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<p>Is it taking him longer than four years to graduate?</p>
<p>There are a LOT of things that could factor in to your friend’s issue with his EFC. First, if there were life insurance policies upon his mom’s death and the money from those is in savings, this would be counted as an asset. Sometimes life insurance policies are a lot of money. There could have been something in both the friend and his father’s names…both would be assets. The houses they own, if in CA (not the primary residence) if owned for an amount of time could have very significant equity in them…again…assets on the FAFSA. </p>
<p>The best advice you can give your friend is to make an appointment with the financial aid officer. If there is something on his FAFSA that is NOT representative of the family’s current finances, the friend should have WRITTEN documentation to support this to give to the financial aid folks.</p>
<p>If he’s an instate resident and his income is below a certain amount, he would have been eligible for the Cal Grant. If his income isn’t that low, he would not receive that OR any federally funded aid either.</p>
<p>What kind of aid is your friend looking for? I"m not from CA, but my understanding is the BULK of their need based aid comes in the form of the Cal Grant for those who qualify for it. I don’t think there is much else.</p>
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<p>This poster is not a ■■■■■…she brings up a good point. This student HAS a college fund…it presumably was set up for him to attend college and you, yourself, said that it would support four years of study. Most students with financial need aren’t quite so lucky.</p>