My EFC is WAY too high - understanding scholarships and financial aid

Paying for College
1

Hi,

So, my guidance counselor has been giving me a bunch of scholarship advice, and all of them require an EFC lower than 10,000. I checked my FAFSA, and it says that my EFC is around 30,200/year. There is NO way I can afford this. My mom only makes like 55k a year, and I don’t think we have any significant assets other than our house–but we can’t just sell our house. Every single scholarship opportunity at my school requires need, and according to this, I don’t have much need.

At private colleges, this would give me like 20,000 in aid, but that doesn’t help with the 30,000 that I have no way of paying for. I got accepted into safeties with merit scholarships so I would only have to pay anywhere from 1500-9000 a year with room and board (very manageable). However, they are definitely low safeties, where my ACT is about 8-10 higher than the 75th percentile.

I also did the CSS, but I’m worried that the situation would get worse from there, especially since my mom remarried (but he won’t contribute), and my dad makes more than my mom but also refuses to pay. These safety schools obviously aren’t my first choice, but it’s a lot better than being in extreme debt.

So I have some questions:

  1. How can my EFC be half of my mom's income if she's the only one considered on the FAFSA? Does this mean my CSS is going to be worse?
  2. Are there any external scholarsips that I can apply for? I'm a white female pursuing Engineering/Physics. I'm in the top 2, from a public school in the northeast, with a 32 ACT superscored to a 34. I saw that I can apply for the SMART scholarship once I'm in college but not now.
  3. Does an EFC like this mean I probably won't qualify for programs like the Rice Investment or need-based aid if I get into a school like an Ivy?
  4. Hypothetically, if I get a 30,000 scholarship from a school, would the rest be covered by aid? Like, will that scholarship cover my EFC?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Update: I was reading other threads, and they said that putting a 529 under student assets is bad. I did this. It’s technically my dad’s, so should I update it and take it out, since he’s not even in my FAFSA?

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If your mother was remarried at the time your FAFSA was completed, your stepfather’s financial information should have been reported and was considered in determining your FAFSA EFC, even if he won’t be contributing anything to your college expenses. This likely explains why your FAFSA EFC is $30,200 while your mother’s income alone is $55,000.

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There’s a school out there where 75% of the student body has an ACT under 22?

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Your mom’s new husband’s (your stepdad) info has to be on both FAFSA and CSS. Your bio dad (and new spouse if there is one) has to fill out CSS’ non-custodial parent info. So yes, it is likely that CSS will have a higher expected contribution at those schools that use it. You will need one of your schools to correct FAFSA if it does not include your stepdad’s info.

If you are the beneficiary you should not have reported your 529 as a student asset on FAFSA.

It is late to be applying to outside scholarships. Often they require significant work for little $. They are often only one year awards as well. If you are awarded any outside scholarships, they typically reduce the financial aid package at schools that do not stack aid (which is most schools).

Rice and the Ivies will use CSS Profile (or their own forms) to calculate your family’s expected contribution. So, they will look at the financials of your mom, stepdad, and bio dad (and new spouse if there is one). The Rice Promise provides aid for those with Profile incomes up to $200K, most Ivies are similar, HYP a little better.

That does seem high based on an income of $55K. Are you sure FAFSA doesn’t include your stepdad’s financials(which it needs to)? Did you check it for other mistakes? (besides reporting the 529K as your asset?)

What can/will your family pay? Have you run the NPCs at all of the schools you have applied to? For FAFSA only schools they should be accurate if you include your mom and step-dad’s info. For Profile schools you can run them including your bio dad’s income/assets if you know that info. If not, Profile school NCP results will not be accurate.

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@ordinarylives The 25th-75th percentile range is 19-24. I’m pretty sure they superscored my ACT there. Though, I guess it could be taken with a grain of salt considering most students in the northeast take the SAT, and therefore, it may be a smaller sample.

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Take a look at Univ. Alabama Huntsville with scholarships for one sitting
https://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships/freshmen/freshmen-non-al-merit-tuition-scholarships,

Univ. New Mexico. UNM extended scholarship deadline to Feb. 1 Residents of Other States – The scholarship priority date for WUE, LUE and Amigo scholarships for Fall 2020 has been extended to February 1, 2020!
http://scholarship.unm.edu/

What is state of residence?

Google Society Women Engineers, local chapters may have scholarships.

Did you consider Rochester Institute of Tech?
Rose Hulman?

If you’ve missed scholarship deadlines, maybe take gap year and reapply to
Univ. Alabama, Miami OH, Univ. South Carolina, Michigan State.

See this thread for ideas http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2154331-looking-for-advice-in-merit-aid-for-a-top-1-student.html#latest

Regarding need based aid at Ivys, etc, run net price calculators to see if they ask about all parent and step parent income.

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@Mwfan1921 My parents have in their divorce agreement that they’d pay 8,000 each over 4 years (2,000/year). Which, is a little ridiculous, and they probably could afford like 8-10,000 a year.

I also don’t think the FAFSA asked for detailed information about my stepdad because he’s not a guardian, but I could be wrong. They got married after that tax year.

Do you think I should resubmit the FAFSA without the 529 under my assets?

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The schools don’t care about your parents’ divorce agreement. So are you saying your parents will pay a combined $4K per year, and you would have the Federal Direct Student Loan on top of that?

If they were married at the time you submitted FAFSA you have to include your stepdad’s financials.

It sounds like you need to add your stepdad’s financials to both FAFSA and Profile (if they were married when you completed them), have your bio dad fill out Profile NCP info, and remove the 529 from your assets on FAFSA, maybe Profile. @BelknapPoint How best to make these changes?

Edited to add: How much is in the 529 plan?

