<p>My EFC is $25,000, so if I went to a school where tuition was only $21,000, I wouldn't receive aid from the FAFSA, right? But if I went to a school where the tuition was $50,000, would I receive the difference of my EFC and the tuition? Or does FAFSA only give money to those who extremely need it?</p>
<p>FAFSA doesn’t give money to anybody. It merely lets schools know for which (if any) federal monies one qualifies, and allows the student to get a Stafford Loan, if so desired.</p>
<p>With your EFC I don’t think any federal aid will come knocking on your door, but if your school(s) are FAFSA only, they will also use FAFSA to decide whether or not to give you some of their grants/scholarships.</p>
<p>Oh, sorry I meant the loans haha. Thank you!</p>
<p>As a freshman, the most you’d get in loans is $5500.</p>
<p>The purpose of FAFSA is to determine your eligibility for Federal funds and for any programs, usually at the State level that may piggy back on the them. </p>
<p>The first level is to determine if you are eligible for any Federal funds. Citizenship, criminal record, registered for the draft are some things that are checked as well as dependent status. Some schools require a student to fill out FAFSA in order to get any money. Some states with programs that pay some or all of the college tuition require the FAFSA too, even if thre is no cut off income thresh hold. I</p>
<p>Then it gets down to the financials. The key thing here is the PELL grant. An EFC below a certain amount entitle you to free money, a grant from the federal government. An EFC that is less than the Cost of Attendance(COA) gives the student eligibility for subsidized Stafford loans up to certain threshhold amounts. </p>
<p>The rest depends upon the schools. Some schools subscribe to SEOGH , Perkins and other programs that use the EFC as a guideline for getting some grant and subsidized loan funds. Also state monies can be tied to the EFC. Schools that use EFC only, do not tend to meet full need, but the EFC is used to determine the need level of each student. Parent loans are often offered (PLUS) up to the Cost of Attendance.</p>
<p>A school can use the EFC any way it pleases in allocating any of its own money. It can also require supplemental information in the form of its own application and/or requiring PROFILE. It is possible to qualify for federal/state money though FAFSA and not be eligible for financial aid from the school since different formulas can and are often used. The biggest difference is often the inclusion of non custodial parent’s financials by PROFILE school; FAFSA does not ask for that information. Another thing that PROFILE may take into consideration is the value of a primary residence which FAFSA does not.</p>
<p>As others have said FAFSA does not give loans. Based on your FAFSA application you could be eligible for loans from the Federal Govt and some grants if you qualify.</p>
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<p>If your EFC was $25000, and cost of attendance (which is tuition, room, board, books etc.) was $55,000, there is a gap of $30,000.</p>
<p>Colleges can meet this gap by telling you to take loans (unsubsidized Stafford, parent plus loans) etc. In other words tell you to find your own way of paying for the $55,000. They could give you a grant of $30000 which you do not have repay back.</p>
<p>They could do a combination of loans and grants.</p>
<p>They could recalculate the EFC based on their own formula to say that EFC is $35000 and not $25000…</p>
<p>Your aid package could be significantly different from one school to another even though your EFC is the same. </p>
<p>In other words, just because you have a EFC of $25,0000 do not assume that you will get scholarships and grants. Everything depends on the school, your attractiveness to the school etc.</p>
<p>BTW, a EFC of $ 25000 will not get you a Pell grant.</p>