<p>My parents make 72,000 a year and my EFC is a little over 16,500. We live in an apartment and barely have any savings. does this sound too high?</p>
<p>No, sorry.
Roughly figured, FAFSA EFC seems to be 1/4 of before tax income for under six figures and 1/3 of income for over $100,000.
Those self employed or who own rental property are assessed even higher.</p>
<p>That sounds about right. Where you live doesn’t matter. EK4 is right. If their income was 100k, it would be about twenty five thousand. </p>
<p>EFC is mostly driven by income. And the number doesn’t assume that it’s all coming from current income. </p>
<p>It sounds like you have an unaffordable EFC. How much can your parents pay?</p>
<p>I hope you also applied to some schools that your family can afford. What are your safety schools?</p>
<p>they could probably give me 250 a month max. my safety is UC Santa Cruz, but I only applied to UCs. And I qualify for their Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan.</p>
<p>The Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan applies to systemwide tuition and fees of approximately $12,000. You will still have your EFC to pay. <a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/paying-for-uc/glossary/blue-and-gold/”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/paying-for-uc/glossary/blue-and-gold/</a></p>
<p>Easy answer…your EFC is too high for YOUR family if it is an amount you cannot pay.</p>
<p>I think that this student is going to be ok. With B&G, she’ll get the UC-wide tuition/fees covered…which I think are about $13k (maybe 14k). She may get a small UC grant from Davis if accepted.</p>
<p>If her parents can pay about half or 1/3 of their EFC, then she’ll have another $5k-8k. Then she can cover about $4k with a summer job savings and part-time work during the school year (books, personal expenses). </p>
<p>Then she’ll likely have loans for the rest. </p>
<p>Sandy, how much can your parents pay?</p>
<p>She also applied to Cal, so if she gets in there, she’ll get excellent aid based on their rather new middle class aid program.</p>
<p>And which UC’s did you apply to?</p>
<p>EFC is always too high if it is not 0. The sad truth is, in most case, you need to pay more than EFC. Living in an apartment does not help as the primary home is not counted as asset. That $16500 EFC for an income of $72000 seems right although it can be lower if you have less assets.</p>
<p>I only applied to Davis, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz, with Berkeley being my obvious first choice. Worst case scenario I’d end up at my local City College. I’m not expecting my parents to contribute anything financially; they literally have like a few hundred in the bank and are struggling to get by. However my aunt did create a savings bond with about 6,000 in it today under my name. (By the way, thank you for everyone’s advice! This isn’t something my parents are capable of helping me with, so I really appreciate it 
)</p>
<p>Earlier in this thread you thought that they could give you $250 a month. Now are you saying that they can’t give you anything?</p>
<p>I hope you get into Cal; it gives super aid. EFC should be about 10% of income at your income level. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what the newly purchased savings bond is supposed to do for you if you’re starting college in the fall. </p>
<p>Are you the only child? If your parents have no or little assets, then $16.5k seems a little bit high to me. Do you have income or saving yourself? That may contribute to the EFC too. I have a higher family income and some asset and my EFC is still lower than yours.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids I’m not expecting anything from them, but if they were to give me anything, it would be below 250 a month. </p>
<p>Sorry, I worded that badly; the savings bond was purchased a long time ago and has accumulated to 6,000 today.</p>
<p>@billcsho No, I have a litter sister. I have a job but am still in training (unpaid). </p>
<p>Too late this year , but for next year that bond should be cashed in and put in a joint savings account with aunt or parent with the adult name/ssn first so YOU don’t have to report it. $1200 hit on the EFC because it’s YOUR asset and not a parent or someone else’s. Parent’s get a protection allowance and are hit only 5.6% on the EFC on assets over that. But with a $16,500 EFC, at least it did not knock down your PELL. Don’t know how your state awards work–if they are related to FAFSA EFC, but your max amount just got knocked down by that asset.</p>
<p>Your EFC seems a little high to me, what did you put in as AGI and Gross Income.
Did you already run the FAFSA and get the SAR which normally tells your exact EFC.</p>
<p>May be that 6k in saving bond add up the EFC as @cptofthehouse mention above.</p>
<p>Seems high to me, too. Just did our FAFSA (redo with filed taxes). For a family of 5 making 76K, our EFC was $9500. We have about 11K in 529 money. Otherwise, no assets other than equity.</p>
<p>My exact EFC is 16,537. I didn’t mention the bond in the FAFSA application… and I got an email saying I don’t qualify for Pell Grant :(</p>
<p>I think for gross income we put in about 76k. Perhaps my mom filled the form out incorrectly? I wasn’t watching her when she did it so she may have made a mistake.</p>
<p>You’re not going to qualify for Pell. Your EFC would have to be under $6000 and you’re not even close to that.</p>
<p>Is any of your family’s income from “non wages” (such as disability or whatever)?</p>
<p>Is your family’s income from ONE parent working rather than TWO parents working (that makes a difference).</p>
<p>Another difference ( I think) can be from your state because different states have different taxes and I think that is built into the formula.</p>
<p>Sbjdorlo…are you from a high tax area? </p>
<p>Sandy, print out the details and go over it to see if your mom made a mistake somewhere.</p>
<p>I have no idea, mom2collegekids. We’re in So Cal in a large city. Does that make a difference on the FAFSA?</p>
<p>I was actually pleasantly surprised with our EFC, not that we have money for college, but it was less than I thought it would be. I’d actually done the FAFSA at the beginning of the year, but had underestimated our son’s income by 7K. Our original EFC was something like $7500. I knew <em>that</em> was too low!</p>
<p>No, both my parents are working, and our income is not from “non wages.” I am also from So Cal. </p>
<p>And I’ll be sure to do that, thank you for the advice :)</p>
<p>I think you may have 76k in AGI but something in the adjustment such as IRA contribution. The AGI is after the adjustment but the FAFSA would put back some of the adjustment such as IRA contribution.</p>