I ran collegeboard EFC calculator with independent student age 24, from CA, household of one, with $24,900 income, $1,700 income tax paid, no savings. The EFC was $4,911.
$1,000 in savings assets could have put that EFC to $5,111.
@corgicollege Are you sure that your FAFSA EFC on the SAR was $4,000? Does it say on the SAR that you would get a Pell grant and how much? Did you have savings reported on FAFSA?
As an independent student you can take a $12,500 loan in junior year I believe, also do you qualify for a Calgrant?
How many semesters have you been in college?
It’s possible that you’ve run out of Pell. Isn’t Pell limited to 12 semesters?
I live in San Francisco so the living expenses are quite high. I'm assuming FAFSA uses only one federal standard for income.
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No, not one federal standard really. The tax rate of your area is taken into account. However, living in pricy SF probably isn’t taken into account.
Does your college have any affordable student apts?
The bottom line is…you STILL qualify for a Pell Grant (unless you’ve used up all of yours), so you should get about $2k-3k of Pell.
When you add up your independent loans of $10k+, your $25k income, and some Pell, how much more do you need?
how much does your school cost??? Are you going to a CSU?
Yes I qualify for the cal grant and will be entering in as a Junior. Berkeley is offering me some $25,000 for the semester. With this grant this means I would pay about $1000 out of pocket every semester.
I’m transferring in with 70 credits.
^^^then what is your issue??
My issue is that I want to avoid or minimize loans as much as possible. Especially, because I’m concerned I do qualify for financial aid but feel that there must be some error.
Oh for heavens sake…you aren’t willing to take $1000 a semester in loans?
You are getting $25,000 a year in free money.
You have a couple of choices.
If it were me…I would take the loan…and discuss your financial aid eligibility with the college. IF you are eligible for additional aid, just don’t take the loan for the second semester.