Financial aid logistics guidance

Paying for College
1

<p>I think I have this right but I wonder if the good people of College Confidential will confirm the general accuracy of my understanding of the financial aid application process. </p>

<p>Assumption 1: The financial aid application deadline for a school (RD) will typically be sometime after the admission application deadline, allowing people time to submit the most recent data from tax returns.</p>

<p>Assumption 2: The financial aid deadline may be different for ED and EA applicants.</p>

<p>Assumption 3: I can start filling out FAFSA, PROFILE, CSS now (my child is a junior) and update as needed when I want to submit. </p>

<p>Assumption 4: I will find this whole process way more frustrating and complicated in reality than I currently imagine it to be.</p>

2

<p>Yes, yes, I don’t think so, and yes.</p>

3

<p>1 - Typically but check each college’s web site.
2 - Yes
3 - No you can’t. The FAFSA gets put online in January for the next school year.
4 - Agreed!</p>

4

<p>^^^</p>

<p>I agree…</p>

<p>And, I would add…you will likely find that colleges will expect you to pay a lot more than you’re able to pay.</p>

5

<p>I found it difficult to get my taxes done before the deadlines, many of which were in late Jan. That means I had to do some preliminary tax type work (e.g. total income) to fill out FAFSA and CSS profile prior to filing taxes. Good thing FAFSA was easy to update after filing taxes. </p>

<p>In terms of EA, that form was due in November and I ended up using the previous year’s tax return and estimating the total annual income.</p>

6

<p>You forgot:</p>

<p>Assumption 5: Almost all merit-based scholarships will have an application due date well before the regular college application date. In some cases you will need to have money info. ready then too because the college will want it.</p>

<p>And:</p>

<p>Assumption 6: You will need a box of tissues and quite possibly two or three adult beverages on hand for when you see the EFC numbers for the first time.</p>

7

<p>*Assumption 6: You will need a box of tissues and quite possibly two or three adult beverages on hand for when you see the EFC numbers for the first time. *</p>

<p>LOL…so true…</p>

<p>And, then you need more booze for “round two” when you do get your FA packages and see that they’ve gapped you and/or put big loans in them.</p>

<p>And, lastly, you need to have a therapist on stand-by to deal with the meltdown your child will have when he/she learns that his favorite choices aren’t affordable.</p>

8

<p>Thanks all. Questions:</p>

<ol>
<li>mom2collegekids, can you explain what being “gapped” means? (Sounds evil.) </li>
<li>Are the EFC calculators that one sees here and there accurate? If some are more accurate than others, can some point me to the best ones?</li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks again.</p>

<p>Marie</p>

9

<p>Gap is the difference between what number is returned from the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) and what you actually have to pay to the college which I call AFC (Actual Family Contribution.)</p>

10

<p>A really great resource is a book called “How to Pay for College Without Going Broke.” It’s inexpensive ($11 on Amazon), and walks you through the financial aid process.</p>

11

<p>You can use the online calculators and FAFSA forecaster NOW to get an idea of what your EFC will be. </p>

<p>As for gapping, some schools will “meet your EFC” but will do so by expecting you to borrow what you might find to be an outrageous sum with a Parent PLUS loan as part of the package. (Our state flagship has an online estimator and when I ran our numbers they did this.) </p>

<p>On the other hand there are the (private) schools which promise to meet 100% need. They actually do meet need, but they use the CSS Profile to “dig deeper” into your $ situation and frequently decide you have “less need.” </p>

<p>DO play around with the calculators and run different scenarios. You might decide to make some needed purchases (home improvements, upgrading a car, etc.) to get the money out of the bank before you fill out the forms.</p>

<p>If you haven’t read it yet I highly recommend “Paying for College Without Going Broke” by Kalman Chany.</p>

12

<p>If you have your tax returns completed, the FAFSA is painless. The CSS made me cry.</p>

13

<p>Thanks for the book recommendation ($11 feels like a reasonable investment). I have been putting money aside through the Illinois Bright Start program, which I am assuming is a good thing. I am a widowed parent with a good income. I always feel strapped for cash because I am a really dreadful money manager, but in the scheme of things I suppose I am doing rather well. Ugh. Figuring out how to pay my child’s way through a fancy private school seems so important to me now, though I myself went to my state school (go Huskers) on a full tuition scholarship and lived to talk about it.</p>

14

<p>I’ve run the Finaid.org calculator and the CollegeBoard.com calculator both years that I’ve filed the FAFSA. Finaid gave a result that was about 5% higher than the real FAFSA, but CollegeBoard was to-the-dollar accurate. I’m on the wrong computer tonight so I can’t post the link here, but you can google “2011 FAFSA Formula Guide” and you will find links to a PDF version. You can print that out and work through it on paper. That way you will know which factors most affect your FAFSA results.</p>

<p>Welcome to one of the wildest rides of your life!</p>

15

<p>*1. mom2collegekids, can you explain what being “gapped” means? (Sounds evil.) </p>

<ol>
<li>Are the EFC calculators that one sees here and there accurate? If some are more accurate than others, can some point me to the best ones?
*</li>
</ol>

<p>Can I answer #2 first? That will better lead into the answer for #1.</p>

<p>You seem to want to know what your FAFSA EFC will be and whether it will be accurate. Unless you’re low income, it’s probably not going to matter. </p>

<p>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is a misnomer…it does NOT give you the amount that you’re expected to pay. </p>

<p>Colleges do not charge a sliding scale based on EFC. </p>

<p>The only thing colleges have to use FAFSA EFC is to determine if your EFC is low enough for fed grants and subsidized loans…both of those are for small amounts.</p>

<p>FAFSA EFC only tells you how much federal aid you qualify for. If your EFC is under about 5000, then you’ll get a small grant. For instance, someone with an EFC 4400 gets a $1200 grant. Obviously not enought to make a dent in college costs. For example, a family of 4 that earns about $57,000 and has little savings, will have a FAFSA EFC of about 4400. </p>

<p>A person with a 0 EFC will get about a $5550 grant…again, not enough to pay for college.</p>

<p>Now…answering Question #1.</p>

<p>Since most schools do not have much aid to give outside of federal grants/loans, many schools can do little with EFC except to determine whether you’ll get a small grant, loan, and maybe some work study.</p>

<p>for instance…</p>

<p>School A…cost of attendance = $24,000 (tuition, fees, room, board, books, etc)
EFC = 8,000
Determined need = 16,000</p>

<p>EFC is too high for Pell and other federal grants.</p>

<p>School A may put the following in an aid package…</p>

<p>federal direct loans = $5500
work study = 2500</p>

<h2>school/state grant = 2000 (some schools/states don’t have any grants to give)</h2>

<p>aid package = $10,000</p>

<p>Need is 16,000</p>

<h2>aid is 10,000</h2>

<p>gap is 6,000</p>

<p>So, the family would have to pay the 8,000 EFC and the 6,000 gap…about 14,000</p>

<p>There are a limited number of schools that “meet need” without big loans, but those schools are the hardest to get accepted to…and they usually require you to also submit CSS Profile.</p>

16

<p>Does anyone know of calculators that estimate EFC for private schools/those using the CSS Profile? I can’t seem to get a handle on how that works, although I agree that “Paying for College Without Going Broke” answers some questions.</p>