<p>Please enlighten me…in the Fall, my twins will be high school seniors applying to colleges. We’re not poor, but we are far from rich. We live in NY, so our best bet is the SUNY system. I did the FAFSA forecaster and was surprised to see my estimated family contribution was approximately $15,000 per child. I thought it would be less. Does that amount seem about right?</p>
<p>Depends upon your family income, size, students in college, etc.</p>
<p>An EFC of $30K a year is pretty common, around here.</p>
<p>Of course, it’s all relative and dependent upon your unique family circumstances.</p>
<p>That is depressing, and financially challenging! For sure, I figured we’d fall into the need-based category. My husband and I are already in our 50s, with very little in a retirement fund, and no savings to speak of. The most I can do is about $7k per year, per kid, so they will each have about 30k in student loans at the end of four years. I don’t want them starting out with a lot of debt.</p>
<p>They will likely have substantial student loans as part of any package in addition to borrowing the part of the EFC you can’t pay, so they would end up with a lot more than $30K in debt. And don’t forget costs go up each year. Maybe condsider 2 years at a CC or merit aid schools if they have the stats.</p>
<p>It’s just an estimate. Each college has their own way of assessing “need”. That number may also be radically different by the time they apply. Or they may qualify for merit scholarships. There are many variables. </p>
<p>Your children may qualify for work study. Or no or low interest loans. Or grants.</p>
<p>Your EFC may change each year.</p>
<p>Just remember that your kids should apply to a wide range of schools - those that use the FAFSA only, those that use the FAFSA/CSS PROFILE and consider in and out of state public and private options. Depending upon where you live, your kids may also qualify for reciprocal tuition discount programs.</p>
<p>I believe I was told that once I file the FAFSA, the other options for aid will all be presented. What is a reciprocal tuition discount? I haven’t heard that before. Is that something the state gives? Is it automatic since siblings and ages are listed on the common app? My twins aren’t even applying to the same SUNY schools.</p>
<p>I am not sure if NY does a tuition discount for neighboring states. I live in CA, and there is a program called WUE that provides this for some colleges out of state. You might want to start googling.</p>
<p>[College</a> tuition discounts draw in students for summer - USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-06-09-Campussummerdiscounts09_ST_N.htm]College”>http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-06-09-Campussummerdiscounts09_ST_N.htm)</p>
<p>Not sure what kinds of grant or aid your state offers, but yeah, until you get your FAFSA in and aid offers back, it’s hard to not with precision what kind of award your kids will get.</p>
<p>Your EFC for each child sounds right if your income is about $90-100k per year or so (and not too much in assets). If assets are large, then income can be smaller and still end up with that EFC.</p>
<p>What are your twins’ stats? There are some SUNYs that give good scholarships. Since SUNYs are relatively inexpensive to attend, scholarships could essentially reduce your EFC if the scholarships are big enough (they would have to exceed “need”).</p>
<p>Most state schools are going to follow EFC. They aren’t going to use their own methods.</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that EFC doesn’t mean that is all you have to pay. Most schools can’t meet need.</p>
<p>For example…the Cost of Attendance (tuition, room, board, books, travel, personal expenses) at SUNY Buffalo is $21k per year. [UB</a> Student Response Center - Estimated Cost of Attendance - Undergraduate](<a href=“http://src.buffalo.edu/financialaid/undergradcost.shtml]UB”>http://src.buffalo.edu/financialaid/undergradcost.shtml)</p>
<p>COA = $21k
EFC = $15k
“need” = $6k</p>
<p>That $6k can get covered by a student loan and maybe work-study. Do your twins qualify for TAP (or is that only for lower income students?)? </p>
<p>You may be thinking that their student loan goes towards the EFC. It doesn’t. It will go towards “need.” </p>
<p>However, since the COA includes some costs that are flexible (see link), you could tell your twins that they have to earn the money for their “personal expenses,” transportation, and books thru summer work and maybe part-time employment during the year, and take out a $5500 student loan to go towards other costs.</p>
<p>We are trying to put together a package for an appeal letter to the head of financial aid. there are so many opinions on how to best o this and so much at stake. Some suggest having my daughter write it, others my husband and I. We spoke with Fafsa and they taod my husband that the school raised oout EFC by $5000 because my daughter made $800 during the fall semester working a work study job tht was part of her package. They also said that they used my husband’s projected income to determine last year’s award, not his 2008 actual income(he was laid off on 11/1/08 so had most of that year’s income. Our projected income was low because at the time we were only getting unemployment and having to pay huge COBRA bills. The school then said that because my husband earned so much more than he estimated our contribution was going to be 5x what it was last year. His actual income was $15,000 more than 2008’s actual income . So…thoughts?</p>
<p>How can a school raise the EFC by $5000 for an $800 work study job? That doesn’t even make sense.</p>
<p>Workstudy income isn’t even used in calculating the FAFSA EFC. It is specifically excluded.</p>
<p>The $5000 EFC increase, though, based on an actual income that was $15,000 higher than estimated doesn’t seem completely implausible… it depends on other factors, but could definitely happen.</p>
<p>*We spoke with Fafsa and they taod my husband that the school raised oout EFC by $5000 because my daughter made $800 during the fall semester working a work study job tht was part of her package. *</p>
<p>Something is wrong there…not only does W/S income not count, but even if it did, $800 is still below the limit (which is about $4000 or so for students)</p>
<p>You were likely given wrong info. Your EFC went up because your income increased by $15k. So, about 1/3 was added to EFC.</p>
