Does that mean that most colleges will give financial aid so that the net left is $10,000-- where do GSLs fit in? Other loans?
No, that doesn’t mean that. EFC is a misnomer…just something the feds made up. The feds can’t demand that schools give you aid up to that amount. In fact, most schools can’t give you any free money with an EFC of $10k.
Since your EFC is too high for a Pell Grant, your $10k EFC means nearly nothing, except that your child might get some work-study and a small subsidized student loan and a small unsub loan.
For example…let’s say that your child wants to go to an OOS public…let’s say Penn State which has an OOS COA of about $48k (don’t remember the exact, but let’s use this number).
Your aid pkg would very likely look like this:
$48k COA (cost of attendance)
$10k EFC
$38k is your “need”
FA awarded (BTW…FA isn’t just free money…it’s also loans & work study)
$5,500 student loan combo of sub and unsub loans
$2,000 work study
$7,500 total aid award
No free money
and you’d be gapped by about $30,000 which would likely mean that your child can’t attend.
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Other loans?
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Perkins loans are being discontinued
Plus Loans are for parents, but likely with an EFC of $10k, you likely won’t want to borrow the rest.
No, most schools will not “give financial aid” so that the net balance is $10k. Not even close.
Well that stinks!! That does seem like a totally meaningless number in that case and I wonder why I turn on my head to do these forms for the kids!
For Federal Loans
Yes, it is a meaningless number, but think about it…
Do you think that your own state flagship should be handing out $30k+ per year to some modest stats student who wants to go across the country to your flagship? And should YOU, the tax-payer, be expected to fund that child’s adventure?
Believe me, you would think “it stinks,” if your state suddenly raised taxes so that your state’s univs could fund FA for OOS students or even all of your own instate students.
Where are the schools supposed to get the money??
I went back and looked at your history and I remember you. where did your step daughter enroll this fall? How is that being paid for?
Not necessarily.
If by “EFC” you mean the one calculated from FAFSA, it is used to calculate Pell grant amounts; if your FAFSA EFC is below the maximum Pell grant amount, you get a Pell grant of the maximum Pell grant amount minus the FAFSA EFC. $10,000 is higher than the maximum Pell grant amount, so no Pell grant.
For each college’s financial aid, it may calculate its own EFC, which may be different from the FAFSA EFC. If the school claims to “meet need”, it will add its own EFC to what it expects the student to contribute (through work earnings or federal direct loans) to get the net price and then cover the remaining cost of attendance above the net price with grants (including the Pell grant). However, most colleges (especially out-of-state public ones) do not claim to “meet need”. Even when they do claim to “meet need”, as you can see, EFC, student contribution, and “need” are all defined by the college, so two colleges that claim to “meet need” may give substantially different net prices.
Colleges are required to have net price calculators on their web sites so that prospective students can estimate financial aid and net price before applying.
Oh when I say it stinks, I mean why have the whole arduous process to spit out a number that means absolutely nothing?
She went to Missouri State-- she took at ACT prep class and gained several points. That along with her GPA got her in-state tuition and a couple thousand dollars more per year (assuming she keeps up her GPA of course which I believe she will). Great school, great value-- after her scholarships and student loans we are paying around $7500 out of pocket a year. We have travel expenses for her of course as we are east coast, but it was WELL worth the research, the prep class and the travel. This board helped!
I guess I know I do it for Federal Loans but aren’t they guaranteed for all? Why bother with all the documentation and paperwork? Whether I make a million or one dollar doesn’t my kid get the $5500 loan?
TBH the FAFSA process is not that arduous. And Some schools do use the FAFSA for their FA decisions. It’s also used for Pell Grants which are Very important for low income students.
Ah… and we are not going to do parent loans-- 5 kids; no can do!
“TBH the FAFSA process is not that arduous. And Some schools do use the FAFSA for their FA decisions. It’s also used for Pell Grants which are Very important for low income students.”
You are right, it could be worse… I was amazed as well with the 3 in college the difference in paperwork requirements. I had to send W-2s for us and for my student for the last one that went to MSU-- and she wasn’t getting any grants at all, just the GSLs. I just did the FAFSA for the first two.
Sending in the W2s and such was probably for verification purposes. It can be random. For my D we just had to fill out FAFSA and state grant app. We used the IRS data retrieval tool in the FAFSA to link our tax return once it was filed and processed. That was all the verification the school needed. We were surprised that we actually qualified for a state grant, and we had an EFC similar to you.
My situation is complicated by the fact that my eldest daughter lives in another state with her father. He seems to believe that if she would just use HIS income and not mine (his is much much less) that she will get all this aid.
I keep trying to explain that nobody is going to ignore that her mother makes good money, and that she needs to use ME on FAFSA because of her sisters, and step siblings and that having more children in college is what we need to show. I am financially obligated for her education by court order. Then when she does the FAFSA she keeps getting tripped up by the whole ‘living in your household’ item, and I say we just explain it to the colleges as we deal with it.
Actually the parent the student lives with more days in the year preceding the filing of FAFSA is supposed to be used on the FAFSA so her father might be right.
EXCEPT I am obligated to pay for college so it doesn’t make any sense. I am legally obligated for her, my younger two daughters and my step children-- I think somehow that financial obligation needs to get refelected as I am certain that my income will be taken into account regardless of where she lives.
Of course we never get any aid outside GSLs, so perhaps it doesn’t matter a wit!
If you obligated due to a divorce what are the terms?
Even if you are obligated to pay, I don’t think that means that the FAFSA has to have your information. If your daughter lives with her father more than 50% of the year, then FAFSA requires his information, not yours.
If she lives with her father more than you then only his info (and spouse if he is remarried) would be reflected on her FAFSA. If the school uses CSS profile or their own FA forms then they might ask for non custodial parent info.
You cannot decide how it needs to be filled out, there are rules to be followed.
If she could get more aid then you would also have to pay less. It doesn’t mean you are not still obligated by court order to pay. You just pay less.