The SUNY NPCs don’t ask for assets. All they ask is if the student is a freshman or transfer, whether or not s/he is eligible for in-state tuition, whether or not s/he intends to live on campus, dependent or independent status, what the family EFC is, and if s/he wants a work study job. Even putting in the highest EFC doesn’t trigger a request for assets.
Let me clarify…I’m not worried about our own situation anymore…true these basic NPCs are what threw me off to begin with (that and talking to my husbands peers)…I purely asked this question to see if other schools had such simple useless calculators. I believe CU Boulder, GT and Co Mines come to mind as not asking about assets. Among others I tested.
Please put our own situation to rest. It’ll be what it will be in a few months. I’m not worried about it anymore. I’m confident we’ll make the right decision as a family. At least we’ll be smarter when it’s #2s turn to run the college gauntlet!
@austinmshauri You are right about the SUNYs…that is just insane. The purpose of the NPC’s is to minimize surprises and yet it doesn’t ask about one aspect that would truly impact EFC. It must use that formula that FAFSA4caster uses and assumes a certain amount of assets based on income.
I am surprised that the SUNYs have not gotten a lot of heat about that and have not been pressured to change.
I haven’t checked GT, but I’d be even more surprised if GT doesn’t ask about assets since I think it uses CSS Profile, if I remember correctly. If so, then wouldn’t it redirect NPC users to the CB site? maybe not?
edited to add…GT seems to use the SAME crazy one that SUNYs use! Doesn’t GT require CSS?
http://www.finaid.gatech.edu/content/incoming-freshman
Yes, Georgia Tech uses the Profile for institutional grants and scholarship consideration.
^^
That’s what I thought! GT should not be using that lame NPC on their website if it uses CSS! Crazy!! People should complain!!!
Lame iss right @mom2collegekids and then when you get clueless people like me who don’t completely understand the financial aid process (or didn’t at that time), yeah…surprised is an understatement:-) But thank God for sites such as CC, as I have learned more in a few weeks on here than anywhere else I have looked so thank you for those of you who come back on here AFTER your college experience to help others…plus all the wonderful personal messages people have sent me as well. THANK YOU!
I do think that people who apply to SUNYs, GT, and those others should write to the FA offices and complain. Their NPCs defeat the purpose when they don’t include critical info like assets.
The SUNY NPCs ask what the FAFSA EFC range is. And the FAFSA EFC considers assets. Therefore, the SUNY NPCs take assets into consideration.
^^^
It asks that if you KNOW your EFC…if you don’t, then it asks about income, etc…but not assets.
Many HS seniors wouldn’t know their EFC
I’ve looked at two SUNY NPCs. They are both the same. They ask you to input a FAFSA EFC range, if you have completed FAFSA. If you don’t know your FAFSA EFC, it asks for income, number in the household and number in college so that it can come up with an estimated EFC, just like the FAFSA forecaster, using assumed assets based on those factors. Not as accurate as dialing in an actual FAFSA EFC, but better than nothing.
@MiddKid86
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just like the FAFSA forecaster, using assumed assets based on those factors
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Yes, but FAFSA4caster lets you CHANGE those assumed assets to correct ones.
But are the schools that don’t ask for assets estimating that there will be grants? I filled in the one on the Colorado site and it only awarded the loans and said some may be subsidized. I used a $60k income and it did not estimate Pell grants.
It was probably closer than some would like to believe. Colorado doesn’t give much, if any, aid, so there isn’t much to estimate!
I agree that there are issues with a number of schools’ NPCs and other things that they do. I’ve shot off some emails pointing out some truly confusing situations, particularly to some of the SUNYs, Whether they address them and when, who knows. It would be nice if the GCs who are dealing with these schools enmasse, would point out some of these things/ Sadly, many don’t know and don’t really care, not even addressing the issues when pointed out.
With the SUNYs or any calculator asking input for your FAFSA EFC, one should estimate the EFCE using the FAFSA4caster with actual assets. Many students don’t have any idea of parental assets and the parents hang onto that number to the bitter end when they fill out that FAFSA as they don’t want to release that info for a number of reasons. My husbands uncle outright would not release ANY info for his kids to fill out FAFSA, and in desperation, some of his kids filled out the parental part with help from their mother who was not up on the numbers herself. Doubt the assets were accurately accounted for, though the income came from tax forms. So some FAFSA estimators including FAFSA4caster does use averages based on income to guess at the assets which though I agree is not adequate for any given individual, will likely come up with average accuracy. The forecasters are only as accurate as the specific info being used.
Essentially, ones EFC is the LEAST one can expect to pay without a large merit award or a school that costs less than the EFC in the picture. Yeah, some exceptions, but a pretty basic rule. Assets figures can vary widely depending on the date the FAFSA is filed too. Always say to pay off those bills and make sure there are no earmarked funds in your assets the day you fill out those financial aid forms. PayDay or Bonus days is NOT the day to file them. If the student has money, it should be put in 529s, spent down, reimbursed to parents, because they are hit with a whopping 20% of assets without any protection allowance.
Some are also very outdated, several years behind the current school year.