<p>The EFC that you have from your daughters FAFSA is your EFC for her educational costs. Because you have already reported two in college, that EFC will not change if your son files a FAFSA; his FAFSA will generate a similar EFC for his educational costs.</p>
<p>Several people have mentioned removing the cost of books from their calculations for the cost of attendance. I’m assuming this is because their kids are buying used books at a fraction of the cost, but wondering what parent’s experience is for cost of used books? Are they accessible at most schools?</p>
<p>Also-for those of you with kids in college, I’m curious what your kids find will cover them for spending money. I’m sure this varies dramatically among kids, but I’d love to hear the range. Thanks.</p>
<p>Between the variation in book cost for different classes, number of classes taken, purchase of used or international books, and resell of books between students, a huge variation exists from student to student. Heck, if you just note the difference between students that buy books from the Uni bookstore vs those who shop online for the <em>same</em> books, a substantial difference is seen.</p>
<p>I have read posts from students who brag of MAKING money from their textbooks.</p>
<p>We buy books on line as much as possible. It is generally a huge savings compared to buying them from the school as even the used prices at school are often high. We also sell them on line when possible. some sites I have had good experiences with are Amazon market, half.com, ebay, textbooks.com(they can be a little higher but offer guaranteed buyback of 50% on some of their books). I have only had one bad experience with a book that I paid for and it never showed up. I had to file a claim with half.com and they returned the money to me and then went after the seller.</p>
<p>I have no idea what my kids need for spending money. They get along with their summer job funds, and they are a lot tighter with their money than with mine. Well, not a LOT…they’re pretty tight to begin with!</p>
<p>For a kid living in the dorm, there’s not a lot to spend money on…occasional pizza or meal out, a movie, toiletries. YMMV, I’m sure…I have heard stories of department store shopping sprees, weekend ski trips, online purchases, and so forth.</p>
<p>And my kids were always proud of buying books online, cheap.</p>
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<p>The recommendation to remove the cost of books from COA is for comparison purposes only. In theory, books shouldn’t cost more at one school than another.</p>
<p>Money can definitely be saved on books. We’ve even found some books on our own bookshelves, especially the classics, like Voltaire or Shakespeare.</p>
<p>Does EFC mean ONLY what cash out of paychecks parents can contribute each year? OR does it also include what parents are willing to borrow? OR are parents expected to pay the EFC and then borrow additional money too?</p>
<p>I’ve been told they expect you to pay it anyway you can, from your paychecks, loans, loans from family, gifts from family, etc. </p>
<p>I don’t calculate books, etc. either, my son’s cost over 4 years was much less than the numbers given and his OOP expenses He did say certain majors are more than others though. Learning what to buy, where to buy, etc. is helpful and selling books also helps. This year, he spent under 200.00 which was great.</p>
<p>snowy–you can come up with your EFC any way you like. Your savings, your child’s, helpful grandparents, cashflow, and as a last resort…loans.</p>
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<p>As the two previous helpful replies have said, the federal methodology “expected family contribution” is money that the family members are expected to come up with somehow, whether through savings, current income, borrowing against future income, or requesting gifts. Some people are REALLY poor and have an EFC of 0. Many families have an EFC that is a lot less than the full list price of many colleges. A few families (it is quite a small percentage, nationally) have an EFC that is above the list price of any college in the country–whether or not they actually have “spare” money from current income in their usual spending pattern to devote to college expenses. The federal methodology assumes (correctly, in my opinion) that most families will treat college expenses as a high priority if they are lucky enough to have a child admitted to college.</p>
<p>well, with help from all of you, i’ve been “constructing” my version of a school comparison matrix (financial - not academic, social, “fit”, etc.) deciding what to leave in and what to tae out of the comparisons was interesting. i’ts a bit frustrating to rely on guesstimations… sometimes it’s the best we can do until they’re actually registered and in a room and eating a plan! frustrating, but undertandable. </p>
<p>i’ve also been playing with numbers and trying to figure out what my “magic number” is… what amount of debt i’m willing to take on. (above and beyond the federal loans that D will have. all of the loans will be in D’s name, but i intend to pay back the “gap” loans (in our house we’re calling her loans “student loans” and the additionally loans “gap loans”) she knows that it is all “her” debt, but that i intend, if i am able, to pay for the gap. (god willing and the crick don’t rise… so if god isn’t willing and the crick does rise… what would that mean for her if she has to take on both the student loans AND the gap loans?)
i seems like our magic number is $5,000 per year in gap loans. </p>
<p>another thing you’ve made me think about is the “other end” of all of these decisions.
while it’s exciting to be at the front end - choosing schools, dorms, meal plans, etc. making plans, selecting courses, etc. the other end is equally, if not more, important… if my magic number is $5,000 - that’ll be $20,000 of debt. (meanwhile, she’ll already have her student loans - equalling something around $20,000 of low-interest debt - lacking a willing-god and polite-streams, that may be $40K for 4 years.)<br>
figuring what that will look like in terms of monthly payments is an interesting exercise. very important.</p>
<p>thanks so much to everyone for sound advise - keep it comin’!</p>