<p>Is it just me or are the EFC's exceedingly high? Friends of mine all have family EFC's in the 45-50k range. Who can pay that?</p>
<p>The EFC is based on income and assets. A EFC of $45-50k would indicate high income (much higher than the median income in the USA) and/or very high assets. Remember the EFC is used to determine need based aid. As far as federal aid is concerned only people with an EFC of 4617 or below are eligible for grant aid.</p>
<p>Swimcat is right. Someone with that high of an EFC has a very high income and/or lots of assets.</p>
<p>Remember, the assumption is that parents have been saving for college all along. Someone with high income/assets presumably has had the ability to set aside money for college over the years. </p>
<p>However, for a variety of reasons, some families haven’t done so. Credit card debt isn’t a consideration because many/most of the purchases involved were lifestyle choices. </p>
<p>That said, families who have unaffordable EFCs seek other options…such as having their children go to instate schools or finding schools that will scholarships for their kids’ stats. Some kids have to go to a local CC and then transfer. Some commute to a local 4 year public.</p>
<p>A family with a $45k EFC could have their child to their state’s flagship school and pay a lot less. For instance, our state flagship only costs $20k a year for everything.</p>
<p>Correct, you and your friends have families with higher income and/or higher assets. Who can afford that? The answer is families that have lived within their means, saved money through the years and aren’t up to their ears in debt or mortgage and have had increasing income e.g., the EFC was not predicated on one year where income/assets were high for a specific reason like a severance package, an inheritance, or some other one time occurence. You and all your friends could actually have very different “profiles” with regard to how your parents managed that income/assets so make sure you are talking to your parents about your particular situation and what they can afford each year.</p>
<p>^ Actually the EFC is largely predicated on ONE year of income. They don’t care how much you made the year before that or the year before that. They also don’t care how much you will make in the current year.</p>
<p>They also don’t care how much you will make in the current year.</p>
<p>If you expect income changes, ask.
Some schools are able to be flexible, we were able to get increased aid after 9/11 when we submitted a new paystub after a layoff notice and downgrade.</p>
<p>Actually the EFC is largely predicated on ONE year of income.</p>
<p>True and not true. Yes, it is largely based on ONE year of income, but the reason why the formula determines that many families can pay 20-25% (or more) for an EFC is because the formula assumes that higher incomes should have saved some or can afford to borrow.</p>
<p>*They also don’t care how much you will make in the current year. *</p>
<p>I think that’s because they figure that that will be considered for the following year’s aid request.</p>
<p>
and a one year bump in income is harmful. it is a wrong assumption to make. if you only had the high income for one year - you could not have saved.
This probably has nothing to do with the OP but if a family has a bump in AGI - this hurts them.<br>
This is why a stay at home Mom should not go get a full time job during their kids junior year in high school and why assets that would produce a capital gain should not be liquidated.</p>