<p>I've just received my e-mail confirmation along with my SAR report including my EFC, which is $3,586. I read somewhere that the formula is Cost of Attendance - Expected family contribution = aid needed. I'm confused about how this need is met. None of my parents went to college and my mother is a single parent who works 16 hours per day so needless to say I've been doing this whole college process on my own.</p>
<p>Can someone please explain to me exactly how FAFSA works and where I will get the aid money from? I know I won't be automatically given over $20,000 just because my EFC is low, so any help is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>First of all, your FAFSA EFC is only used for Federal grants, loans and work study. Many private colleges also use the CSS Profile, which uses additional financial information (retirement funds, home equity, etc.) and each college uses their own set of calculations to arrive at your Institutional EFC.</p>
<p>There are two basic kinds of schools when it comes to FA, those that provide for 100% of need (COA - EFC = need) and those that do not. Those that don't may leave a 'gap' between your EFC + their FA package and the COA, that you must fill, usually with loans.</p>
<p>The other thing to be aware of is that whether or not a college provides 100% of need, a FA package is made up of some combination of grants, loans and work study. So, on one end of the spectrum will be well endowed schools like Harvard, Princeton and others that give FA packages with no loans, and on the other are schools where your FA may be very heavy to loans.</p>
<p>Does this make sense? FA can be pretty complicated and can vary a little or a lot between schools. People here will be happy to help you out with any questions you may have, most of us recognize that this is a very difficult process for a student to handle on their own.</p>
<p>3586 = your EFC
Each college to which you apply will have their own COA</p>
<p>Assume for a moment your school of choice has a COA of 23,586, just to make the numbers easy. Your family will be expected to raise that amount of money (3586) by summer jobs, part time work, etc.</p>
<p>The school will administer finaid which would likely include a Pell Grant, a state grant and school aid. It may be 100% of your $20k need or they could "gap" you. The 420k package will also include loans, at most schools</p>
<p>You will fin out your finaid from each school to which you been admitted</p>
<p>Ah, that cleared a lot up for me. So the financial aid is going to come from the institution itself, and not the government? I filled out FAFSA on the 15th of February, I've been admitted to two colleges already, is there an approximate time in which I will receive financial aid packages?</p>
<p>Also, is my EFC expected to be paid before I start my first day of college? I'll be paying my own way through college so I'm sorry if my questions seem a bit naive, but they are very critical to me.</p>
<p>Just to make sure you are clear on this, the EFC is the "expected" family contribution. If your school does not meet 100% of need your costs will probably exceed the $3586 dollar amount. What schools have you been accepted to. Do you know what percent of need they meet?</p>
<p>In answer to your last question, the full amount of out of pocket costs will not all be due before you start school. All schools will divide the amount between the two semesters, and some have payment plans. </p>
<p>No, I have no idea what percent of need they meet. I think I've seen those statistics on collegeboard so I'll go take a look right now. I've been accepted to Purdue University and University of Central Florida as of right now. I'm still waiting on University of Florida, University of Massachusetts - Amherst, Penn State, and New York University (which I know will not be giving me very good aid)</p>
<p>Purdue meets about 93% of need. Average financial aid package is around $13,300</p>
<p>UCF meets about 58% of need. Average financial aid package is around $5,900. I'm not worried about UCF though since I'm in-state...tuition is only about $3,300 and I'll be getting 75-100% of my tuition paid for due to a scholarship.</p>
<p>I don't think any of your schools meet 100% of need for 100% of admitted students so you will have to wait and see what they offer. The vast majority of schools gap, which means there's a an unmet gap between your EFC and their aid offer. You may be lucky and get aid up to your EFC somewhere, but you probably won't know until late March. I think April 1 is the aid notification deadline for these schools and May 1 is your decision deadline.</p>
<p>With an EFC of 3586 you should qualify for a Pell grant of @ $1180. You may also qualify for the Academic Competitiveness Grant (it requires you to qualify for the Pell and meet some academic requirements) - it is $750 for freshmen. Depending on your State you may or may not qualify for a State grant - our State your EFC has to be less than 1500 to qualify for the State Grant. These grants would be offered by your school as part of your financial aid package</p>
<p>At my daughters school (a State U) the tuition/fees/room & board are charged to the bursars account and any financial aid/scholarships are credited to the account at the beginning of each semester. If the charges exceed the credits the balance is due at the end of the first month. There is a payment plan of some sort that allows you to spread the payments over several months.</p>
<p>Some private schools require some payment up front - I know my friends daughter goes to a private and they started paying the June before school started.</p>
<p>The best thing is to check with the school you think you will be attending to see how their payments work. Do a search for Bursars office on the school web site - the info should be there somewhere.</p>