<p>Hello, I filled out my FAFSA based on my parent's tax info from last year and my EFC came out to like $90,000. Is it even worth my time to fill out the CSS Profile at all since I assume there will not be that great of a difference in my favor? Any comments are appreciated.</p>
<p>What's your parents' income? $90,000 is A LOT.</p>
<p>My parents' income is expected to be around 65k this year total. My parents aren't really income rich as much as they have really worked hard to save money and invested it. The thing is that they own our home free and clear (I live in the Princeton area so homes are worth a bit more around here), keep a bit of money in the bank and own an apartment building - although it has a mortgage for 75% of its value at the moment. It's not like I desperately need the money, there are definitely a lot of people who can't even afford college. It's just more a "I'll take whatever I can get" if you get what I mean. I figure since the CSS Profile is an institutional type of thing, that they would estimate my expected ability to pay to be even higher due to a greater focus on assets than FAFSA. And I mean if that is the case, I'd rather save myself the 50 bucks to have it done and sent to my schools.</p>
<p>Some schools require you to fill our the CSS...check with your schools.</p>
<p>We are in the same boat. I submitted the FAFSA to all the schools even though our EFC was higher than all the schools cost. I've learned from CC that this makes sense to at least qualify for Stafford loans, should we choose to have our D take these, and to have a baseline should our financial situation change in the future. But what are the benefits of going through and paying the costs of submitting the CSS when it calculates our EFC even higher and I'm quite sure we won't qualify for any need based aid? Do I call the schools and tell them we've decided not to apply for financial aid?</p>
<p>if their total income (not each) is $65k, you should qualify for some form of aid (assuming you don't also have $1mill in savings). Check to make sure you're not cheating yourself.</p>
<p>my efc was around 30K -- seems the FAFSA estimates COA at a private school as 30K-- doesn't include room and board etc. (coa is more like 48K--that would mean there would be some aid still available wouldn't it?
thanks</p>
<p>After knowing my EFC number, how do I know how much money it is? Can someone please elaborate?</p>
<p>your EFC number is the expected family contribution - it is how much they expect your family to pay towards college costs each year. If the EFC is above the cost of the school that you are interested in, then you will not receive any aid whatsoever, ie: an EFC of 40k at at school like Princeton for example, which costs 50k a year, means your family is expected to pay 40k a year for you to go to Princeton and the other 10k will be covered by grants/federal loans - in Princeton's case, the school will give you 10k a year that you dont have to repay due to their generous endowment</p>
<p>runningmom - apparently I've discovered that some schools require the FAFSA and CSS PROFILE in order to even receive non-need based scholarships, which is the case with Northeastern so I've discovered. I think it will probably be best to submit the CSS profile for those reasons although I dont even think that is the case for must schools but then again, I am not sure.</p>