<p>i just got back my sar report bac and my family income (which doesnt really mean much of anything given the circumstances) is about 42000 a year yet the efc is about 19970.....</p>
<p>that cant be in dollars , theyre living somewhat comfortably now, parting with half their income every year would bankrupt them, so this number seems retarded</p>
<p>is it some other figure that im overlooing or is this a value that isnt in dollars and weighed on some kind of numbered scale or what......i dont get it</p>
<p>also, that doesnt tell me if the colleges i applied to are giving financial aid based on that, so are they going to contact me on that note, or must i pursue that myself?</p>
<p>An EFC of 19970 does not make any sense for an income of $42k unless they (or you) have very substantial assets. Go over your numbers carefully and check that you have not made an error somewhere.</p>
<p>You said, “Given the circumstances.” What are the circumstances? Did a parent cash in a retirement account, get a buyout, etc? If you can expand, we might be able to offer advice.</p>
<p>we dont have any outside assets that would hike the number up that high, so im thining maybe i did something wrong, and ill look it over and see if theres a mistake cause thats not right</p>
<p>oh and the “circumstances” are that im not really going to be using their money,let alone 20k, so there wasnt much point in the whole thing, my tuition is already paid for(yay scholarships), i just wanted to see how much i wouldve gotten and maybe use some of it if i was eligible</p>
<p>but no, otherwise, normal, comfortable, mid-income family…one that definately spare 20k every year</p>
<p>i cant really find anything wrong with it, but i may look into it</p>
<p>and no, there really is no sans-job income, other than some meager 100 dollar child support that i get every month, but that stops in a few months and even then , its negligable</p>
<p>i wonder what happened…i wonder who i could ask about that, maybe email the fafsa people back and ask them to explain what makes the efc so high despite the low income</p>
<p>That makes a lot more sense. If your scholarship does not cover full COA (which includes estimates for tuition/room and board/books/travel/miscellaneous) you should be eligible for some need based aid, including some Pell grant money, which will help with other expenses.</p>
<p>my scholarship pretty much knocks tuition and extraneous costs out of the way, so all ill have to do is pay for my apartment (i laugh at the dormitory) and im all set, i never doubted that i wouldnt need the pell grant, i just wanted to do , just because why not, y’know</p>
<p>You can use Pell grant money for room and board expenses both on campus and off campus. My daughter has a scholarship that covers all her tuition and fees. She uses the refund of her other aid (including Pell grant) to pay towards her living expenses.</p>
<p>Aid is for anything included in the schools COA (cost of attendance). This includes room and board. The amount for room and board included in the COA for off campus students may or may not be the same as that for on campus students. This varies by school.</p>
<p>true, true, i suppose the individual institution would determine that</p>
<p>but then again i dont suppose it would matter, even if i spent the grant money on misclelaneous(hate that word) fees, then the money i sved there i could keep for my own use, so the surplus would work regardless i suppose</p>