<p>I just received my FA package to private 4 year school. My EFC was 4400 but it is telling me that I still have to put $15000 out of pocket, roughly $7500 per sememster.</p>
<p>How can that be? I thought the EFC was the amount that you are expected to contribute.
My out of pocket is 3X that.</p>
<p>My grades were not the greatest during high school, but I finished with a strong Sr. year.
I took the ACT twice and got identical scores in everything, which was average.</p>
<p>I am way smarter than I appear on paper, however, because of a lower GPA I had a hard time getting accepted anywhere. If I were to attend a public school, I would not qualify for any aid at all.</p>
<p>I realize now how important those high school grades are, but I did have some learning issues diagnosed through my Jr.yr.</p>
<p>At present, my parents are experiencing financial issues due to a job loss.</p>
<p>Any suggestions?</p>
<p>
Unfortunately this is where you were completely mistaken. Unless you go to one of the very few schools that promise to meet full need without loans, the EFC is usually the *minimum *you will be expected to pay. Most schools do not promise to meet full needs, so most people will pay much more than the EFC.</p>
<p>Federal aid is very limited. With a 4400 EFC, I am guessing your pell grant is around $1150 ish. That will be the same at whatever school you attend (the max is $5550 for people with a 00 EFC). The Federal direct student loan maximum for a dependent freshman is $5500. The Pell and the loan would cover your costs at a CC. It may be worth considering a CC for the first 2 years to minimize your debt, then transfer to a 4 year public state U.</p>
<p>The FAFSA EFC is a number that determines which sorts of federally determined aid you qualify for. It is not the amount of money that your family will actually be expected to pay for a year of your education.</p>
<p>Some colleges and universities do promise to meet a student’s full financial need. Some of those use just the FAFSA to determine your need, but most of them use the CSS Profile and/or their own financial aid forms.</p>
<p>All colleges and universities that award any federally determined aid are required to post a Net Price Calculator on their website. This is the first year for the NPCs so no one knows for certain yet which of them are accurate.</p>
<p>Except for federal funds that you qualify for with your FAFSA EFC, colleges and universities can award as much (or as little) as they want to any given student. They get to set their own policies about this. Most do not meet financial need.</p>
<p>Some colleges and universities award some merit-based aid. Often the GPA and SAT scores needed for that are posted right on the website.</p>
<p>If your aid package doesn’t include a Federal/Stafford Loan, you can take one out. For your Freshman year you can borrow $5,500. You also can get a summer job, and/or a job during the school year. But you’d probably still be several thousand dollars short for this college/university.</p>
<p>You need to look around for something that you and your family can afford. Is there a community college that you can commute to for the first two years, or a four-year institution that you could commute to? If your parents can’t pay for this first year of college right now, maybe you should take a year off, work and save some money for your education, and apply to a different list of institutions that are affordable for you.</p>