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@Hippobirdy CT. Most of my schools are out of state, with the exclusion of 3. I was looking at RIT, but I wasn’t sure. Thank you for the list; that’s very helpful!

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Yes you do need to update for that error.

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Before you spend a lot of time applying for scholarships, check with the schools you have been accepted to…you have to understand what they will do with your merit awards if you earn outside scholarships.

You do have to report outside scholarships to all schools, and again, if the schools don’t stack aid, they may reduce your merit award. So would be in the same place financially speaking after doing all the work to earn the outside scholarship. Make sure you get a handle on this by calling or emailing a financial aid director at the schools you have been accepted to.

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Op- big hug to you. This is very challenging.

There are a couple of facts you are mushing together, so let me help you sort it out.

There are zero colleges in America which ask “How much do you want to pay” and then charge you that. So whatever agreement your parents made with each other when they got divorced- not relevant for the purpose of your financial aid (or the lack thereof). The only colleges which get away with being absolutely and totally free are the military academies- West Point, Naval Academy, etc., because they feed and educate you in exchange for a several year commitment to serve in uniform once you graduate. Every other college is going to decide what you can afford based on the financial information you provide.

Most colleges don’t even care what you can afford (forget about what you want to pay) because they don’t “meet need” for all students. So go back and look at the colleges you’ve applied to. If they don’t “meet need”, the fact that you “need more money” to attend is irrelevant. Because they don’t have enough money to give.

Some colleges give merit aid (and it sounds like you’ve got a few of those, good for you!) and that money will be awarded on the basis of your grades, scores, maybe an essay or leadership activities, without regard to your parents finances. These may become the best options for you, even if you think these schools are below your stats. They are giving you money to entice you to go there. That means you bring something special to their campus- high grades, high scores, etc.

In addition to your parents contribution, take a look at the federal limits on your loans (not your parents loans, what you can borrow) and what you can reasonably earn in the summer, and working 10 or so hours a week. Plus what’s in your 529. That’s your budget.

The reason your mom’s husbands numbers are relevant- even if he won’t pay a nickel for your tuition- is that by virtue of your mom living with him, presumably their resources are pooled. If he’s paying half the rent, or half the mortgage, or half the groceries, or all the heating bill, that’s MORE money your mom has available to pay for college (that’s the logic). It doesn’t always work that way in real life, which is complicated, but that’s the logic. Your mom would be paying rent on her own salary if she lived alone- now she’s splitting the rent with another adult who has a job, so less rent money for your mom to pay.

Post the affordable options on the table right now and perhaps folks here can help you sort out what’s what. There are some colleges which definitely punch above their weight academically- i.e. they are much stronger than their “average” statistics, and that would be good for you to know now…

You can do this!

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Lots of them. The US average ACT was 20.8 in 2018.

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  1. If your parent was remarried when you filed your fafsa and profile, that spouse’s income and assets are required on you financial aid application forms...not optional...required. And it doesn’t matter if your step dad is willing to contribute.

Mom and step dad incomes from 2018 are required…doesn’t matter if they married after that. What matters to the schools is marital status when you apply for aid.

  1. Did your mom’s $55,000 income include any contributions to tax deferred retirement accounts? Those are added back on as income.
  2. Did you include child support on your financial aid forms?
  3. How much is on your 529. That is an asset that is assessed at the parent rate.
  4. Did you have any income?
  5. Did you apply to a Western Ct, Central Ct, Eastern Ct or Southern Ct?
  6. Do you know about CT Pact? Eligible CT high school grads can attend community colleges with no tuition cost starting fall 2020.
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@thumper1

  1. I really don’t know what happened with the stepdad situation. All I know is that my mom’s 2018 tax return had her filing as head of household and she wasn’t married at that time. It seems kind of ridiculous to include my stepdads info bc he only moved in a couple months ago, but I’m not entirely sure what happened with that. If it was required, I’m sure it was reported then.
  2. No. My mom doesn’t really pay into retirement accounts and money’s tight. I don’t think she’s saved for retirement.
  3. Yes, I think child support was like 8,000?
  4. 50,000 but that’s in my dads name, not my moms. I think it was reported under my assets.
  5. No income
  6. I applied to CCSU. I have taken so many DE courses and stuff that I have enough credit hours to be considered a “junior.”
  7. As regards for community college, while it is more affordable theoretically, I already have 70+ credit hours when you factor in Dual Enrollment, External college credit, and the credits assigned to these AP exams.

I also want to note that I am really interested in pursuing grad school for astrophysics.

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@blossom thank you! Unfortunately the stepdad situation doesn’t really work like that though): he just moved in a few months ago and still has his house. I don’t really think he even contributes to household expenses and he has 3 kids in college. He was supposed to be deployed which is why they married, but for a medical reason wasn’t. My situation is very complicated LOL

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@Mwfan1921 even if the aid is 100% merit? For example, I got the Provost and Discovery scholarships for SMU and the Academic Excellence at UHouston

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I also really appreciate everyone’s responses!! thank you so much!!

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I’m not too familiar with those schools’ practices.

Here is U Houston’s info:

Any outside scholarships should be made payable to UHouston. Note they linked to a long list of outside scholarships, which may be helpful to you: https://uh.edu/financial/undergraduate/types-aid/scholarships/

SMU:

https://www.smu.edu/Admission/AcceptedStudents/FinancialAid/ScholarshipsAndAssistance

Make sure to read the form that students must fill out if they receive an outside scholarship (linked on the above page). It doesn’t seem like SMU will take away merit money, based on this info.

But it would be worth your time to have a conversation with both schools to make sure you understand what would happen if you earn an outside scholarship.

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@Mwfan1921 Thanks for your help! I never even knew that was a thing until now