<p>* if I understand correctly, is that if a family’s AGI was 100K, they’d be expected to pay 25K a year toward college?*</p>
<p>No…for a few reasons…</p>
<p>If a family’s AGI is $100k then 33% would be an EFC of $33,000…not $25,000 (which in any case is just a rough guideline to get a feel for what EFC might be.). And, EFC is per year.</p>
<p>Secondly, MOST schools do not meet need…so most families have to pay MORE than EFC. Schools do NOT have to respect EFC at all. All they have to do with EFC is see if you qualify for any federal aid (fed grants are for LOW income students). Obviously, those with 6 figure incomes don’t qualify for federal Pell Grants. </p>
<p>Thirdly, the term EFC is a misnomer. It’s not what you have to pay. You could have an EFC of $20,000 and your child gets accepted to UMich which has an OOS cost of about $50,000. All you might get is a $5,500 loan…and a really huge GAP of about $25,000 that you’d have to pay in addition to your EFC. Imagine, your EFC is $20k, but you’d be paying $45k for your child to attend that school (and your child would have a loan for $5500) for that year. As you can see, EFC doesn’t mean what many think it means. 
But, as you can imagine, the federal gov’t has devised the determining of EFC and it doesn’t have the power to say that schools must meet need. Most schools don’t have the money. </p>
<p>Lastly, the schools that give the best aid usually require CSS Profile. Those schools consider assets that FAFSA doesn’t. Many CSS schools consider home equity and what’s in retirement accts. Many CSS schools are not to favorable to those who are self-employed.</p>