<p>Essentially, my efc is about 10k. Does that mean everything else will be covered in grants or loans? Thank you!</p>
<p>No. At the few schools that meet 100% of need, after they determine your need (note they don’t just use your FAFSA EFC, but their own system which counts more things), your need will be met through any Pell Grant you might qualify for, student loans, work study and institutional grants. There will be a student self help amount to be contributed from summer earnings.</p>
<p>At schools that don’t meet need, which is most, it’s just up to them what they want to give you, and most save the bigger grants for top students.</p>
<p>Hmm, I’m a little confused though. Does that mean there’ll be a gap of money that won’t be addressed? I understand that there are many parts toward the package and such. I was just asking if the financial package will cover every cost through someway given my financial circumstance (btw, I have 2 sibling in college, 1 just started, 1 who has med school costs still being paid, and I also have a sophomore sister).</p>
<p>Gap is exactly it. Most schools gap outright or put in an optional Parent Plus loan to address the gap.</p>
<p>Your EFC will be impacted by your brother in college, but not be the one in med school who is considered independent. If both you and your brother attend colleges that meet 100% of need, your parents will pay about the same for both as they would for one. If one or both attend schools that don’t meet need, all bets are off.</p>
<p>Where does your brother go and where do you hope to?</p>
<p>Sister* goes to University of Oregon (residency) and I hope to go to Northwestern. I’ve already gotten into Boston College.</p>
<p>Boston claims to meet 100% of need.</p>
<p>As of now, my parents said that they’d pay $20k for my college education.</p>
<p>$20K per year or total? Is $10K your Profile EFC?</p>
<p>$20k per year, and yeah 10k according to fafsa.</p>
<p>You need to figure out how the privates will look at your EFC. Run the IM calculator here and see if your schools have calculators on their web sites. It’s very unusual for lower income parents to be able to pay twice their FAFSA EFC. So do you have a family business or a lot of money in real estate? These are 2 areas that Profile schools look at differently than FAFSA.</p>
<p>Please be aware, however, that regardless of whether you apply to full-need schools or those that gap, your finaid package will unlikely be all grants. Even if your EFC was $0, you package would include about $5K in subsidized loans and $2K work study, in addition to a $2-3K student contribution (earnings from summer employment) - - if you’re lucky, the balance will be in grants, but could included institutional loans.</p>