<p>My father is my custodial parent. Our EFC, according to the FAFSA, which only considers the custodial parent, is 0.</p>
<p>FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid</p>
<p>This is a much better calculator</p>
<p>do it with "institutional method" selected. It will then give you a better idea of what the CSS profile (which itself does not give an efc) would show. This form is more like what the Ivy league (and many private) schools use. It will include income and assets from parents and step parents, custodial and non-custodial.</p>
<p>According to this calculator's directions, I should enter in my custodial parent's information along with their spouse's information if they have remarried. This means only my father's income will be factored in.<br>
If this is more like what the Ivy league and many private schools use, then I am fine. Hm...</p>
<p>okay, but I think the point we are trying to tell you is that the Ivy league schools WILL ask for your Non custodial parent and spouse income.</p>
<p>They will also very likely ask you to show how you live on an income of 10K per</p>
<p>ALL the Ivy League schools use the CSS Profile, which considers both parents' income & assets, including the income & assets of their current spouses. Many privates also use the Profile, and many of those that don't have their own forms which request information on non-custodial parents & spouses. So the FAFSA number is not of much use to you in calculating financial aid.</p>
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But this won't be the same for next year. When I completed it without a loss, our EFC was ~20,000. She flipped out and claimed she couldn't pay that much.
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<p>While schools will look only at 2008 tax numbers for year 2009-2010, they will look at 2009 tax numbers for 2010-2011. What good will it do for you to afford freshman year but have to drop out because you don't get enough aid for sophomore year?</p>
<p>Vogue, based on your dad's numbers on the FAFSA (if he is custodial parent, and make sure any child support is included in there), you will be entitled to the full Pell and full unsubsidized Stafford. That is not quite $8500, with $3500 in loans. That is ALL that FAFSA can guarantee you. The rest comes from your college of choice. The privates tend to use PROFILE and you need to use BOTH sets of parents incomes in that. Your dad needs to fill out PROFILE as well as you mom and stepdad. Some of the schools will put less emphasis on your stepdad's obigation to support you, but you need to discuss that with the school's fin aid dept as to how they feel about this. Regardless, PROFILE wants to know EVERYTHING about your parents' finances, whether they end up using the numbers at all. They have great discretion on how they use the results since it is their own money they are giving out. They are not bound by formula like the FASFA aid is. They can choose to take into account factors, and not include certain income. They meaning the individual financial aid officers at the PROFILE schools. </p>
<p>Does anyone know which schools are more lenient about stepparent's income? I know that some of the 568 schools may, but there are others, and there are those 568 schools that will not budge on assessing all parents and step parents incomes. If there are schools that are more sensitive to steps who do not want to pay, or will not pay college costs, it would be useful to know.</p>
<p>Vogue - You could try organizing your list into these categories of schools:</p>
<p>1) Colleges (like most of the ones on your wish list) that are highly selective and use the PROFILE, which will ask for your stepfather's income. For each of these schools, contact the financial aid department, explain your mother's recent marriage, and ask if there's any possibility that they would be willing to omit your stepfather's income. If they say no, it's not worth the $60 to apply there.</p>
<p>2) Colleges that use the PROFILE but are somewhat less selective. Examples: Kenyon, Carleton. I don't have any data, but I wonder if they might be more flexible about leaving out the non-custodial parent's new spouse. Again, contact the financial aid departments and ask them about their policy.</p>
<p>3) Colleges that don't use the PROFILE but do use an institutional form that is similar - with the key difference that they don't ask about the non-custodial parent's spouse. Examples: Grinnell, Macalester. Macalester asks for the PROFILE only in the first year - after that they use the FAFSA and an institutional form. Call and ask to make sure your stepfather's income wouldn't count; it sounds like probably not.</p>
<p>4) Colleges that are FAFSA-only. Examples: Centre, Beloit, Earlham, Chapman. You are safe to apply for these schools, knowing that only your father's income will count. Schools in this category are not as famous as your favorites, but you might still find one or two that would make you very happy.</p>
<p>You could apply to several schools from each category, as long as you know where you stand with each one.</p>