<p>I got the FAFSA e-mail today, and I looked at their EFC calculation: it was only like $6690! This would be awesome, but it actually just confused me because I was admitted EA to UChicago, who sent a preliminary estimate of absolutely NO aid, even though they guarantee to meet 100%!!! Since their costs are about $48,000, the FAFSA EFC has me perplexed. I totally realize that Chicago was using the CSS Profile, but the gap seems too big for that alone to be the cause. My parents have a farm that is worth a LOT of money, and I see on the FAFSA that it didn't really get included because it's not an "investment" farm, it's a working farm. Obviously the Profile caught this, but still, a difference in EFC of $42,000 of more? Does this at least give me some room to bargain with the Chicago aid office? Thanks for any help or suggestions on where to go from here.</p>
<p>I remember your situation from the EA round and what you are seeing is quite possible - even likely - in your situation. What you need to do is write a letter to the Office of Aid telling them why the farm value should not be considered in your CSS EFC. You should probably mention your FAFSA EFC in your letter, but that fact alone won't carry the day. It's worth a letter, but IMHO they probably won't budge.</p>
<p>Schools that use the PROFILE are going to take into account that your farm is worth "a LOT of money" and also the value of your home and other assets that the FAFSA did not include.</p>
<p>You can write a letter, but I don't think it will help that much.</p>
<p>We, too, are a farm family and my son received much better FA packages from FAFSA only schools.</p>
<p>"my son received much better FA packages from FAFSA only schools"</p>
<p>Alas that I neither applied to nor became interested in any of those.</p>
<p>remember that the fafsa and the CSS profile use 2 different set of methodologies when calculating your EFC. This is the major reason for the disparity in the EFCs. </p>
<p>At minimum you file the FAFSA (at almost every school) to determine your eligibility for federal aid (Pell/ seog grants, stafford and perkins loans). Most public univeristies will just require the fafsa (the exception may be UVA, UNC- CH, Mich and a few others which may require their own forms)</p>
<p>The CSS profile is used at different colleges that distribute their own institutional aid (Many of these schools have much deeper pockets).</p>
<p>Many schools that use a federal methodology to determine EFC will require only the FAFSA. Schools that use an instutional methodology or a combination of the 2 will require the CSS profile or their own FA forms.</p>
<p>Differences between the IM and FM models are</p>
<p>IM collects information on estimated academic year family income, medical expenses, elementary and secondary school tuition and unusual circumstances. FM omits these questions.</p>
<p>IM considers a fuller range of family asset information, while FM ignores assets of siblings, all assets of certain families with less than $50,000 of income, and both home and family farm equity.</p>
<p>FM defines income as the “adjusted gross income” on federal tax returns, plus various categories of untaxed income. IM includes in total income any paper depreciation, business, rental or capital losses which artificially reduce adjusted gross income.</p>
<p>FM does not assume a minimum student contribution to education; IM expects the student, as primary beneficiary of the education, to devote some time each year to earning money to pay for education.</p>
<p>FM ignores the noncustodial parent in cases of divorce or separation; IM expects parents to help pay for education, regardless of current marital status.</p>
<p>FM and IM apply different percentages to adjust the parental contribution when multiple siblings are simultaneously enrolled in college, and IM considers only siblings enrolled in undergraduate programs.</p>
<p>The IM expected family share represents a best estimate of a family’s capacity (relative to other families) to absorb, over time, the costs of education. It is not an assessment of cash on hand, a value judgment about how much a family should be able to use current income, or a measure of liquidity. The final determinations of demonstrated need and awards rest with the University and are based upon a uniform and consistent treatment of family circumstances.</p>
<p>Except in the most extraordinary circumstances, Colleges classifies incoming students as dependent upon parents for institutional aid purposes, even though some students may meet the federal definition of “independence.”</p>
<p>Students enrolling as dependent students are considered dependent throughout their undergraduate years when need for institutional scholarships is determined.</p>
<p>For institutional aid purposes a student may not “declare” independence due to attainment of legal age, internal family arrangements, marriage or family disagreements.</p>
<p>Your COA (cost of attendance) is tuition, room board, books travel expenses and some misc. expenses associated with attending college.</p>
<p>As Stef mentioned (and from your previous posting) your family has a farm that is a "worth" a lot of money (if I remember correctly a couple of million $$), therefore the farm is considered and asset and a source of income to be used to pay for your education. If all of the schools that you have applied to are schools that use the CSS profile, then your having a FAFSA EFC of 6K is not going to help your cause because none of them are going to wink and look the other way at your family's considerable assets.</p>
<p>Your parents are going to have spend a LITTLE of that LOT of money on your education. What else is new? Honestly, are you just now finding this out?</p>
<p>This is the sort of stuff that a lot of people just don't know. In fact I'm constantly discovering new things about financial aid that I wasn't aware of or didn't quite fully understand. The subject is very complex.</p>
<p>Short of researching school by school, is there a list of FAFSA only schools? I've read a couple of threads recently from kids who clearly should have applied to some FAFSA only schools but didn't. It's one more thing to include in the mix of financial aid strategies when picking schools to apply to.</p>
<p>while there is not a list of FAFSA only schools, the college board does have a listing of schools that take the profile.</p>
<p>Somebody, forget who, started this list:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=285798%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=285798</a></p>
<p>Your top school just bought the farm! Sorry, but there's generally no humor in EFCs!</p>