I have multiple children in college. Can anyone advise how often colleges close the gap between EFC and actual costs with loans (vs. grants or lowering charges), and how they determine which method they will use to close the gap? We have depleted our savings to the point where there is a gap, and so far have only received offers of UNSUBSIDIZED loans to close it - a disappointing surprise compared to our expectation of a grant.
Any and all information would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
collegedad3
Mostly, they don’t.
Fewer than 50 colleges in the country promise to meet full need, and in every one of those cases, need is what THEY define your need to be, and it is usually not your EFC.
Offers of just unsubsidized loans would mean that the out-of-pocket cost to attend a college is less than your family’s EFC for that student. Otherwise, each student should have been offered a subsidized federal loan in some amount.
What is your EFC? Did you get the FAFSA for each student filed on-time? Is it accurately showing that you have two (?) kids in college?
It depends on the college, really. Most colleges don’t have a ton to work with, and can only award unsubsidized loans. Colleges with big endowments can typically afford to give out more money. In many (but not all cases), financial aid is awarded with priority given to top applicants while the lower quality applicants get the short stick; kids who the school really wants might have their gap met entirely with grants/subsidized loans, while others might not even have help with their gap.
Even colleges that claim to “meet full need” have an expected student contribution of federal direct loans and/or work earnings. Add this to the EFC (as calculated by the college) to get the net price at such a college.
There is a net price calculator on each website that can give you a decent estimate of net costs.
To the OP. Schools set their own policies regarding need based aid. A school has to be quite wealthy with a very large endowment to guarantee to meet full need for everyone. Most colleges simply don’t have the resources to do this.
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so far have only received offers of UNSUBSIDIZED loans to close it - a disappointing surprise compared to our expectation of a grant.
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What schools are these???
How many kids do you have in college?
What is your EFC for each child?
Did you run the NPC for each school??
It’s interesting that you’ve ONLY received unsub loans. That would suggest that you don’t have “need”.
did your kids receive any scholarships? If so, then THOSE went towards “need.” They didn’t go towards EFC.
Many schools do NOT have the resources to give any need-based aid other than fed grants, and EFC has to be quite low for that. Many schools just expect parents to pay most/all costs…no matter what.
For others reading this thread…if you’re going to have multiples in college, do not assume that your children’s schools are going to fork over money to pay for your children’s education. Most schools have little money, and they believe that parents are “first in line” to pay.
Schools do not magically have extra money to hand out just because you have “need”. Schools have limited resources, just like families.
Run the NPCs of each school putting in different scenarios…1 child in college, 2 children in college, etc…and see if the schools will give any grants.
Actually, the NPCs are really only accurate for incoming freshmen. So your upperclassman might not receive grants…because at some colleges those are given first to incoming freshmen.
Sorry for delayed reply - and thanks for all your replies! I have 2 kids in college, one at an Kent State and one at a Maine Community College. The EFC I received from each school is about the same, each about $29.500. My interpretation is that $29,500 is the combined EFC for BOTH students (in other words, $29,500 is the total I’m expected to pay for both, not for each). Since the EFC is less than the combined cost of the colleges, I was expecting to receive something to close the gap.
To answer your questions:
The Kent State Student has been receiving scholarships of approx. $11,500 per year.
I did submit the FAFSA on time, and each FAFSA indicated a total of 2 kids in college.
What is NPC? Thought I knew a fair amount about the college finance environment but am not familiar with that term.
Thanks again.
EFC is only useful for seeing if you will get federal aid. It has nothing to do with what you will have to pay for colleges. It is easy to misunderstand and think the gap is covered but most schools do not attempt to cover the gap, they don’t have funds for that. At colleges that give no aid, your actual contribution will have to be all costs. This is often the case with CCs.
