<p>I was checking over my FAFSA and my estimated EFC was 02066. My parents make less than $40,000 for a family of 4 and we had about $100 in assets. I had thought it was going to be lower and I've seen lots of things that suggested this, but was I just incorrect in that assumption? Obviously I will be applying for outside scholarships because there isn't any way my family can afford $2066 a year towards my education.</p>
<p>Also, I applied to all schools that guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated need and have no parental contribution for families that make under $60,000/year, so is this $2066 the money I am expected to make through summer work and stuff? Because if that’s the case then this was expected and I am fine with it, I just want to make sure it’s not an additional $2066 I didn’t know about.</p>
<p>*I applied to all schools that guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated need *</p>
<p>You didn’t apply to any safety schools? What if you don’t get accepted to any of these schools? Usually these schools are hard to get into.</p>
<p>If you get into any of these schools you should be fine. They are going to use CSS Profile and since your family’s income is below their threshold, they won’t expect your parents to pay. However, they may expect some kind of summer earnings from you. </p>
<p>The FAFSA EFC number is to determine any federal aid that you’ll get. You’ll get a Pell grant, but that will likely be used towards your aid at your school.</p>
<p>Oh well I applied to my state school as well which is definitely a safety school for me. I’m rather confident I will get into at least one of the other 10 schools I applied to though, I’m a very strong candidate, especially for the liberal arts schools. </p>
<p>Thanks for the answer!</p>
<p>Oh well I applied to my state school as well which is definitely a safety school for me.</p>
<p>It may be a safety school for admission, but do you know if it’s a safety school for cost? Which school is it? Most state schools do not meet need. Is it a school that you could commute to?</p>
<p>I am stunned that you are disappointed in your EFC. You would be hard pressed to find a state school that only requires you to pay your (very low) EFC of $2000.</p>
<p>How much did you honestly expect you would have to pay? Full tuition scholarships are rare.</p>
<p>It’s UMass Amherst. It’s not exactly a safety school on cost, however I would have free tuition there because of my MCAS scores and I am applying for a lot of outside merit aid. I am already a finalist for the Elks MVS scholarship which will guarantee me at least $1000/year for 4 years. I have 10 additional schools that, while difficult to get into for anyone, are well within my range of grades, scores and ECs so I am very confident that I will be accepted to at least one of these schools. And in the slight chance I am not, I am not about taking out loans like most American students and working hard to pay them off after getting my education. Plus there’s always the opportunity to transfer if I had to attend my state school.</p>
<p>*above taking loans</p>
<p>Also to susgeek, I am not disappointed in my EFC. I was simply a little confused on what exactly it meant for me. I was getting multiple things mixed up in my head and I thought this was money in addition to what I already expected to have to pay, however I realize now that that was not the case.</p>
<p>Also, I applied primarily to private schools with better financial aid than my state school. I realize that if I had to attend my state school I would be paying much more and if I can get acceptance to one of the 10 private schools I applied to I will be incredibly lucky.</p>
<p>It’s UMass Amherst. It’s not exactly a safety school on cost, however I would have free tuition there because of my MCAS scores and I am applying for a lot of outside merit aid.</p>
<p>I think that “free tuition” is only for a small amount. I think it’s the fees that is the higher amount.</p>
<p>you can only borrow $5500 for freshman year, so you can’t borrow much.</p>
<p>As I said before, there is only a small chance I will be rejected from the 10 other schools I applied to. For most of them my scores are actually slightly higher than about 75% of what they accept, and, being a Questbridge applicant, I believe I stand a very fair chance of being accepted at one of the 8 Questbridge schools I applied to. I am obviously not trying to leave anything to chance here, which is the reason I am working so hard to get outside scholarships and to hopefully find a job this summer. If worse comes to worse, I realize that plenty of kids are in the same financial situation as me and still are able to attend their state schools so I am confident I will find a way to make it work.</p>
<p>Also, UMASS Amherst offers merit aid for students with high GPAs and SATs, and as I have a 97.19 unweighted GPA out of 100 and SAT scores of 2150 (though my ACTs are actually better, for the purposes of UMASS a 2150 is plenty high), I think I would receive a fair amount of money from that school to help offset costs. They also offer merit aid to students who are first generation in college which I am with a good academic record and community service which I have a ton of.</p>