Whoa, there. Yes, you can appeal an award letter but without grounds for an appeal, you are wasting your time. Often, even with an good grounds, you won’t get additional money. It’s not like you should go into negotiations just in hopes of getting more money by telling the school you can’t afford it, and they give you more money. Loans, are usually the counter.
First of all, most schools do not even meet need as defined by EFC. Doesn’t matter if you have a zero EFC, once you get whatever entitlements that come with it ($6k PELL, subsidized loans of about $3500 first year, some state money if your state so provides). Any more financial aid has to come out of the school’s coffers and very few schools guarantee to fully fund their students need, particularly as defined by FAFSA.
Even as a single parent with 9 kids, eligibility for PELL means a low income. and low assets. Mostly income. Once over the threshold for Simplified needs, your FAFSA EFC is going to run at least 22% of parental income with adjustments for dependents, state of residence, taxes paid. This is usually the main driver of EFC. Exceptions are if you have a lot of assets, or your student has a large income/assets. Parental assets hit up at 22-about 50% on a sliding scale whereas assets are hit up at less than 6% after an allowance.
So to reduce your EFC, usually, it means reducing your income. That usually has the biggest impact on EFC-parental income. Also the income used corresponds to you tax return for the previous year. The income reported for your student’s current school year would have been from 2017. The FAFSA EFC for next academic year, starting fall 2020 will use 2018 income figures. As we are now in the last quarter of 2019 right now, there are limitations as to what can be done to reduce the EFC For the next two years. Next year is pretty much cast in stone already, and the year after is well on the way.
If you have two kids in college at the same time, your parental EFC is halved. Some families work it out to have multiples at college at the same time by use if gap years to get that reduction in EFC.
Some things you can do to keep that EFC as low as possible are:
File on a day when your assets are low. Payday is not a good day. Make sure you don’t have earmarked funds sitting in your account the day you file. Pay that roofer, pay off your credit card, if you have designated funds sitting in your bank accounts
If your student has assets, money, it might be a good idea that he spend it on things he needs, his expenses, as his money will be hit up harder with no allowance than it would be if it’s parental money. Perhaps he should reimburse you for some expense you paid for him
Not the time to pull money out of your 401k or other such funds. It’s added income
If there is a non custodial parent or active relatives paying things on behalf of the student, it’s a good idea to have them pay you, rather than the student. Monetary gifts, payments on behalf of the student are considered non taxed income to the student and hit hard. You can get a gift of money and it’s not reported. Your student is supposed to report it on the FAFSA.
Look up what your child’s School or schools you are eyeing do fund in terms of financial aid. As mentioned above, most schools don’t meet full need even if you have it.
Right now, with your son at community college, it’s likely the costs are relatively low so your EFC might well be high enough that you and he are expected to pay the full cost. If he is thinking about going away to college, that usually means the cost will sky rocket as room, board and other expenses enter the picture, as well as fact that most 4 year colleges charge more in tuition and fees than community colleges
A bit more info needed to come up with some more directed suggestions. Like what is your EFC? Will you have 2 in college at the same time? What 4 year schools are in the agenda?
Usually, transfers do not get as generous of aid packages, merit money as those going directly to a 4 year college do. For your son, it’s important that he talks to the office at his college that advises in transferring to a 4 year school. There are often relationships between a CC and such schools.