I think the EFC is high too. Did you have any other income other than W2 and child support?
I would have expected an EFC around $3,000-$4,000.
Did you have any retirement withdrawal in 2017 or a rollover? Any pretax 401 contributions?
No other income and no 401K or pretax contributions.
That sounds high - I know somebody with very similar income/child support/taxes with one other child at home, minimal assets and the EFC was less than half of that.
Check carefully for inputting errors and good luck!
I called and went over my whole application with someone at the FAFSA office and everything was entered correctly. I’m not sure what to do at this point.
Do the DRT imported numbers exactly match your 2017 tax return, (assuming the FAFSA employee discussed that with you)? And you are getting much lower numbers when you do NPCs at various college websites, correct? I might try printing out the FAFSA worksheets, with your 2017 tax return by your side, and fill it out the FAFSA inputs by hand, as another way to see what might be causing the problem.
That child support and one adult in the home is likely the issue. That $12k isn’t being hit with taxes, FICA, etc. It’s like pure “take home pay”…all available to be spent. Probably 1/3 of that is thought to be available for EFC.
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Not really when dealing with income to the household. If your household income was $42k and it was earned by income and it was supporting 2 adults and 1 child, you’d probably feel “poorer” because it costs more to support adults.
Does the student have income and assets?
No
Which is true. But depending on where you live, cost of living is higher than the national average.
I disagree that it costs more with two adults. Teenage boys are WAY more costly (food and activities) than spouses! 
Maybe at your house, but not at mine. Insurance for teen drivers was so high that we couldn’t afford it. All their activities cost a lot more than mine. If you have a married couple sharing a room, it might be okay to have a 2 bedroom apt while if you have a teen boy and girl, you’d need a 3 bedroom. Etc., etc. I got to pay two tuitions at the same time where a married couple with 1 child would only pay one.
I know they do the calculations based on total income and the thought is there might be two adults paying into retirements, but it really doesn’t work that 2 adults and 1 child = one single worker and 2 money sucking college students
Twoinanddone:
Was your comment about “2 money sucking college students” a term of endearment? LOL
Of course, even though one of them has told me I won’t be a grandmother because all children do is use your money. At least she is aware of her reputation.
Assuming the student will attend an in state public, there is no difference in the total aid offer on the UW-Madison FA website (thus could be similar at other UW Colleges) for a resident dependent with a $7,188 EFC or a $3,000 EFC, with AGI under $56k (Bucky’s Tuition Promise).
But there could be a difference in Pell grant eligibility, and also an SEOG and subsidized loans.
Run the form at the top of this forum for the EFC calculator.
Under Bucky’s Promise (AGI equal to or under $56k) tuition is covered (i.e. free) at UW-Madison. Yes, Pell is less with the higher EFC but then institutional grants increase so that there is no difference in the financial aid offer with either EFC in this example using the linked FA calculator (identical amounts of work study, subsidized loans, unsubsidized loans, and no SEOG in either scenario).
It sounds like the most affordable option would be UW Madison (free tuition v 7K). In order to get in, your daughter would need to increase her ACT score and perhaps apply undecided (assuming the GPA is from a rigorous curriculum).
Have you been able to run the NPCs on various colleges listed on the thread?
Lol.
Well, many teen activities/expenses are luxury/optional (sports, clubs, cars, proms, etc). And teens can often earn some of their own money for their choices.
That said, my 6’2” hubby eats a lot (he’s very active).
True but the EFC splits with 2 in college.
As for car insurance…I think the calculation doesn’t consider that maybe because it doesn’t think teens having cars/driving is a necessity, while it often is for adults? Or it assumes that teens that need to drive can work to pay for their own insurance?
I realize that the way the American family truly operates …kids in sports, kids being dressed to the nines, particularly for proms, tuition for private K-12, etc…that their actual costs are high. But likely many of those costs are optional/luxuries.