<p>I just ran collegeboard.com's financial aid calculator. I ran both the FM and the IM(the FM is for pells and stafford loans, and the IM is used by alot of private colleges)</p>
<p>I got an FM that was within $50 of the one the FAFSA gave me, and my IM was less than half my FM. Is this normal? My parents have no assets mind you</p>
<p>The reason I ask is because the IM is doable(i could pay it myself) but if it's the FM there is no way I can go to any of my top choices.</p>
<p>I applied to all meet full need privates(with the exception of my safety)</p>
<p>Rocket…</p>
<p>It’s hard to know if the calculator is accurate with such little info…</p>
<p>What EFC did FAFSA give you?</p>
<p>What did the IM indicate?</p>
<p>It seems odd that the IM is less than half of the the federal methodology. Are you sure that you put in all the numbers correctly?</p>
<p>the FAFSA gave me an EFC of 19,000 (approx) and the IM gave me 9,8000. </p>
<p>Also, (forgot to add this to original post) my dad has cancer so we have medical bills of his plus he’s not working…</p>
<p>I hope that your dad’s cancer is treatable and the prognosis is good.</p>
<p>So, the IM is taking into account the medical bills and current unemployment status? Is that what is going on?</p>
<p>I think, but I really don’t know.
I was hoping someone on CC had been through a similar situation
Like I said, I stand a chance of being able to go to my top choice private if the IM is right…my worst case scenario is a i go to BAMA(which really isn’t a worse case scenario…cuz I do like it alot)</p>
<p>Hmmm</p>
<p>Try the IM calculator on this site and see if you get the same number…</p>
<p>[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml]FinAid”>http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml)</p>
<p>Yup.got just about the same number(this one was a tiny bit bigger, but it didn’t have a place to put medical expenses)</p>
<p>It was roughly accurate for us when I was trying to estimate what kind of aid we might expect a couple years ago. The IM estimation was a little higher than our’s actually ended up being from my son’s school, but definitely right in the ballpark. His particular college has their own FA calculator on their website, and that one was correct nearly to the dollar.</p>
<p>I think the simpler your finances are the more likely they are to get it about right.</p>