FAFSA is used by the federal govt to determine if families are eligible for Pell grants (up to ~$6000 for low income families), subsidized vs unsubsidized loans (max subsidized $3500, max loan is $5500 freshman yr to $7500 sr yr), and work study. Spend time reading this site: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types
The FAFSA EFC is meaningless at the vast majority of schools. It is not the amt most colleges expect you to pay. A handful of colleges meet need. Those schools are the schools that treat the calculated net price (either based on the FAFSA EFC or their formula using FAFSA and the CSS (which asks about home equity, investments, retirement contributions, car values, etc) as the cost. Those meet need schools expect you to pay your family’s expected contribution and getting lower than your expected contribution is rare.
Many schools expect you to pay the listed prices and the only aid offered is federal loans/Pell/work study. Some schools offer reductions via merit scholarships. Scholarships might have a need component or might be strictly based on meeting the qualifications of scholarships–stats, GPA, ECs, etc.
We can’t link blogs on CC, but The College Solution website has a lot of helpful articles on understanding how home equity impacts expected contributions, etc.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I see. But nonetheless, even if the FAFSA/EFC isn’t the true amount given back, it is still necessary in applications, right? Also, thanks for the blog recommendation!
@thumper1 Could you clarify about the FSA ID? When you say get it now, do you mean before I start applying or a year early?
Other than the whole process described in the discussion, is there any tasks I should be doing right now (going into grade 11) to set myself up for the FA/College Application process?
You can get your FSA ID numbers any time. But probably getting them in August or early September of your HS senior year is best…so you don’t misplace them?
You will need a number and so will your U.S. citizen parent.
The FSA ID will be used by you, and one parent to electronically sign your FAFSA form so you can submit it online completely.
I applied for my FAFSA ID in 2002…and the process changed a few years ago to FSA ID with user name and password. I don’t even know that application.
But bottom line…you have to have this and so does your U.S. citizen parent. If you can’t sign electronically, you have to print out the signature page, and sign and mail…and this will delay the processing and submission of your FAFSA form.
So…before you sit down to do the FAFSA, just get your FSA ID done. Make it easier for yourself.
The FSA ID is used to log onto the FAFSA site and to ‘sign’ the forms at the end.
When getting the FSA ID, write down EVERYTHING! There are about 5 password/questions to remember, and uppercase/lowercase is important. Also, when putting in your info, it has to be exact. Your name, birth date, SSN have to match whatever the SSA has for you. Write it all down and keep for for next year and the next.
I kept all the passwords in a file for each of my kids with all their college student IDs and FA info.
@Superpatel101 you don’t apply for EFC. You GET an EFC when you complete the FAFSA.
Some colleges do require that you complete the financial aid forms even for merit aid consideration. You need to just check each college to see their requirements and follow the requirements for EACH school…which might be very different!
And remember…don’t miss the deadlines for all submissions!!
I see. But would you need to provide this information for private scholarships? Like ones the school itself isn’t responsible for, or would that differ from scholarship to scholarship?
Scholarships will be put toward your “need”. Let’s say a school gives you $40K in need-based aid. If the student gets an outside scholarship worth $20K, then the school will (typically) reduce the amount of need-based aid to $20K.
If you get a scholarship…it reduces your financial need.
Schools do not give more aid than the cost of attendance in most cases. The exception would be if you got a full free ride merit award, and were Pell eligible. You would still get the Pell.
But in the very vast majority of cases, your total aid…need based and merit combined…won’t exceed the cost of attendance.
AND in the very vast majority of cases…your combined need and merit aid won’t fully fund your college costs…because most colleges do not meet full need for all.
I see. And at what point in college applications or acceptance do I inform the college how much money I got in scholarships so they can adjust the FA they were going to provide?
You have a duty to notify them when you receive or cash the check, before the semester. Many of the larger checks are sent to the school or made out to the student and the school, so you endorse and then give it to the school. For some of the smaller ones, the school will only know when you inform them.
you are asking some really good questions.
here’s what i’ve experienced with our state school:
**some college sponsored and locally-sponsored scholarships have a requirement that a student needs aid, and will require your efc. If your EFC is too high, you dont qualify to apply.
**some very small, 1-yr local scholarships will give the money directly to you; my kiddos won $3k in those and did not have to tell their colleges (we asked) as their state colleges did not give out financial grants or aid. Those were stackable on college given merit scholarships. Some scholarships require receipts for school expenditures.
** some scholarships are directly from departments from within the college and can be in addition to college-admission scholarships.
Its been very interesting reading over the last few years about disappointed kids who are offered need based aid, and then merit aid, but they can’t be combined or stacked at some schools. yes, that does happen!
Why is this such an issue? If you want FA, you’ll need to submit the FAFSA, and possibly the CSS, to the college. Some outside scholarships also request the FAFSA. A handful of colleges even give a bonus for submitting the FAFSA by a deadline and that might be the only grant that student receives.
If you’ve already completed the FAFSA for the school, what the problem with providing to an outside scholarship provider?
Rather than just asking generic questions, asking specific questions even if set in a hypothetical scenario might help.
For example, look at Brown’s FA page.
That is a typical example of what happens at meet need schools. Your families expected contribution will not be reduced unless the scholarships exceed all institutional grant (sometimes misleadingly called scholarship money as in this example. They aren’t fixed merit scholarships; they are based strictly on need. If need is reduced, so is the amt awarded.)
Fwiw, in addition to tuition, fees, room, board, and books, you need to factor in health insurance. You have to have coverage that is approved by the university. Sticking with Brown, here is their wording:
If you shared ballpark number so what you are hoping to achieve, you’ll get better answers. For example, if you are getting an expected contribution of $40,000 and are wondering if outside scholarships will bring it down to $25.000, the answer is most likely no way. Outside scholarships are like typically small in amt, often for 1yr only, or the few big one, extremely, extremely competitive and the issue is complicated by whether or not the scholarship would actually reduce costs low enough.
You might find staying in Canada more affordable. Or look more toward schools that do offer actual merit scholarships. Merit scholarships are often allowed to stack (meaning actually reducing your expected contribution.) When you here about full-rides, that would be merit.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Thanks for the example. The reason I want to study in the US is that I’ve heard that it’s harder to get into an American medical school if I went to a Canadian school for my undergrad. This has to do with the fact that Canadian schools don’t require the same electives or course requirements and are harder to manage than American ones.
If I want to practice in the US when I’m older, it’s easiest if I go to an American med school, and to get into an American med school, it’s easiest if I go to an American college for my undergrad.