<p>My S. is a Junior and had some aid his first year, but only unsubsidized Staffords offered his second year. </p>
<p>How do various schools determine the mix? He is at Stanford and expects to get some aid this year, but not sure of the mix.</p>
<p>The FAFSA is used only to determine eligibility for federal aid (Pell, FWS, Stafford/Perkins loans, SEOG). The EFC (expected family contribution) that is computed is subtracted from the schools COA (cost of attendance) to determine need. Need based aid can be (not necessarily will be) awarded up to the amount of need. Unsubsidized Stafford loans can be awarded without regard to need, as long as all aid does not exceed the COA. Pell is awarded strictly on the EFC - there is a sliding scale of awards for EFC’s up to a particular EFC (4617 is the highest efc eligible for a pell grant):<a href=“http://www.muskegoncc.edu/Include/FinancialAid/0910Pellchartmcc.pdf[/url]”>http://www.muskegoncc.edu/Include/FinancialAid/0910Pellchartmcc.pdf</a>. </p>
<p>Schools use the EFC to help package federal & institutional funds. My school uses equity packaging, where we first award federal grants then institutional grants to the EFC up to a particular number; after that, work study & loans are awarded. The final piece for a dependent undergraduate is the Parent Plus loan - for our families with an EFC of over $9000, all they will get is Stafford loans (max of 5500 for freshman) - so they may get a PLUS loan offered for more than $14,000. </p>
<p>Schools like Stanford use the CSS Profile to gather more detailed info about a family’s financial situation in order to award their institutional funding in a way they feel is best for their school’s mission/resources. There is REALLY no way to know how they will award.</p>