My daughter and I completed the FAFSA and I was surprised at the climb in our EFC. It jumped from 7473 to 11517. I figured there would be a climb since we were going from two in college this current school year to one next year (with subsequent household number dropping from 4 to 3 on the assumption that the current college senior will be employed and living on her own). However, I thought it would be offset somewhat by a drop in our income. AGI dropped from 82K down to 71K. I really wasn’t expecting to see this. Does this seem to be in line with what would be expected by those who are more familiar with this or could something have gone wrong? We did switch an IRA to a Roth in 2017 so we had that taxable income but it was only $2800. I’m just making sure this all sounds right so I’m not letting something slide that should be corrected. My older daughter never had an EFC like this when she was the only student.
Seems right. If you had two in college when the EFC was $7473, it would have been ~$15k if just one was in college. It is $11.5k this year with one in college and a drop in income, so down from $15k.
Seems right.
That seems about right to me also. The reason it’s not $15,000 is because you had a drop in income.
If you run a quick Google for EFC formula 2019, you should get links to the PDFs for both 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. Print them out and work the numbers through on paper to see what has happened.
Thanks, everyone! I’m interested in seeing what kind of financial aid is offered. I don’t have high hopes after seeing this, so I’m not sure what we will do. The cost of attendance is $14,000. We only had to come up with $2500 this year for this daughter because of scholarships but they were freshman year only but we are very grateful for them. The subsequent years are a different story. I’ll look at the EFC formula since it would be nice to see how it all works for the future. Thanks again.
Your EFC is in excess of the cost of attendance. That being the case, the college will not offer you need based aid.
Your daughter will be able to take a $5500 Direct Loan in her name…but you already probably know that.
Next year she will be able to take $6500.
She should try to get a summer job and save save save. In addition, she should be able to work 10 or so hours a week while on college. That money should help too.
She should check with the FA office - often! There might be some scholarships controlled by the department available to sophomores, there might be some work study available.
Since you only had to come up with 2500 for this year, due to one year awards, why not use this year as a time to sock away some money to put towards the increasing EFC for next year?
I’ll definitely be on the hunt for scholarships and she will be working this summer. All of our kids have been required to do that. The big problems in the farm economy right now have been a challenge. That easily can make the difference between affording a year of college or not. I hope the trade war can be settled soon in a favorable way because the cost to the farmers has been high. Lots of small family farms aren’t making it. I’m glad it’s not our only income but we depend on every dollar. That’s why I’m planning this far ahead for next year. Thanks for your help.
But if the older sibling graduates and you will have one in college instead of two, wouldn’t that free up some money?
mommdc, if we had a fixed income amount that might be the case. With farming, our income can fluctuate by tens of thousands of dollars, even though we are very small-time. This is a terrible year, but of course the FAFSA is based on 2017, not the current situation with the farming (and so many other people affected in their industries by the trade war too). A few years ago, older sibling was even getting a small Pell grant and some other sort of grant towards room and board. Her tuition is covered by a full-tuition academic scholarship which we are thankful for since it’s a private college. That’s the only way we could swing that. We are only paying $1000 for her and she is taking out a loan for the balance of her room and board this semester. I know it will all work out. We always find a way. We put our medical bills on a payment plan to try to spread that out a bit, too.
You can appeal the need based financial aid based on the change in income.
twoinanddone, thank you. I will see how it all ends up when 2018 ends.
Once the FAFSA has been submitted, you can ask to meet with the FA office, and file the Special Circumstances paperwork which will allow you to give them current figures. They may be able to adjust the need-based aid then.
Also, even if your daughter doesn’t absolutely to borrow the freshman year federal loan, she could go ahead and do that and stash the money in the bank for future years.