>after i sent in the css profile yale sent back an estimate that was higher than i predicted after hearing about the whole "between 1% and 10%" if you make between 60K and 180K. my estimate was about twice what i expected (we fall below the middle of that range and i'm paying 11K) :(. making me seriously consider my options.</p>

<p>^^^The difference is likely due to your family having assets beyond what Y considers "typical" for your income level. We are in the same boat, we're well within the income range but are paying more like 40% of COA. But to keep this in perspective, from other selective privates (eg. Amherst, Brown, Dartmouth), we were offered zero FA. So I've got no complaints about Y FA!</p>

<p>wow, i assumed that amherst would give less, but really - none?! maybe i shouldn't be complaining.</p>

<p>My EFC from FAFSA is $15,000 higher than Yale's. Yale is really generous with financial aid and they don't include a lot of "assets" that the FAFSA does.</p>

<p>How are you all getting these estimates? Are you SCEA admits?</p>

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wow, i assumed that amherst would give less, but really - none?!

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<p>Only loans and WS. Since my D is a transfer and was accepted by both as a freshman, we have 2 years of FA offers from both schools. A gave zero both times and Y gave some FA both times, more the second time as that was after the FA policy changes.</p>

<p>My FAFSA EFC: $0</p>

<p>Oh, the joys of being poor. :)</p>

<p>Getting back on topic, no, I don't think Yale would try to rescind the amount they suggested to you because of your FAFSA. Colleges have a different way of calculating your EFC, and what I hear from most people is that if you actually seek them out and talk to them about your family circumstances, etc., they are very understanding people.</p>

<p>@golden: yes, I am an SCEA admit and they gave me an estimate back in January. I think I find out the final award when RD letters go out.</p>

<p>haha my FAFSA one was almost double the Yale one!!</p>

<p>are there any instances of the FAFSA being less than what Yale expects? From my FAFSA the EFC was about 11K, and according the to the estimate calculator from Yale's website it projected about 7K for Yale.</p>

<p>i hope my final fin aid offer isn't going to increase
my fafsa efc was 9000 more</p>

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are there any instances of the FAFSA being less than what Yale expects?

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<p>Easily. Have divorced parents.</p>