<p>I hope someone can clear this up for me. I was under the impression that EFC is really only for awarding grant aid purposes. In the whole scheme of things the family is responsible for...</p>
<p>Cost of attendance - scholarships/grants/staffords = the amount family pays, regardless of EFC.</p>
<p>I just see so much emphasis being put on EFC that it confuses me a bit. Thanks in advance for clearing this up for me :)</p>
<p>You are right, but EFC is used in another way …</p>
<p>Eligibility for NEED BASED aid is limited to COA-EFC. This is important to know. For example, need based grants and subsidized loans can be reduced if you bring in an outside scholarship or get a state grant that was not originally in your aid package. While you can replace the sub loan with unsub, the need based grant will be gone forever in this case.</p>
<p>Another thing EFC is used for is institutional purposes. For example, I worked at a school that did not award work study if the EFC was > $10,000. We also used the EFC to package institutional aid (we awarded a combination of EFC, Pell, SEOG, and institutional grants/scholarships up to an annually determined amount). In this case, the EFC is used in computer packaging.</p>
<p>*** thanks again! *** :)</p>