<p>I will be attending a private university next year which costs approx. 52'000$ a year.</p>
<p>My brother will also be attending a private university costing approx. 44'000$ a year.</p>
<p>I just filled out the FAFSA and it came back as saying my EFC is 63'000$ (which seems ridiculously high to me, but anyway...).</p>
<p>This EFC is higher than what my school will cost. </p>
<p>I'm wondering if my school will consider the fact that my parents will actually be paying over 90'000$ in college tuition, which is way out of their budget, or will they just see that the EFC is higher than their school tuition and decide I have no demonstrated need?</p>
<p>The problem is that if they simply look at how much THEIR tuition is, and now how much the COMBINED tuition is, neither my brother nor I are eligible for aid, although we would be if it is combined.</p>
<p>Did you indicate on the FAFSA that there would be two students in the family attending college in 07/08?</p>
<p>If so, the formula already took this into consideration, but halving the expected parental contribution to the EFC. So both you and your brother should each end up with a significantly lower EFC than if only one of you was attending college.</p>
<p>Your and your brother's EFC may differ somewhat depending on differences in income and assets between you and your brother.</p>
<p>(answering your question more directly-- if they see that YOUR EFC is higher than their estimated cost of attendance, they will determine that you have no financial need. And that appears to be the case, sorry.)</p>
<p>It's physically impossible for my family's actual EFC for one student to be 130'000$!!! That would mean their combined income would be 70'000$ (35'000$ each). One cannot live off that, at least not where I live (the 6th most expensive city in the world)...</p>
<p>Not sure what you're saying, or how you're doing the math.</p>
<p>If you filled out FAFSA correctly, the $63K is the expected family contribution to YOUR education next year. When your brother fills out the FAFSA, it will calculate the expected family contribution for HIS education (it will be a similar number, unless either of you has significant assets in your names).</p>
<p>Since either number is higher than the cost of a year's education pretty much anywhere, you wouldn't be eligible for aid.</p>
<p>You'd need a parental income over 400K to get that kind of EFC on income alone, though-- so if you did the numbers correctly and didn't show that kind of income, you must have shown significant assets for parents or for yourself.</p>
<p>Use the FinAid calculator- it will help you figure it out.</p>
<p>One cannot live off that, at least not where I live (the 6th most expensive city in the world)...</p>
<p>Just last month you posted that it was the 7th most expensive city in the world.
If things are that difficult perhaps your family should consider moving?</p>
<p>Which school did you apply ED to, Georgetown or George Washington?
Neither are notable for merit aid- but as you probably already know, if students and their families are concerned about where the money will come from for college, they shouldn't apply ED where you have made a committment to attend.</p>
<p>If you and your brother are both entering as freshmen in 2007-2008- make sure on both your forms that is noted
That will make a huge difference in EFC</p>
<p>It wouldn't make a difference- but if this is the first time they have filled out the aid forms, they may be having difficulty.</p>
<p>If they already have filled them out for the brother- & have his EFC from previous years- then they would probably have already had an idea of what sort of aid they would qualify for.</p>
<p>If I had one daughter in school already & my EFC was say, $80,000, she probably wouldn't get any need based aid. So while a 2nd child would more or less, reduce that by half depending on how the school looks at it, it still would be fairly high, but I shouldnt be surprised by the EFC.</p>
<p>"You'd need a parental income over 400K to get that kind of EFC on income alone"</p>
<p>On collegeboard I filled out the EFC calculator and every time it came out as approx. 35'000$
No way was it anywhere near 130'000$ or even 63'000$.</p>
<p>Whether my city is the 6th or 7th most expensive city in the world is not the most important issue. The point is it is virtually impossible to live here with 70'000$ in income for a family (extreamly high cost of living).</p>
<p>I applied ED fully knowing that I would need to pay full tuition in the worse case scenario. This fact does not stop me from applying for Fin. Aid.</p>
<p>The reason I was so surprised by this number from FAFSA was, in part, due to the fact that on all the other websites I had looked at, it told me my EFC was approx. 35'000$. Also, if my EFC is 63'000$ and my parents will be paying 90'000$ in total, would schools look at that, or only the cost of their particular school?</p>
<p>I filled out the numbers correctly, yes. I used the same numbers on FAFSA as I used on collegeboard. I am not an idiot, thanks. I didn't accidentally write that my parents were making 2359848430'20945894$ a year.</p>
<p>You're not making yourself clear.<br>
In your original post, you typed:</p>
<p>"I just filled out the FAFSA and it came back as saying my EFC is 63'000$" </p>
<p>and I told you that in order to get that sort of EFC, with two kids in college, your parents would have to have incomes over 400K, or you'd have to have significant assets. I suggested you check the FinAid calculator, to see where the high EFC is coming from.</p>
<p>Now, you say that the College Board EFC calculator shows you with a $35K EFC.</p>
<p>They can't both be right (assuming you're comparing apples with apples, and checked Federal Methodology when using the CB calculator). You're not inputting the same numbers in both.</p>
<p>Again-- use the FinAid calculator and the detailed response will tell you where the high EFC is coming from. Nobody is saying you're an idiot-- this is just very complicated stuff.</p>
<p>I would agree you should double check how you entered the figures on FAFSA. It is a rather a longwinded and confusing form with plenty of room for accidently duplicating numbers - making an error would not make you an idiot.The difference between the calculators and the actual EFC do seem enormous and unlikely.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, your EFC usually calculates to between 1/4 and 1/3 of your family's adjusted gross income. So...in the case of an adjusted gross income of $130K, you could expect an EFC of somewhere between $32K and $43K for the family (that would be the total for the number of kids in college. If there are going to be two students in undergraduate school, that would be divided by 2). BUT the other factor that is not apparent in this discussion is student assets and parent assets. The more you have saved in non-retirement accounts, the more you will be expected to contribute from those savings to your college bills. If, for example, you (the student) had $50K in the bank, you would be expected to contribute approximately 25% of that for your freshman year...($12500) and that is ADDED to anything that is being contributed by your parents via income. Also, if your parents have savings, THAT money is also assessed but at a lower rate, and there is some asset protection. The OP does not say whether there are college savings that are contributing to the EFC being higher. AND...lastly...if you didn't do the FAFSA worksheet before you did the FAFSA, go back, print it out, and do it NOW. The worksheet has exactly the same questions as on the FAFSA but with explanations of how to fill in the numbers. You really need to check to see that you have filled out the forms correctly. The good news is that the FAFSA is VERY easy to amend and correct online. The bad news is that the Profile is not. You have to do that one by hand. Oh...and P.S. the cost of living in your house, city, state or neighborhood has no bearing on your FAFSA EFC. AND neither does your consumer debt, need for new cars, or any other debt. (except for schools using the Profile where both your mortgage and the equity of your home are considered...).</p>