<p>Eagle79, your secondary question is actually the primary question for many people: what is “need”. I know very few people who can actually afford their EFC in the real world. What a college says we can afford, and what we actually can afford, are often two different things. The only way for some of us to afford to send our children to their choice of college is for them to recieve merit aid. (And no, I’m not getting into the “do you live frugally” argument.)</p>