<p>I am going to be goin into my fifth year so i just filled out my FAFSA for 2010-2011. Just a little refresher course, my report last year said that i could afford to pay 7,000 dollars more than i actually could and had to take out PLUS loans with capitalizing interest. I live in Illinois and last year they decided college students weren't a prudent investment and cut state grants by half, so no help there. over all i got $2,000 in federal LOANS. this year they are sticking me with an even bigger check with over $9,000 more than i can reasonably afford. My father has been unemployed for a year and my mother makes barely enough to keep us afloat. i have a job and made 12,000 but most went to older student loans and other bills which is reflected in the hole that is my bank account. Whenever I inquire about this i get the run-around. many times over, the FAFSA support tells me the EFC is just a "score" and the schools determine how much i get, which is ********, its a damn dollar amount in every experience ive had with it. and my School, Columbia college (Chicago) tells me that they can only go by what the EFC tells them. Basically they both tell me it's not their responsibility. My question is this: Who in the hell do I talk to to get a straight answer? thank you in advance.</p>
<p>I am not sure what exactly you are asking. The EFC is a number generated by FAFSA. It is based on the income and assets you reported. And the EFC is used by the school to award aid. They cannot award more than you are eligible for based on your EFC.</p>
<p>What are you expecting the FAFSA helpline to do? Your EFC is based on the income and assets (both parent and student) that you have to report on FAFSA. The numbers are run through a set formula to produce the EFC. Assuming you entered everything correctly there is nothing the people on the FAFSA help line can do to change it. Do you think they made a mistake on the numbers you entered on FAFSA? If so then you can correct them. If not then, yes, the EFC does determine what aid you are eligible for. For instance to be eligible for the Pell grant your EFC must be 4617 or less. If you are not eligible for the Pell grant then you are not eligible for other federal grant money either. Neither the school nor the FAFSA employees set those limits. That is done by the government.</p>
<p>Unfortunately your income is probably hurting your EFC. Dependent students only have about $4500 in income protection plus a little extra in allowances for taxes. Anything over that 50% goes to the EFC. So say the allowance for taxes and FICA is $1000 then your income will impact your EFC by around 3250. But if our EFC is 9,000 then almost 6,000 of that is generated by your parent’s income and assets, so you would not be eligible for federal grant money even without the impact of your income. </p>
<p>Your ‘need’ is calculated by taking you EFC away from the school’s COA. Even without any need you should be eligible for Stafford loans of $7500 (as long as you have not exceeded the cumulative maximum of $31,000).</p>
<p>FAFSA produces a figure. This is the Expected Family Contribution or EFC. This is what the family is expected to be able to come up with. How the family comes up with that amount of money is up to them. Common sources are current income, savings, and parental loans. Occasionally (as in your case) students take out loans to cover part of this.</p>
<p>Each college/university defines its own Cost of Attendance or COA. </p>
<p>COA - EFC = Need</p>
<p>Very few colleges/universities guarantee that they will make financial aid packages that meet the student’s full need. Most colleges/universities leave a “gap” between the calculated need, and the actual financial aid awarded. How students and their families cover that gap is up to them. Often they do it with loans.</p>
<p>Even when a financial aid package does meet the full need, it usually includes loans. This is where federally subsidized loans go. They are part of an aid package. They can’t be used to meet the EFC.</p>
<p>In many cases, the largest part of the financial aid package is in loans, rather than scholarships/grants or work study.</p>
<p>You need to sit down with the financial aid office at your college, and ask the officer there to explain which of the figures on the paperwork they have given you is your FAFSA EFC, which is the Columbia COA, and how your financial aid package is structured. Did they give you full aid? How much is scholarships/grants, how much is work study, how much is subsidized loans, how much is unsubsidized loans? If they didn’t give you full aid, how big is the gap between the aid, and your EFC? If your family simply can’t scrape together your EFC, can the financial aid officers revisit your FAFSA with you? Have you made any mistakes in the way you completed it? If there are no errors in your FAFSA, can the financial aid officers recommend a better lender for a PLUS loan?</p>
<p>You also need to talk with your advisor and the financial aid office about financing that 5th year. Is there anything at all you could do to graduate sooner? Or, how long would it take you to graduate if you studied part-time so you could make more money by working full-time?</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
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<p>Are you a part time student? How many credit hours a semester do you take? How many credits have you earned?</p>
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<p>Was he unemployed for all of 2009? If not, and he had income contributing to the EFC, it may be possible for you to request a special circumstances adjustment through your FA office. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>