<p>After receiving my W-2's from last year, I updated my PFS accordingly. Due to the economy, our income was noticeably down, but strange thing is the EFC stays almost the same. The word "crap" is the first thing coming to my mind.</p>
<p>So, no BS?</p>
<p>Still thinking … the moment you saw someone putting one of his kidneys on e-bay … that’s a telling sign we are going :-)</p>
<p>Schools don’t have to go by the SSS PFC. It is a suggested guideline to help the bs determine how much aid to allot. I would suggest writing to the FA person at your child’s school (s/he is a returning student, right?) and letting them know that you are disappointed by the SSS # because of the reduction in your earnings last year. We had the same thing happen and our award went up on appeal. Make sure you can document the issue.
Good luck.
zp</p>
<p>My daughter is an applicant for the 9th grade. It is clear she cannot go without some FA. As a parent, I would like to get a ballpark number to plan ahead.</p>
<p>Understand that SSS# is just a guideline. But what I am having issue with is, by plugging a noticeably reduced income from last year, the final EFC barely changes for us. Also taking in account that SSS is not looking at state taxes, cost of living, I am now very convinced its number is very imprecise. Hopefully BS will see the obvious and use their own calculations.</p>
<p>I agree - the standardized form is for guidance, but the schools have the final word on how much they decide to award to parents. Once the amount is determined - there are options for payment including breaking it up into 10 monthly installments if you don’t want to borrow it. You can also ask the school if they’re able to make minor adjustments to the aid amount. Doesn’t hurt if the circumstances dictate it.</p>
<p>In their website, they say that there are FA and merit based support. Does anybody know about merit based support? Hope to get enough support for my D from school</p>