<p>Hi! Hoping some experienced prep parents out there can offer guidance w/ regards to all the financial aid paperwork we're submitting soon. </p>
<p>This may seem like a pretty basic question but I've received so many different answers to it (even when calling various financial aid offices) that I'm just not sure what's correct. In trying to estimate what our family might see in terms of a FA package, I know the first step many schools provide is an online EFC calculator: You plug in your $ stats & it provides a rough estimate of what you might expect to receive for FA.</p>
<p>I know these online estimates are not exact by any means & no guarantee a school will be able to provide FA. I also understand that the Parents Financial Statement (PFS) can play a big part in how that number is adjusted. However this calculator seems to be a starting point in this process so we want to make sure we're giving the correct information from the get go. So here's my question:</p>
<p>When filling out the info on these EFC calculators: it asks for "Parent Income"</p>
<p>Are they asking for our GROSS income -the amount earned BEFORE any taxes, deductions, etc? Or do they want our NET income plugged into that space? Thought this would be easily answered but going by the number of conflicting responses I've gotten from various FA sources, that's not the case. </p>
<p>Also, has anyone found that these EFC calculators can vary? Do some actually ask for GROSS & some actually ask for NET, when calculating these estimates?</p>
<p>Any other hindsight advice on filling out this paperwork or mistakes you made (but learned from) would also be very appreciated! Just want to make sure we get everything right since so much is riding on it. Thanks a bunch everyone!</p>