<p>Hey my EFC for the FAFSA is 11646, Does this mean that schools such as Vanderbilt or Cornell that say they mett 100% demonstrated need will only make me pay around 12000 a year? I know they also take the CSS Profile into account so I am not sure how that will effect it.</p>
<p>The cost of attendance at Cornell is in excess of $45,000 a year…at least. If your EFC is $11K or so…you will have to pay the balance which is at least $34K per year.</p>
<p>Thumper, I think you’re tired. The 34K portion should be met with aid.</p>
<p>OP, One thing to note is that aid COULD contain loans. I’m not sure if Vandy and Cornell don’t use loans to meet need.</p>
<p>Erin’s dad…ooopss…I did read that backward!! Thank for the correction.</p>
<p>To the OP…Erin’s dad has it correct. You would pay the $11K or so…and hopefully your need based aid at a “meets 100% of need school” will cover the balance. Some schools also have a student contribution. I don’t know if Cornell does…or not.</p>
<p>Good luck to you!</p>
<p>Yes, as Thumper said, my kid’s school meets 100% of need, and in that they expect (in addition to the parent-paid contribution) a student contribution from summer earnings. Also a modest amount of work-study is included for the purpose of meeting incidental personal expenses during the term.</p>
<p>I could be wrong…but just because FAFSA says that, doesn’t mean that for a CSS Profile school.</p>
<p>After doing your CSS Profile, Vandy and others may think your family can contribute more than $11,646k. From what I understand, FAFSA doesn’t include certain things like CSS schools sometimes do…like NCP incomes, and such.</p>
<p>Others can correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>BTW…Vandy meets need w/o loans, but we don’t know what they’ll do with the OP’s CSS Profile.</p>
<p>CSS Profile can affect what the college determines is the student’s “need”, but it isn’t necessarily going to be worse than the FAFSA EFC. My son’s college (requires for FAFSA and Profile, plus some additional forms of its own) has both years come up with an expected family contribution nearly identical to the FAFSA EFC… actually it’s a whisker under the FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>Non-custodial income can be a big game changer with Profile schools in cases of divorced, separated or never-married parents.</p>
<p>What does NCP income mean?</p>
<p>Also, I made a mistake on the CSS PROFILE, and said a parent’s predicted 2010 income is $20k more than what it probably will be (although it WAS just a guess). Will this increase my EFC? Should I get it fixed?</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Right…that’s what I was referring to. My friend’s son had a low EFC (about $5k) because his mom doesn’t earn much. </p>
<p>But when he applied to a CSS school (COA $50k) that required NCP info, the school insisted that the student’s need wasn’t that much…so he didn’t get the $45k in aid. He got like $20k in aid, because his dad makes a lot more money.</p>
<p>If your parents are divorced, or your family has home equity, a small business, owns expensive cars, takes unusual tax deductions, etc., the Profile EFC can be much higher than the FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>But, sportgreet, the things Hmom5 lists don’t always make your family contribution higher at Profile schools. (Just sayin’ so you don’t start to freak prematurely. ;)) You need to submit it and see what specific colleges come back with as far as financial aid goes. Home equity can have a small (or no) effect or a large one. The kind of cars you have can be irrelevant or it can matter, etc. All schools apply their own formula to the CSS Profile information.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is a ‘no loan’, need-blind, 100% of need met school. It is among the most generous of the top schools. It does use CSS/Profile; as others have said, the EFC may not be the same as that determined by FAFSA.</p>
<p>I believe Vanderbilt does expect a student summer work contribution, and the award may include work study during the school year.</p>