<p>* They also said that they used my husband’s projected income to determine last year’s award, not his 2008 actual income(he was laid off on 11/1/08 so had most of that year’s income. Our projected income was low because at the time we were only getting unemployment and having to pay huge COBRA bills. The school then said that because my husband earned so much more than he estimated our contribution was going to be 5x what it was last year. His actual income was $15,000 more than 2008’s actual income . So…thoughts?*</p>
<p>This is kind of what was thought. you mentioned that the initial aid package was fabulous - which suggests a very low family contribution. That does suggest that they projected a lower income. </p>
<p>So, they didn’t use the 2008 income and assumed he’d make a lot less (maybe based on your projections). In truth, not only did your income not go down, but it went up. </p>
<p>So, it sounds like last year’s contribution (which should have been based on 2008’s income) was waaayyyy too low and should have been about $16k higher than it was. Then, with the $15k increase of income, they’ve tacked another $5k on top of that $16k…hence the $21k increase.</p>
<p>So, if my calculations are correct (and they may not be…LOL), in their minds, you underpaid about $16k last year.</p>
<p>I don’t know what your income is or family size…but if the family income is in the $80k-100k range, then amount sounds about right.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That is just plain poppycock. Work study income is NOT factored into the FAFSA calculation at all…EVER.</p>
<p>To the OP…your posts are very confusing. You say your husbands income was higher than estimated, but then you say the school increased your contribution 5x…that makes NO SENSE.</p>
<p>I’m not wishing to pry…but what was your family income in 2008. AND what was your family income in 2009?</p>
<p>You say your husbands income was higher than estimated, but then you say the school increased your contribution 5x…that makes NO SENSE.</p>
<p>I think what she means is that the family and the school estimated that the dad’s income would be quite low in 2009, so the family contribution was something like $5000. But, since the dad’s income was not low in 2009 and was actually higher than 2008, the family contribution is now $25,000 (5 times higher than before.)</p>
<p>It looks like the family got a nice break last year when its family contribution should have been about $20k (based on the real 2008 earnings). The increase to $25k is because of the increase in income for 2009.</p>
<p>My numbers are just guesses based on the supplied info.</p>
<p>While the increase is a lot, it should have been expected since the 2009 income wasn’t the low number that was projected. The family should have expected that the school would now be using the real numbers and not expect the aid to stay anywhere near the same since the aid was based on a low income that never existed.</p>
<p>Income for 2009 was $15,000 higher than 2008. Out of that we had to pay $8540 in Cobra payments for a family of 5.Also because husband was doing freelance work, tax situation was much more complicated as he was not set up to be an independent contractor, plus we never knew if, when and how much he was going to work. So. . .not a typical year to say the least. That said I still think that 5x last year’s contribution is excessive. Out family does not make a 6 figure income.</p>
<p>As rough as this sounds…if your family income is say $90,000, your family contribution would be roughly between $22k and $30K for the year.</p>
<p>If your income was $75k per year, your family contribution would be roughly between $18K and $25K.</p>
<p>For the life of me, I can’t figure out how your contribution for school would be five times what it was last year…unless there were other financial assets there are now available…proceeds from selling a house, money from an inheritance, severence pay. Something just isn’t adding up.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to say that your COBRA payments don’t get factored into the equation. Many families pay their own health insurance premiums.</p>
<p>Yes, as Thumper says, we pay our own health insurance premiums in full, but it is not factored into the FAFSA calculations. Lots of people (more and more all the time) do not get employer-provided insurance. It’s one of those inequities that self-payers don’t get a break and people for whom those benefits are provided at not taxed on them.</p>
<p>Well, the people I know who pay their own insurance own their own business and have a whole different situation than we do. We did not choose to pay our own insurance. And honestly there were no other financial assests available. I did read an article earlier this year entitled something to the effect of " A large financial award means we really want you." That is wonderful and we were extremely grateful and my daughter was very deserving. So, how do you tell a family to come up with that much money in two months with no warning and no way to even try to transfer at this point. With the same financial information this school’s award was much higher than others which says to me that they really wanted her to attend and happily she went and had a great year. Now I feel like even if we could come up with the money somehow this year (loans) she still has 2 more years and we have twins that will be entering ollege when she is a senior.
And one more point. . .30K for a 90K income for a family of 5. Seriously? How exactly does that work?</p>
<p>Yes, as Thumper says, we pay our own health insurance premiums in full, but it is not factored into the FAFSA calculations. Lots of people (more and more all the time) do not get employer-provided insurance. It’s one of those inequities that self-payers don’t get a break and people for whom those benefits are provided are not taxed on them. If 3xamom’s family has received untaxed health insurance through an employer for past years, then that’s a huge benefit, I can see why it’s an adjustment to then not have it, but it’s the same situation as lots and lots of other people. One could also just consider themselves lucky to have gotten it for as long as they did!</p>
<p>(We do not have our own business… we’re just wage slaves.)</p>
<p>Seriously…rough estimate of expected contribution is 1/4 to 1/3 of your adjusted gross income. The higher end would be for higher incomes or families with higher assets perhaps. BUT yes…our income was $120,000 and our EFC was $44,000…more than 1/3 of our AGI…and we do not have extensive assets. In fact our assets were all protected by the asset protection allowance for our income and age.</p>
<p>Remember too…most colleges assume you will pay for the cost of attendance with past earnings (savings), current earnings (income) and future earnings (loans).</p>