<p>I have received several financial aid award letters for my daughter. Most have had a very low "gap" between Cost of Attendance and what she was awarded in scholarships etc. and my EFC. But one school has come in at nearly $10,000 as the gap. Is this usual? and do you think I can ask for more aid from the school to close this large difference? This amount on top of the EFC is much more than I can afford. I thought the EFC was what all schools subtracted from the COA and that they really tried to keep the balance as close to zero as possible. Thanks for any insight you can give me.</p>
<p>Many schools do not guarantee that they will meet full financial need. In fact, I think most schools gap (and I hope someone will correct me if I’m wrong about that). </p>
<p>I attended a particular college’s financial aid talk in November, and the presenter was completely upfront with the audience – the school gaps, and sometimes the gap is significant. They do not have the endowment to cover everyone’s full financial need.</p>
<p>Congratulations on having several very good and competitive awards!</p>
<p>Does the school guarantee to meet 100% of need? Most schools do not, and will indeed gap most of the time.</p>
<p>They did not guarantee 100% need, but I was just not expecting the gap to be as large. I was rather naive and had hoped to owe only the efc and the stafford loans. Of course this is one of the schools my daughter is very interested in. You live and learn with this process.</p>
<p>We had gaps from 0-18K over efc. Some were quite unexpected (positive and negative), given what we knew about the schools. D had to use this new info to pare down her selections, even though it meant giving up on some prized choices. It does seem like a wasted effort, but seems like this year’s FA is a bit different due to the pinch endowments are in. Hopefully, you D accepts this fact of life and is happy with her affordable choices!</p>