The Net Price Calculator is a way for families to get an estimate of what the school will expect you to contribute. It will look at federal aid you are qualified and institutional aid. I just ran one for someone at a school that is 45,000 per year and the school NPC said it would give 5k aid. They have EFC of 17. So that school would cost them 40k a year even though the EFC is 17. A second school is 60k, the NPC indicated that they would get 10k from the school for ‘need’ aid and 18k for merit aid, since they asked the gpa and SAT. So that school would cost 32k a year. In the first case the NPC indicated the family EFC was 17k and aknowledged the Gap. The second school indicated no gap --that need was fully met with Family EFC of 25k and student loan of 5k and work/study of 2k. In the 2nd case they school used an Institution Method of EFC calculation at 25k, mot the Federal Methodology of 17k.
FAFSA EFC is for the individual student who completed the FAFSA. So your “family EFC” is about $59k. That would indicate a family income of $180-200k, or a high amount of assets. No, EFC is not what you’re expected to pay, FAFSA EFC just qualifies you for federal aid. You don’t qualify for anything other than unsubsidized loans. Some states base aid on FAFSA EFC but you’re not likely to qualify with that EFC. FAFSA only schools base institutional aid, if any, on FAFSA too but those schools don’t guarantee to meet need(i.e. close the gap between cost and EFC).
NPC is the net price calculator mentioned in post #4. It can be found at each school’s finaid web pages.
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My interpretation is that $29,500 is the combined EFC for BOTH students (in other words, $29,500 is the total I’m expected to pay for both, not for each). Since the EFC is less than the combined cost of the colleges, I was expecting to receive something to close the gap.
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NO…EFC is for ONE student. Your “total EFC” for two students is about $60k.
Each student has his/her own EFC.
Is one of those schools an OOS school…it appears that these schools are in two different states.? If so, which one?
Either way, you’re not likely going to receive a dime of “free money”.
Besides, EFC is a federal number. You’re not going to get federal aid with that high of an EFC.
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What is NPC? Thought I knew a fair amount about the college finance environment but am not familiar with that term.
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sorry to be harsh, but it sounds like you know very little about the college finance environment. You expected grants when none should have been forthcoming. You thought that EFC was for two kids. It sounds like one kid is at an OOS public…and since you don’t pay taxes there, why would they give aid to cover your OOS costs? Why do you think they charge OOS costs? Why would they bother to charge OOS costs if then they had to reach into their limited funds to cover OOS students’ costs??
I don’t think you understand what EFC is. It’s not the amount that you’re expected to pay. It’s just a crazy number that the feds derive. It’s rather meaningless once you’re above an EFC of about 6000.
Schools don’t have to meet your “need” if you had any. The feds can’t just calculate a crazy number and then order a school to give you the difference. Most schools don’t have much/any aid to give.
EFC is a misnomer.
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The Kent State Student has been receiving scholarships of approx. $11,500 per year.
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Then that’s the only aid that child will likely get except for a student loan.
How much does the community college cost?
If this CC is an OOS school, then why is the student going there?
Kent State
Average Percent of Need Met 48%
Average Award $9,749
need fully met 1,075 (8.6%) of aid recipients
Need-Based Gift
Received by 9,912 (79.7%) of aid recipients, average amount $5,927
Need-Based Self-Help
Received by 10,740 (86.3%) of aid recipients, average amount $4,494
Merit-Based Gift
Received by 1,295 (10.4%) of aid recipients
Merit-Based Gift 2,542 (13.5%) of undergraduates had no financial need and received merit aid, average amount $4,400
It looks like the daughter a) has no need for Kent State unless she is OOS, so no gap b) gets more merit aid than average.
OP your post name indicates you have a 3rd student coming up the ranks for having 3 college students. Hope the 3rd one can get merit to help; hope the two are working at least summers to help with their costs. Maybe you need to give a head’s up to others, as you have entered this scene thinking you would qualify for some help/federal subsidized loan or grants with two in college.
What state are you in?
Some places have high COL and maybe it is challenging to make the budget work, but even so, college costs are something that some people have unrealistic ideas about - maybe based on when they were in college.
