Money Question

Paying for College
1

<p>So, my mom just tried using a financial aid calculator, like I have been trying to get her do for a while. She said our EFC came out to be about $17-18 thousand per year. She said we can't afford to pay that much. So I have some questions to ask.</p>

<p>So the total cost minus our EFC would be our estimated need, right? (I think I know the answer to this, just wanted to check though.)
Also, does financial aid cover room and board too?
If the above is true, does that mean that if I get a scholarship for at least the $17-18 thousand that is our EFC, that I can go to college for almost nothing?</p>

<p>Sorry for all the questions and thanks for taking the time to read and answer them.</p>

2

<p>EFC is Expected FAMILY Contribution…it’s what the colleges minimally expect your family to pay. It is NOT the amount of aid you will receive.</p>

<p>Well…you take the Cost of Attendance and subtract your EFC. That leaves your need. Yes you include room/board/tuition/fees. Most schools have the cost of attendance on their websites.</p>

<p>HOWEVER…listen carefully. Colleges expect that you will pay your EFC. They do not award you need based financial aid to do so. Some schools will award you merit aid (based on your academic achievements) but policies vary as to how this merit aid is used. </p>

<p>Many schools will take any merit aid you receive and use it to reduce your overall need. The money they award you will then be reduced too. Usually the loans are reduced first, then things like work study. BUT your EFC is not reduced. </p>

<p>Other schools will allow “stacking” of awards up to the cost of attendance…but you would have to check the college(s) to see if this applies to any school to which you are applying. I don’t think this is the majority of schools.</p>

<p>If you receive any kind of outside scholarship, you are supposed to report it to the college that you are attending. That college makes the decision about what to do regarding adjusting any need based aid you might have received from them.</p>

<p>You should view your EFC as the MINIMUM amount you will be paying for college. Remember too…most schools do NOT meet your full need (COA minus EFC). There will be a “gap” between that amount and the financial aid they offer you. You will need to pay the difference if you want to attend that college.</p>

<p>If your EFC is $17,000 or so, you will not be eligible for any federally funded grants. Those go to lower income families. You will get a Stafford Loan. Re: aid provided by the colleges (institutional aid), this will vary depending on the aid policies of the schools. There are some HIGHLY competitive schools that do meet full need. SO after your EFC is paid (by YOU), their aid would cover most of the remaining costs (most of these schools also have a student contribution in addition to the EFC). However, most schools do NOT meet full need. </p>

<p>$17-18K per year would be a good portion of the cost of attendance at a public university…especially if you added the $5500 stafford loan (amount for freshmen) to the amount.</p>

<p>You could also apply to schools where you might be considered for merit aid…some schools DO have merit awards that greater or lesser degrees of the COA. To be considered for these you would need to be a very highly competitive applicant for that school.</p>

3

<p>Thumper gave good advice above.</p>

<p>Remember, EFC is the minimum you’ll be expected to pay…most schools will expect you to pay MORE than that because most schools cannot meet need.</p>

<p>EFC gives people the wrong impression. It makes people think that schools are somehow required to “make up the difference” and pay the “need” … Schools do not have to make up the difference and most schools cannot.</p>

<p>EFC really is only a number colleges use to determine what FEDERAL aid you can get. Obviously, with your EFC, you won’t get any free federal money…just some small loans, and maybe some work-study.</p>

<p>I have a feeling that your EFC is actually going to come in higher once you do the real FAFSA. You said on another thread that your dad earns just over $100k and you have 2 younger siblings.</p>

<p>I have a feeling that your real EFC is going to be about $22k or so. </p>

<p>For people with unaffordable EFCs, you need a carefully followed strategy…</p>

<p>**
There are 3 ways to essentially decrease an EFC.**</p>

<p>1) apply to schools that will give you big enough scholarships that “cut into” EFC.</p>

<p>For instance…say your EFC is $20k…</p>

<p>Let’s say a school has a Cost of Attendance of $35k, but you get a scholarship for $20k from the school. You now only owe $15k (So, you’ve just reduced your EFC by 25%). Then, if you take out a Stafford Loan for $5500, your parents now only have to pay $9500 (Actually less than $9500 because COAs are often padded). You can also get a part-time job and/or summer job to help pay for things like books, etc… </p>

<p>2) Go to a school whose COA is less than your EFC - like commuting to a local state or CC.</p>

<p>3) Get admitted to HYP who have super and unusual aid policies.</p>

<p>What are your stats? GPA, SAT (include breakdown), and ACT.</p>

<p>What is your likely major and career?</p>

<p>What is your home state?</p>

<p>Once you’ve given us that info, we can come up with a strategy for you.</p>

<p>(Be glad that you found out NOW that you have an unaffordable EFC. Too many kids don’t find that out until spring of senior year and then it’s too late to apply to the right schools. )</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the advice. For my stats, I haven’t taken the SAT or ACT yet, but I did take the PSAT once, and that came out to be 196. My GPA is around a 5.1, but thats on our scale, where in honors classes, an A+ is 5.7, A = 5.5, A- = 5.3, and a B+ is at 4.7, and it just keeps going down. I tried calculating it on a 4.0 scale, and it came out to about 3.5. (I’m upset that it came out so low.) But I’m from Rhode Island, and I’m hoping to go to college for Music Technology.</p>

5

<p>Well, sign up for the earliest Fall SAT and ACT exams.</p>

6

<p>Yeah, thats my plan. I wanted to try to take the SAT this past year (my sophomore year), but my dad wouldn’t let me because he said it would be too much. How many times should a person take the SAT?</p>

7

<p>Do some review for your PSAT this fall. My daughter’s score was about the same as yours sophomore year and it went up 28 points junior year, which put her into National Merit Semifinalist range. There are lots of schools that offer NM money (although I don’t know a thing about schools with your inteneded major).</p>

<p>With your PSAT scores, you will probably only need to take the SAT once or twice to get the score you are looking for.</p>

8

<p>You do not need to take the ACT or SAT until spring of your Junior Year, or even later than that if you wish. Since you scored 196 on a Sophomore year PSAT, there is a decent chance that with a bit of preparation you can pull your Junior year PSAT score into the National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist range. Ask your counselor what the cut-off was for this past year so you know the target to aim for.</p>

<p>Since your parents can’t afford their EFC, you need to sit down with them and find out what they are willing to pay. It may be close to that EFC, or it may be much much less than that EFC. Once you have that figure in mind you will be better able to find a college/university that will be affordable for you, and that you can be happy at. </p>

<p>Since you are just heading into your junior year, you don’t need to panic. You have time to sort these things out.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>

9

<p>^ I agree that concentrating on the PSAT is very important. It looks from past posts that the 2009 cutoff for National Merit was 217 for Rhode Island. If you can get it up to 219 or higher you should be good. Many very good schools offer full tuition scholarships for NMFs.</p>