Question about Institutional Methodology

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I am a newbie to the site and want to first say thank you and let everyone know that I have learned more here from what I have read from all of you about the college entry process than any other source.</p>

<p>Also I think I may fall under somewhat unique circumstances in regard to determining EFC. When I run the available FA calculators, my EFC is actually about $8,000 less under the Institutional Methodology (IM) than it is when I use the Federal Methodology (FM) calculators.</p>

<p>Does anyone know if the colleges that claim to use IM will likely go with the IM EFC number when it turns out to be actually lower than the FM EFC number? Or in these cases do the colleges just take the lower of the two EFC numbers?</p>

<p>We are two years away still, but would appreciate any insight as this may have some bearing on the schools that we concentrate our energy on.</p>

2

<p>the federal (FM) calculator estimates what your "FAFSA EFC" will be. Everyone can get an EFC for FAFSA purposes and that is used for determining federal aid but many colleges also use it for financial aid. </p>

<p>The IM calculator estimates how private institutions MAY calculate financial aid using the CSS Profile form. But each institution uses the numbers on the CSS Profile in a different way. </p>

<p>You should research what the FA policies of each college are. Some colleges have their own estimator on their website.</p>