<p>I have managed to confuse myself entirely..reading too many FA posts. </p>
<p>DOES our EFC include the child's summer job earnings? Can someone in a short list clarify for me exactly what the EFC is composed of? </p>
<p>So if the calculator says your EFC is l2,000 is that just what my husband and I have in our pockets or do we get to include in our plans what our Son will make during the summer?</p>
<p>Your EFC is a number calculated from a formula (either the Federal Methodology, used with FAFSA input, or the Institutionsl Methodology, from Profile input) which colleges and the federal government use. It’s an estimate of what your family might be able to contribute per year for your child’s college education, based on your income, assets and a few other things.</p>
<p>So it’s just a number.</p>
<p>Each college will use it somewhat differently. They generally estimate the Cost of Attendance for their school (tuition, room/board, books, miscellaneous expenses, transportation). Then they subtract the EFC to determine what your “need” is. Then they craft a financial aid package (grants, loans, work study) to meet some or all of that need.</p>
<p>“DOES our EFC include the child’s summer job earnings?”</p>
<p>FAFSA and Profile ask for your student’s earnings the previous year, and these are part of the calculation of the EFC. It’s generally expected that the student will contribute to his/her education. </p>
<p>“So if the calculator says your EFC is l2,000 is that just what my husband and I have in our pockets or do we get to include in our plans what our Son will make during the summer?”</p>
<p>If the EFC is 12K-- you should expect to pay at least 12K per year toward your student’s education (unless he lives at home). Find the COA for a school you’re interested in. Subtract the 12K, that’s your estimated need, and in a best case scenario, you might end up with a finaid package (including grants, loans, and work study) that approaches the “need.” The 12K has nothing to do with what you have in your pockets. As to plans for the son for the summer, getting a job is a good choice, regardless.</p>
<p>Thanks Blake…he has been working since he was l5 and already has his job lined up for this summer (he is a junior) so he would be working even if we were gazillionaires …I guess what I just dont get is. I see folks saying here is the financial aid package I got from XYZ school and then they list multiple line items: different loans, grants and work study with the family owing the balance. Since I never see summer expectation earnings on there so I assmued if the final bill said you owe us l2,000, a small portion of that would be taken care of by his summer work–which it sounds like your saying they factor in their caluclations…sorry to sound so rridiculously convuluted. I am thinking aloud and I get what you are saying.</p>
<p>I think that as far as the EFC they take into account summer work. There is a certain amount that seems to be excluded of the earned student income in the calculation of EFC (About 3500, but don’t know the exact dollar amount. Somone here does). Above this amount, I believe 50 cents of every dollar earned is added to increase that EFC. In other words, I think (could be wrong), that if the student earned 4000 and 3500 were exluded from the formula to determine EFC, EFC would increase by $250 (half of the $500 over the exclusion). The nice thing about a work-study award at college is that whatever is earned there is not factored in for determining EFC.</p>
<p>If your actual bottom line cost to attend a college was $12K, you get to decide where to come with that 12K. Your current income, your savings, your loans, or the student’s current income, or savings. The student loans are generally included as part of the finaid package-- so that cost would be on top of the 12K. The college doesn’t care where the money comes from, so long as the bills are paid.</p>
<p>Thanks Northeastmom…sort of what I was getting to… because you always see the work study already included as part of the straight line financial aid given by the school so technically although that is the kid’s “income”, it’s already accounted for in the package, but I see the summer income is different with a formula etc…which is sort of how I recalled it from when I went to Bowdoin. The bill would come into the house and my Dad would say you need to earn X amount this summer, and he paid the rest. I had 3 siblings in college at the time. It sucked, but I survived as I tell my son. Rofl.</p>
<p>Yes, their W/S is accounted for in the package, but that is what they can use for “walking around” money (ie: shampoo, snack not on meal plan, an occasional dinner off campus, etc.). The problem is that on many campuses even though w/s is awarded, some kids have trouble finding jobs to earn what was awarded to them! </p>
<p>Summer job, yeah, anything up to the 3500 mark is not changing the efc.</p>
<p>Thanks alot NEMom. I was lucky I always had a good research assistant or library job at Bowdoin. The pay was good and the hours were not bad at all. And I got to put the work on my resume because I would help write speeches and edit journal articles etc. At Harvard (grad school) it was even better because the fellowship first year exempted me from work, and the 2nd year a professor hired me to help grade his exams. It was fun and paid obscenely well, and he was a really nice man, complete father figure and famous in his own right. Two of the best years of my life.</p>
<p>washdcmom, You were very fortunate with your job experiences.</p>