<p>If my EFC is very low, like under 1000, will this hurt my chances of admission?</p>
<p>not for schools that are 100% need blind.
other schools..i dont know...</p>
<p>It matters where you apply. </p>
<p>What is a larger potential problem is getting the aid that you need. Most colleges in the US do NOT guarantee to meet 100% of students' documented need. Ivies and some similar hard to get admitted to colleges are some of the relatively few that make such promises.</p>
<p>What's very important for you is that you make sure that you apply to some colleges that you know you can gain admission to and can afford. Often such colleges are one's local public 4-year or 2-year university that's convenient enough for one to commute from home to, and also may have excellent scholarships for stellar local students.</p>
<p>Check the CC archives, too, as there have been other threads on this subject.</p>
<p>Since your first choice is northwestern, should you be admitted they will meet 100% of your demonstrated need.</p>
<p>Although you may have a fafsa EFC of 1000 (which is only used to determine your eligibility for federal loans and grants), most of the schools which you are interested in (with the exception of the UCs) will also request your CSS profile which will take into consideration your parents incomes assets (home/farm/business ownership) the income and the assets of your non-custodial parents or stepparents (if applicable)</p>
<p>These factors could change your EFC dramatically. I would suggest also doing a FA calcaulation using the IM so that you can get a better ball park figure of your EFC.</p>
<p>At schools that use the institutional methodology, they will calcute in a student contribution ob about $1500-2000 of monies you should contribute to your education in terms of summer earnings. If you don't earn the money, the school does not increase your grant aid to cover it.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the average self help aid at Nortwestern is $3,942 </p>
<p>the average need based loan is 2,424 (subsidized stafford)</p>
<p>IF you maintain this $1000 EFC you will probably also have a perkins loan (from 2000-4000)</p>
<p>You may be eligible for pell and even SEOG (if applicable at your school)</p>
<p>3942-2424 = $1518 (which will be the approximate amount of work study you will receive) </p>
<p>the balance will be grant aid.</p>
<p>hope this helps</p>
<p>What other schools did you apply to besides NW?</p>
<p>I applied to Northwestern, Brandeis, Harvard, Yale, Amherst, Pomona, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara.</p>
<p>Other than Brandeis, your low efc should not impact the admission decision at the schools you listed. However, if your situation changes and your efc happens to rise dramatically, your costs will also rise dramatically at all but the state schools.</p>
<p>wats EFC? is it related to financial aid?
how would something related to financial aid in a need-blind school affect admission decision?</p>
<p>Perkins Loans : I just read that the Federal program cutting down on distributing them . But for sure , you should get subsidized Stafford in the new Federal limit .</p>