<p>Can anyone tell me if they know of a link to a site, or .pdf with recent, or current (2011-12) tables for computing EFC under the Institutional Methodology? I have an outdated 2009 "Paying for College" book by Chaney that has tables in it, but I can't seem to find this information anywhere online. For the Federal Methodology, I know that this all exists in the EFC Formula Guide <a href="http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf</a>,
and I'm very aware of the various calculators at College Board and other sites for estimating EFC under IM. However, I'd like to get the actual tables to get more detail behind what I can get from the calculators. I know that this is just an estimate and that all Profile colleges will calculate things like home equity differently. Nonetheless, I'd like to estimate and verify things with manual calculations to the extent that I can.</p>
<p>The links I have are outdated- ( but in the past was very accurate for our family)
[FinAid</a> | Calculators](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Calculators - Finaid) however ( unless you are a small business owner in which case I admit I have no idea how the school will view that asset), in general the expected EFC seems to be between 1/3 & 1/4th of before tax income.</p>
<p>note that Princeton is much more generous than many school can afford to be- but it could give you a rough estimate.
[Princeton</a> University | Princeton Financial Aid Estimator](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/estimator/]Princeton”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/estimator/)</p>
<p>Another point worth remembering is that most schools gap. They do not meet 100% of need * however they determine it* .
Our income with our first child who attended a private college that met 100% was that they roughly expected FAFSA EFC with a bit extra due to our housing appreciation/bubble.</p>
<p>Assuming your retirement assets are in retirement accounts & will not be considered- with the exception of the previous year contributions- those will be added back into income & available for COA.</p>
<p>Look at the total debt for students at end of 4 years & compare between the colleges. Note that this debt does not include parent debt, just the loans students have.</p>
<p>Decide upfront how much your family can afford to pay out of current, past & future income & make those decisions transparent with your kids. There are a lot of schools & it isn’t the end of the world if the very top choice isn’t affordable.
Hope this helps.</p>
<p>^^Thank you for the information on the calculators. However, what I’m really looking for is the tables used in the IM formula/worksheet so that i can do the calculations manually myself.</p>
<p>They don’t exist. The Profile gathers data and uses school-specific algorithms to determine each school’s institutional need. As you noted in your original post, schools handle home equity differently. That’s just one factor in the calculation, along with treatment of retirement savings, non-custodial parent contributions, the value of cars, etc. There’s no formula equivalent to the published FAFSA formula for Profile schools. The closest you’ll get is the Princeton calculator for Ivy-level schools, and online calculators that other individual schools might provide.</p>
<p>See if you can get the 2010 “Paying for College Without Going Broke” Kalman Chany, Princeton Review, on Amazon website, see if you can get a used copy! </p>
<p>2010 Edition represents the last time Kal Chany was able to publish how the IM is calculated! The College Board refused to give Chany the info he needed for the 2011 Edition of his book, so the 2010 Edition is quite valuable. </p>
<p>So we were mere mortals are not allowed to know the current IM formula and how the EFC is calculated, makes you wonder, right?</p>
<p>The problem with institutional methodology is that it differs from school to school. Some schools will include your 401k assets, will cap your home equity, want the value of your cars. Some don’t. So to get what IM is in any meaningful way, you gotta get the specific college’s calculator. Some schools will do an estimate for you or give you a formula so you can run your numbers. </p>
<p>But the thing is, when it comes to the college’s own money, they can really make their own decisions on a case by case basis, and that can depend on how much they want your kid. So the real package can differ. My neighbor is still in awe that they got financial aid from Colgate. Nowhere else gave them a dime in that category, though the young lady did get merit awards.</p>
<p>dukedad,</p>
<p>Both [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and [College</a> Admissions - SAT - University & College Search Tool](<a href=“http://www.collegeboard.org%5DCollege”>http://www.collegeboard.org) have IM calculators but as pointed out above, these are only guesstimates as each institution takes different factors into consideration. Call the places on your current short list, and ask them about their individual formulae.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I’ve emailed College Board a few times over the years, requesting any sort of explicit worksheet or formula comparable to the Dept. of Ed’s worksheets for Federal Methodology. Strangely, they just never responded at all. I can only conclude that College Board considers their methodology a secret - they don’t want analysts picking their basic formula apart to find the “sweet spots” where family contribution is minimized.</p>
<p>Because, as was explained in this old thread you’ve resurrected, each school has its own methodology. There is no magic formula for the College Board to keep secret.</p>
<p>Why would College Board even be involved? Because they issue the Profile? That is just a document to collect data. They don’t DO anything with it except forward it to the schools.</p>
<p>Jsmith…</p>
<p>CSS Profile doesn’t do the calculations to determine “family contribution”. Each CSS school does using its own formulas. So, CSS has nothing to provide you. </p>
<p>This isn’t like FAFSA where a calculation is done and an EFC pops out.</p>