<p>My parent's EFC is apparently just $500. Should I even bother applying for financial aid?</p>
<p>If your EFC is $500 that means you’d be paying $500, so $50k schools would be giving you 49.5k, and $20k schools would be giving you $19.5k.</p>
<p>Are you sure you did it right?</p>
<p>If so, you should most certainly apply for financial aid…that’s what you PAY, not what they deduct. It’s expected family contribution. If it was what they deduct it wouldn’t work, since the cost of a school varies.</p>
<p>well i meant to say that they would only give me 500$</p>
<p>The EFC is not what they give you - it is the expected family contribution. With an EFC of 500 you would probably get some good financial aid.</p>
<p>
There is no way of knowing what they would give you unless you apply.</p>
<p>it said expected family contribution was 49,500 out of the 50,000 tuition</p>
<p>You should file a FAFSA.</p>
<p>Ouch.</p>
<p>You’ll still always be eligible for the Stafford loans, but outside of that, your chances are slim at any of the need only schools.</p>
<p>What exactly did you fill out?</p>
<p>If it had been any legitimate tool it would give you an EFC not out of anything but just a pure EFC, not that $500 number which means nothing.</p>
<p>[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator - Finaid)</p>
<p>Use that, and then what they give you is their Cost of Attendance minus your EFC.</p>
<p>Sigh. Yes, for the unsubsidized Stafford. That’s what we are doing, albeit, sophomore year.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you would like to receive a Stafford loan (likely unsubsidized), fill out the FAFSA. Personally I think everyone should fill out a FAFSA. It doesn’t take all that much time and you then have it on file with the school. We all hope that our family will not have a financial crisis (expensive medical treatment, loss of a job, etc) but it does happen. If this happens, you will need to demonstrate the CHANGE in your income status and you will need to file a FAFSA. If you have one on file, it’s one thing you won’t need to do. </p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that SOME SCHOOLS will not allow students to apply for institutional need based aid after freshman year IF they don’t apply for it as freshmen. </p>
<p>Did you do an EFC estimator? I’m not sure where your “numbers” are coming from. But agreed…the FAFSA (and estimators) give only the EFC …expected family contribution…not the amount the college will be expecting you to pay. Perhaps you computed that yourself.</p>
<p>Another thing…are you asking this question because you just want to know if you should do the FAFSA…or do you need financial aid to attend your school.</p>
<p>Also…are you going to be a freshman THIS year or next?</p>
<p>Agree with the others. Fill the FAFSA out of you would like Stafford loans. Are you saying you are interested in a college that costs $50,000 or so and when you calculated the EFC it came out to $49,500? If so, have you talked to your parents about how much money they can pay for you to attend school? If not, ask them NOW so you can put together a list of schools to apply to that fit you financially.</p>
<p>What we did with my D is we filed only AFTER she was accepted. She still got some aid. Her acceptance was more important to us and we expected little aid (one school surprised us). Yes, you will be too late for some $$, but we wanted to check the box, no aid requested. We didnt take stafford loans – in the current environment the interest rate doesnt make sense to us.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Kay…could you please explain this comment. Where is there a less expensive option for STUDENT loans without a cosigner where the interest is LESS?</p>
<p>I didn’t quite get than one either. The market was so bad recently, I figured we’d probably be ahead letting the kids take the Stafford (which we will pay off) and let our investments “heal” and probably be ahead of the game after 4 years. Best case scenario we pay them immediately when they come due and we’ve just deferred the pain, plus some very, very minimal interest on the unsubsidized for 4 years. Freshman fall interest was $22, freshman spring/sophomore fall was right around $100 on the total available Stafford of which only $500 was subsidized. So yes, I’m interested in your thinking…</p>
<p>The rate on Stafford loans is more than on my fixed income investments. Even though deferred, it still has to get paid.</p>
<p>note to self…look up “fixed income investments”…</p>
<p>Yes the loans will be cheaper and are more lenient in case you face difficulty paying</p>
<p>Yes, but Kayf…again I ask…can you find me a STUDENT only loan that is at a rate less than the Stafford…and requires no cosigner? I doubt it. There are not STUDENT loans that have less interest (and require no cosigner and no collaterol) that have interest rates less than the Stafford Loans.</p>
<p>Thumper, I was just explaining my position on Stafford loans. At 6.8%, it makes sense to take money out of treasuries to pay for college.</p>
<p>Kay, I agree with you IF you have the money to take out. HELOC (if you are lucky enough to have one) has much more favorable rates than Stafford. BUT we wanted our KIDS to have some skin in the game and the Stafford was the only loan that was for them only…with favorable interest rates.</p>