<p>My parents make about $180,000 per year after taxes and business expenses, but they may be retiring soon. :3</p>
<p>Your EFC is not zero. it is fullpay which means whatever it costs, your parents need to pay. So expected family contribution AKA EFC = 50000 or more at that income.</p>
<p>Where did you get the idea that your EFC is 0???</p>
<p>Your EFC may be as high as $60,000.</p>
<p>You need to talk to your parents about how much they’ll pay each year. you will not likely qualify for aid. </p>
<p>Even if your parents retire, they may likely still have a high EFC since they may have substantial assets/savings/investments which is what they’ll live on.</p>
<p>If you parents retire, your EFC still is not 0.</p>
<p>Your question should be</p>
<p>“Should I bother filing the FAFSA if my EFC is very high?”</p>
<p>The answer to that question is</p>
<p>It depends on the schools.
Havard or Yale – Yes, their COA are very high too.
State schools in your state – Maybe not.</p>
<p>Everyone who files a FAFSA is able to take out a Direct Loan in the student’s name only. For freshman year, that is $5500. </p>
<p>You need to discuss the college finances with your parents.</p>
<p>Also, some schools and/or scholarships require a FAFSA for merit-based aid, even if your family has a high EFC, which, as others have said, you will have. So if you think you might be entitled to this kind of recognition, then you might actually need to file.</p>
<p>Lastly, some colleges and universities will not consider you for aid in future years even if your circumstances change disastrously, if you do not apply for aid for your freshman year. Most don’t have that kind of policy, but some do. Hence the general advice to apply for your first year.</p>
<p>Before retiring, your parents need to determine whether they have enough money to pay for their children(s)’ college education(s).</p>
<p>As others have explained, what you are asking is if you should fill out a FAFSA if you are pretty sure that your need is going to come out as zero. It’s not as simple or obivious a question as it may seem for a number of reasons, that others have brought up.</p>
<p>Even if your parents make an income and have assets such that you would not be eligible for any financial aid, that is your EFC (Expected Family Contribution) is more that the COA (Cost of Attendance) of the school, your family might not have the money liquid at the time or have other uses for it so that they may want to take out some loans. You need to fill out a FAFSA in order to get a number of those loans, most certainly the federal ones like the STaffords and Parent DIrect Loans. THere are state loan programs, and in some states, some scholarships that require a FAFSA to be filed as well, even if the awards are not linked to what the financials are. Also, some schools want a FAFSA filed for merit awards.</p>
<p>At your family income level, depending on other things, there are some schools for which you may be eligible for some financial aid. Also you might need it in the future and for some schools there are penalties for not applying for aid up front as a freshman. Usually a demonstrated hardship is considered an exception, but it is an extra pain when that happens. With two kids in college, your parents retiring, depending on the asset situation, it is very possible to be eligible for aid in your circumstance.</p>
<p>Our family EFC was greater than COA at all schools where my daughter applied. One of the schools using CSS offered $20K financial aid nevertheless. So, based on our experience, yes you should apply for financial aid.</p>
<p>I was told that everyone must.</p>
<p>Also, do understand that filing FAFSA and applying for financial aid at a given college can be two separate things. You may NOT want to be applying for aid at a need aware school, knowing that you are not likely to get a dime, and you know you can afford the school and are willing to risk the small chance that maybe you are giving up a chance for some money because you really want to get in there. SO you check off the no on the fin aid square on the app, but file FAFSA so that you can take advantage of federal programs like the Direct Loans, Parent loans, maybe state money, maybe work study. Your FAFSA EFC is what qualifies you for those programs. By not applying for aid,at PROFILE schools which tend to be the ones that may be need aware in admissions, you are keeping your chances for admissions as high as possible, and yet you can tap the programs using the FAFSA numbers if you qualify (and some things like loans may have no max income ceiling). </p>
<p>This sort of thing needs to be evaluated on a school by school basis. You can file FAFSA and for fin aid at some schools and not at others, and should use those options to your best advantage.</p>
<p>yolie3000, everyone definitely does not have to (and some people don’t) fill out the FAFSA. We filled it out one year when D1 was in college (a year when we had some financial issues), but not any other time. Her college allowed this, even though she had not applied for her freshman year.</p>
<p>Each school is different. My ds school was a must school. There is no harm in doing it.</p>
<p>I was told that everyone must.</p>
<p>uh no…it is NONE of the school’s business what someone’s financial situation is if they’re not applying for aid. We’ve never submitted FAFSA or CSS, and neither has most of my relatives.</p>
<p>Do you think Bill Gates fills out FAFSA and CSS Profile?</p>
<p>Most schools, the vast majority of schools do not require FAFSA. filings. However, there are schools that subsidze ALL sutdents. No tuition no fees, or very little, and I can see where they would require a FAFSA from everyone to make sure that those who are entitled to certain grants get them and those federa/state funds help out the school. I am thinking about schools like Berea, but I would not be surprised if there are others.</p>
<p>One of our DDs attended a school for which I had to file FAFSA for merit aid.</p>
<p>Merit aid is different. A school can have all sorts of requests for merit consideration. </p>
<p>I don’t know of one school that requires all students to file FAFSA for consideration for admission (when no aid is expected/desired/requested). I’d like to see the links for schools that have such a req’t.</p>
<p>Edited to add…I can see Berea type of schools might because scholarship money is involved and admission seems to be based on low/modest income.</p>
<p>I’d still want to know which schools require FAFSA for consideration for admission when no aid (merit or FA) is being desired.</p>
<p>Persoanlly, mom2collegekids, I don’t know of any such schools, but I could see schools like Berea making the process mandatory. I don’t even know if they do. But schools that charge no tuition could make that a part of the admissions process to make sure that every single student entitled to PELL and/or state money gets it. Some families may not do it if the costs are covered, or not link the FAFSA to that school. Cooper Union, Webb, Curtis are all some examples of tuition free schools. In NY if your family income is below ~$80K, htere is state money to be had, something a lot of families don’t know, Yeah, it’s surprising but true. Alot of people have no idea how financial aid works. By requiring a FAFSA to be on file, it gives schools a way to get those monies such students are entitled to get. </p>
<p>Also FAFSA is not just for financial aid but is a clearinghouse as to whether the student is eligible for financial aid. Schools wanting to make sure the student is a US citizen/permanent resident can have that assurance if there s/he is not bounced out of the system. Some Maritime schools and other such specialty schools may find that a valuable screening device. </p>
<p>If a school requires it, you have to do it if you want to be considered for admissions. I agree that it is a very rare requirement from what I have seen–haven’t seen it at all, but I can see how that can happen.</p>
<p>Oh, I think I did see something about that in terms of being in an Honors COllege at some school. All Honors college students got free tuiton or close to that. But all Honors College students also needed to fill out a FAFSA. Apparently the school wanted to get every bit of entitlement money from those who had it. I cannot remember the college at the moment–it was a state school.</p>
<p>In states like WV, FL, Georgia, pretty much everyone completes FAFSA because it was required for the state awards. They don’t use the financial info for giving out the awards, but to be even in consideration, a FAFSA was required. Some colleges in those states could require a FAFSA from all state residents to make sure no one missed the boat on this award that the college could then integrate into their own aid and award packages. IT’s a smart thing to do this. I know of two kids who did not get these auto awards (if they had only apled, they would have gotten them). Still rankles me about the one and the stupid GC who was unaware of the award as the girl was going to a private high school in a neighboring state.</p>