Anyone still have a copy of the last version of the FAFSA/EFC spreadsheet they could send me? thanks! @joecoletta ?
@joecoletta I would also really appreciate a copy. I’m a parent trying to navigate through the complexities of US college for the first child attending college and I’d really like to see project how various factors over the next 2 years could affect our EFC
I don’t know about FAFSA, but you may wish to run the Net Price Calculators on some colleges’ financial aid websites. Many colleges take into account more info than just FAFSA (specifically, they may also require the CSS Profile). FAFSA’s EFC does not give you enough information to guess what your expected contribution might be for a particular college, i.e., you cannot rely on FAFSA EFC. The Net Price Calculator will provide an estimated financial aid package specific to that college. It can be run anonymously and you can also plug in different data to see how it would change the result.
Caveats for the accuracy of Net Price Calculators include complex family financial situations, such as owning real estate, a business or farm, or divorce, depending on what questions the calculator asks. But, generally it should be more accurate than FAFSA EFC.
The Colleboard EFC calculator seemed pretty accurate (federal methodology) to me. You will know which version they use by the income year it asks for (if it’s 2017 then it’s the 2019/20 EFC formula). At some point they usually update it to the latest formula.
You can also search for the latest EFC formula for 2020/21. It should be out soon.
Wow, I just looked quickly at the above link and the parent asset protection allowance is really being reduced. Ours was about $13,000 last year, down from over twenty-some thousand a few years ago. Now it’s only about $6,000!!
The asset protection allowance is a joke…especially for single parents. They may as well do away with it altogether.