<p>As most of you probably know, Ivy League schools only offer need-based financial aid. The ivy I was accepted to ED said that our expected family contribution was full tuition, but the results from the FAFSA said it was significantly less than that (almost half!). So, what does this mean? Does that mean we could qualify for federal aid? </p>
<p>sorry, I'm kind of clueless about the whole financial aid thing...</p>
<p>Most Ivys require you to file the CSS Profile as well as FAFSA. FAFSA does not look at home equity, CSS profile does. The Profile looks at a lot of financial info that is not taken into consideration on the FAFSA. The FAFSA is just used to determine what Federal aid you may qualify for. That’s it. The EFC from FAFSA is NOT what your family will be expected to pay for college, and they say that very clearly on the FAFSA site when it gives you the EFC. The schools that use the Profile do so because they have their own money to give away, and their own way of determining who should get that money. Each school can figure this out differently, so it’s very hard to know what each school takes into consideration, a formula they use, etc. The Federal aid FAFSA may have said you qualify for would probably have been Stafford loans. There is also Pell grant, but that is usually for very low income families, and there are other types of Fed. loans that also typically go to low income families. So, if the IVY had the Stafford loan as part of your FA offer, that’s about all the Federal aid you would have qualified for. Pretty much everyone who files the FAFSA can take out those loans, it just becomes an issue of do you get a subsidized Stafford loan where the gov. pays the interest for a while, or just an unsubsidized Stafford loan.</p>
<p>If your FAFSA EFC is half of the cost of attending an Ivy League school…the only federal aid you will qualify for is a Stafford loan…which is $5500 for a freshman.</p>
<p>The Profile looks more in depth at your financial situation than the FAFSA does. FAFSA doesn’t consider primary home equity, income/assets of non-custodial parents, or some of the business expenses associated with being self employed. Profile schools might also tap into your assets in a different way than the FAFSA does…depending on the amount of your assets.</p>
<p>Do you own a business, have divorced/separated parents, have a home with equity, or any other assets that are significant?</p>
<p>What is your situation?</p>
<p>FAFSA has nothing to do with the CSS calculations.</p>
<p>No, you won’t get federal grants…at most you could get is a 5500 loan and maybe some work-study (but doesn’t sound like you’re getting the w-s)</p>
<p>You must have a situation that FAFSA doesn’t consider…</p>
<p>1) lots of home equity</p>
<p>2) a family owned business or some other independent contractor status that has deductions that a CSS school doesn’t accept.</p>
<p>3) Non custodial parent with good income/assets</p>
<p>4) retirement accts (I could be wrong, but I thought that some CSS schools look at this.)</p>
<p>What is your situation? (I’m guessing it’s the employment/deductions issue).</p>
<p>BTW…why would someone who is clueless about the whole FA issue apply ED? And didn’t you already have to commit to your ED school by now?</p>
<p>I see that you’re an athletic recruit to UPenn…didn’t you get an early FA read?</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone! Ya, we made sure we could pay full tuition, with some sacrifices, before I applied ED. I was just curious about what the results of the FAFSA meant. And I’m sure my parents understand it all better than I do!</p>