<p>Got to fix the FAFSA, and yes, I was right about what happened. There is no way I would have put that my kid wasn't a US Citizen...and we got his draft card today. Kinda hard to be something other than a US Citizen when you have a draft card.</p>
<p>And, my version of FF (the most recent) with whatever add-ons was rejected from FAFSA. Since all I have on there is Adblock, it's ridiculous. </p>
<p>I want to make sure I'm reading this EFC right, though. I wasn't aware that they were starting numbers with 0 these days. But it says our EFC is 01234. Does that mean we're responsible for $1234? lol</p>
<p>I don’t think remember seeing a goofy-looking number like that before, but please don’t think that you will only be responsible for the number printed as your EFC. The name is misleading; the only thing that it tells you is whether or not you’ll qualify for a Pell grant and a certain amount of subsidized loans. Most colleges will expect you to pay more than the EFC unless the EFC is greater than their cost of attendance. Only a few colleges will actually attempt to meet need, and most of those will meet it with big loans and the ones that don’t will make you fill out other forms anyway.</p>
<p>That is minimally what you will be responsible for.That is your expected family contribution. BUT remember, MOST schools do not meet full need. MOST leave a gap between the Cost of Attendance and the family contribution. Most also package loans in their awards. </p>
<p>If your child is accepted to one of the very top schools where the school guarantees to meet full need, your child’s need MIGHT be met. HOWEVER most of those schools will also require the completion of the Profile and/or a school form which tend to delve more deeply into your finances.</p>
<p>But with a FAFSA EFC of $1234, your child will be eligible for part of the Pell Grant, and depending on the cost of the school, a subsidized Stafford loan. He might also get a Perkins loan…again…school dependent. </p>
<p>Depending on your state, your student may also be eligible for some grant money for low income students (CA and NY have these types of programs…others do too…I think).</p>
<p>* but please **don’t think that you will only be responsible for the number printed as your EFC. The name is misleading; the only thing that it tells you is whether or not you’ll qualify for a Pell grant and a certain amount of subsidized loans. Most colleges will expect you to pay more than the EFC **unless the EFC is greater than their cost of attendance.*</p>
<p>Kinda hard to be something other than a US Citizen when you have a draft card.</p>
<hr>
<p>Permanent residents are required to register for the draft, too.</p>
<p>When you get your Student Aid Report (SAR), review it carefully for errors in information and for error messages from the processor. That will help you to determine if the 1234 EFC is correct.</p>
<p>Oh, I realize all that. As a matter of fact, I had to correct it, and it went up a lot, so the goofy number is gone and replaced with one that eliminated the Pell Grant entirely.</p>
<p>My wife had a car accident the prior year, it was totalled. I wish we could have used that return, the loss really was a boon to the AGI.</p>
<p>I think the OP is questioning the leading zero in the EFC. I just looked again at ours and with an EFC just under $500 we have 2 leading zeros! Anyone know if the maximum EFC is 99,999?</p>
Casualty losses are deductible if the loss exceeds 10% of your income, but it’s a schedule A deduction which IIRC is subtracted after your AGI is computed (last line of page 1 of the 1040), so I don’t see how this or medical expenses would have affected AGI or FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>The EFC is not a dollar amount. It is never what you have to pay to your school. Never. </p>
<p>There are not dollar signs in front of it and there are no commas in it either. The whole concept of it being a dollar amount is false and all the talk here and all the other threads is very misleading and just feed the fire… honestly. The EFC is is a number (a Code) the school uses is to determine if you qualify for the Pell grant and other need based federal aid. That was what it was designed for and that is what it’s purpose is. </p>
<p>For the 2011-2012 school year, an EFC above 4617 means you won’t qualify for the Pell grant and will get federal loans only. For federal aid, the most common time an EFC is really relevant is when a parent wants to take out PLUS loans. Then it is used to determine how much they can borrow… again, this does not mean this is how much you are expected to pay or what you are going to pay the school.</p>
<p>All this “jockeying” in parent and kids trying to get their EFC down and they don’t seem to understand in the end it really doesn’t matter (for federal aid)… if the EFC is above that 4617 amount, they are just going to be able to borrow more money (fun!) in parent PLUS loans. The student loan amount max amounts stay the same no matter how high or low the EFC is. $5,500 a year as a dependent freshman no matter what.</p>
<p>Yes, Yes, I totally understand the concept that the expensive schools (so please don’t start blasting me) who give out institutional aid based on that, but these forms of financial aid are quickly going the way of the Do Do bird. But, (my opinion) too much time and effort by parents on this issue for not a lot of return… if any. </p>
<p>A letter in the mail to your kid, Wow, son you got $1,000 scholarship based on your “low” efc of 10000… but the letter also said, "Please use the address to pay your son’s outstanding balance by Friday for $23,512.23</p>
<p>Even though it’s not the amount that you have to pay to the school, it IS a dollar amount, that is subtracted from the COA to determine “need”. If it weren’t a dollar amount, you couldn’t subtract it from another dollar amount (COA).</p>
<p>No it’s not a dollar amount… and your reply explains exactly WHY it’s not a dollar amount. Because the COA is not the amount you have to pay the school either… it is a system that is very flawed and not as “bottom line” oriented as it should be.</p>
<p>Both COA and EFC are dollar amounts. They are not measurements in centimeters or pounds or Yen. They are measurements in dollars. Neither COA nor EFC represents an exact dollar amount <em>that you have to pay the college</em>, but they’re both measured in dollars. Perhaps you mean to say that they are both <em>estimates</em> and not actual billable dollar amounts?</p>