There can also be considerable variation on whether a college’s published cost of attendance is generous or stingy. At some colleges, it can be quite easy for a moderately frugal student to shave a few thousand dollars off the published budget. At other colleges, even the most frugal student may just barely be able to stay within the published budget. Such variations are sometimes due to the “personal/misc. expenses” and “travel expenses” line items for all students; students living in off-campus housing and those commuting from where they lived previously can find significant sources of variation in housing and food costs in addition (but also many parents willingly subsidize food, utilities, and commuting costs for students living at home, but will not help contribute to on-campus or off-campus housing costs).
Thanks once again for all your replies, including straightening me out on EFC being for each student and how the NPC works - and yep, clear I do not know as much as I thought I did. Oddly enough I went a couple of seminars and even paid for a “college consulting” service to get the information I thought to be correct. The formula I learned was EFC = ~20% of income + ~6% of “elegible” assets, and that the gap between EFC and actual cost would (sounds silly to say it now) be closed by the Federal Government and/or college. Made sense to me, after all why else bother calculating an EFC? I’ve even projected expected future costs in our financial plan based on formula above and the declining assets associated with taking money from savings to pay for college. I was also told it was to a person’s advantage to move assets from “eligible” to “ineligible” since they would no longer be counted in calculation above and lower out of pocket costs. But I understand now the errors in my thinking. “Live and learn” as they say, time to move forward.
To answer your questions:
I live in Massachusetts, so both Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) and Kent State are OOS schools for my family. My son opted to go to SMCC because they they have a unique AS Degree in Integrated Manufacturing (Combination of Engineering theory and hands on skills), they also are one of the few CC’s that have dorms for on-campus living.
Special note to SOSConcern - good points in your post, and I will start spreading the word. Both of my college students do work summers, and during the school year in addition to a full time course load - so I feel very fortunate that way - especially now that I am getting a much better understanding of what will be paid out of pocket!
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Oddly enough I went a couple of seminars and even paid for a “college consulting” service to get the information I thought to be correct.
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I think you should ask for your money back!
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The formula I learned was EFC = ~20% of income + ~6% of "elegible" assets,
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No, it’s more like 20-25% from incomes of about 70k-100k…and it’s about 33%+ from six figure incomes…plus the 6% of eligible assets. There’s going to be some variance based on family size and number of parents in the home.
You have a total EFC of about $60k…that suggests a high income and/or savings. Since I think in another thread you mentioned that you’ve gone thru your savings, then maybe nearly all of your EFC is based on income. If so, then it would appear that the income is $180k- $200k or so.
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and that the gap between EFC and actual cost would (sounds silly to say it now) be closed by the Federal Government and/or college.
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Yes, it would sound silly to say that now. The idea that the federal gov’t or any/all colleges are going to hand over a bunch money just so that your child can go wherever he wants…even to an OOS public…would make most schools broke and most tax-payers scream.
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I live in Massachusetts, so both Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) and Kent State are OOS schools for my family. My son opted to go to SMCC because they they have a unique AS Degree in Integrated Manufacturing (Combination of Engineering theory and hands on skills), they also are one of the few CC's that have dorms for on-campus living.
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Are both of your kids already attending or is one a rising frosh? If you have the means to pay for them, then super. If not, then you may need to go with less expensive options.
What’s the benefit of going OOS to Kent State that can’t be had in your own state? Or was there large merit offered?
Both are already attending. We went out of state for two reasons - one is because of the program itself, the other is because of merit. With merit, our total out-of-pocket was less than an in state school.
We are still tapping savings to fund school, so income is not as high as you mentioned. My comment was more about future financial planning - current model shows our out-of-pocket spend decreasing to match EFC as savings are depleted and income remains constant. Clearly I need to adjust that model to align with expected actual costs, and not EFC!
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current model shows our out-of-pocket spend decreasing to match EFC as savings are depleted and income remains constant. Clearly I need to adjust that model to align with expected actual costs, and not EFC!<<<
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