<p>My EFC is supposed to be "zero" considering my dad is on SSI. With this in mind, I have a question about housing. When grants and all loans come into consideration, do they only pay for on-campus or off-campus or both?</p>
<p>Most pay for on or off campus housing</p>
<p>Most colleges have a cost of attendance listed for both on campus and off campus housing. Your financial aid can be used for your housing expenses regardless of where you live. Keep in mind that finaid used for housing expenses is considered taxable income. Also, I'm not sure where you are applying, but most schools do not meet full need (Cost of attendance minus your EFC).</p>
<p>My EFC is zero. Would that play a factor?</p>
<p>One of my mom's friend's son is in the same situation. His dad is on SSI and he got grants left and right and supposedly isn't paying a dime for college.</p>
<p>Your EFC is your family's Expected Family Contribution for your total cost of attendance including room, board, tuition, fees, travel, books, expenses. HOWEVER, just because your EFC is zero does not mean that you will get a free ride to college. Is that what you are asking?</p>
<p>Basically.</p>
<p>Here's my problem. My EFC is supposed to be zero. I've asked a bunch of teachers, relatives, and friends. Taken from their website, it is supposed to be zero. The reason is because my dad is on SSI. We're really tight for money and what not.</p>
<p>My EFC was about 14000 until I called fafsa. I made corrections. Now it's 20000. What the hell?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Taken from their website, it is supposed to be zero
[/quote]
Taken from whose website? </p>
<p>For FAFSA EFC </p>
<p>Being on SSI does not automatically give you a zero EFC. To qualify for automatic zero EFC a person included in the household size on FAFSA must be on means tested SSI or eligible to file 1040a/1040ez and parents AGI must be below $20,000 - this is in the base year - i.e. 2006 tax year for 2007/2008 school year</p>
<p>If you do meet all the criteria are you sure you entered the information correctly on FAFSA? Print off your SAR from the FAFSA web site and go through it line by line to make sure you did not enter information wrongly. If your EFC was 14000 it sounds like your family income may be too high to qualify for the automatic zero EFC unless you entered something wrong.</p>
<p>If you did not meet the criteria based on 2006 financial information but your family's financial circumstances have changed in 2007 then you may be able to get an adjustment made to your FAFSA by providing documentation to the financial aid office. For instance my D was receiving SS (not means tested but because her Dad is receiving his fed pension) and that came to an end once she graduated HS - as this income was ceasing they made an adjustment to FAFSA to reflect it.</p>
<p>Agreed with everything Swimcat said. BUT a lot depends on the college you are applying to. Some schools DO meet full need (keep in mind that you will still have a student contribution that can be several thousand dollars even there), but MOST SCHOOLS DO NOT. There are 4000 or so schools that meet full need and I'm guessing, but I believe there are WAY less than 400 that meet full need, and most of those are highly competitive, so the first hurdle would be getting accepted. At some of those schools, less than 10% of the students applying get accepted...translation...90% or so do not get accepted. I would suggest that you contact the finaid office and try to get a picture of the %age of aid your school typically meets...a range. You can find this information by reading the Common Data Set which some schools have available on their websites. It will at least give you a ballpark. And I fully agree with Swimcat in that Dad being on SSI does not automatically qualify anyone for a zero EFC. You don't mention what your mom does. If she works, her income is also taken into consideration...and at those schools that meet full need, so is your home equity, as well as any assets (bank accounts, etc) your family may have. Could it be that the college uses the FAFSA and Profile and you only checked your EFC using the FAFSA efc calculator?</p>
<p>Manny, from reading your other posts, it looks like you currently attend Harper College and would like to transfer to IU-Bloomington in Spring 2008. Neither of those schools meets full need. So even though your EFC is zero, you could very well find yourself with a financial "gap" meaning that the school does not fully fund your costs beyond the EFC. That is something that happens with schools that do not meet full need. So...if you're asking my opinion on whether either of these schools will pay your full costs of attendance....my OPINION is that this is unlikely. But the only way to know is to apply and try.</p>
<p>Also, are you talking about a $14,000 vs $20,000 EFC for THIS academic year (2007-08)? If so, this is a problem you should have been reconciling in May. I hope you can get it all resolved before the term begins. </p>
<p>If you are talking about the 2008-09 academic year, that FAFSA is not available for filing until Jan 1 2008.</p>
<p>Page 5.</p>
<p>The first time I filled out my FAFSA, I got a 14,000 efc. I made some corrections when I read the PDF above and got 20,000 above. It's sort of ****ing me off.</p>
<p>thumper and swimcat, I understand where you guys are coming from. Nobody gets a full-ride. I just want to be able to get as much from grants and what not as I possibly can and then look towards loans and other means.</p>
<p>I'm trying my best to get rid of this goddamn problem. It's ****ing me off.</p>
<p>Also the above PDF, am I correct as towards stating that it should give me a zero efc?</p>
<p>Manny - it is impossible for us to tell if your EFC should be zero from the info we have. As I said in my post above your dad being on SSI alone will not qualify you for an automatic zero EFC - if you read the formula your parents toal income for the year must also be less than $20,000.</p>
<p>The formula says a dependant student qualifies for an automatic zero EFC if:
1. A household member receives the means tested benefits listed or is eligible to file a 1040ez/1040a
AND
2. The parents AGI is less than $20,000.
If your EFC is 14,000 it sounds as if there may be some other parental income that puts their AGI over $20,000. You are not eligible for the zero EFC if that is the case. If the AGI is below $20,000 then there must be a mistake on your FAFSA to have an EFC of 14,000 (or 20,000).</p>
<p>Also, as I stated in my previous post, the EFC for 2007/2008 school year is based on 2006 financial information. Are you making adjustments now to that information? If this is a change in financial circumstances that has happened this year then you will need to talk to a financial aid officer as you cannot adjust 2006 information based on loss of income in 2007 but they may.</p>
<p>All the above is for FAFSA not profile.</p>
<p>
[quote]
if you read the formula your parents toal income for the year must also be less than $20,000
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I realised what I said here is not quite accurate. The parent's total AGI for the year must be less than $20,000 - not neccessarily the total income (some income may not be included in the AGI, such as SS pension money, if other income is below a certain amount).
So I wanted to correct my statement - It is the total AGI that must be below $20,000.</p>
<p>How do I figure my parents AGI?</p>
<p>Did they do a 2006 tax return? It is on the tax return - Adjusted Gross Income. You would have needed it to file FAFSA.</p>
<p>Manny, have you already filed a FAFSA for this school year? If so, you should have used the information that was on your parents' 2006 tax return. The Adjusted Gross Income is a line on the tax return. The FAFSA worksheet is very clear...it even tells what line number on the tax return you should look at. Please clarify for us what you are trying to do? Are you trying to get some adjustment to your finaid for this academic year (2007-08) or are you estimating what your finaid will be for 2008-09? I'm quite confused at this point. Please clarify. What exactly are you looking for...info for this year or next? And will you be applying as a transfer student (as some of your other posts indicate)? At some schools finaid for transfers is VERY different (and less) than at other schools.</p>
<p>Haha. Yeah I went ahead and did my FAFSA months ago. It's just that everyone was telling me considering that my dad was on SSI I should be getting an efc of 0.</p>
<p>They're agi is 50k+, so I guess it counts me out. Oh well.</p>