<p>I just filed my FAFSA last night and already received my SAR today. My EFC is about 26,000. This seems outrageously high compared to EFCs I've seen online. Last year my EFC was 5,000.
My parents made about $120,000 this year, $30,000 more than last year. My sister is also no longer a dependent nor will she be in college for 2010-11. Would those things account for such a high EFC?</p>
<p>My family is by no means wealthy. The income spike is (I believe) because my dad went from the Guard to the Army and is active duty. It seems a little outrageous they expect my parents to contribute $26,000. I'm looking over my FAFSA again right now and it seems correct. Should I contact my school's financial aid office? Or is this normal?</p>
<p>A really rough rule of thumb is that EFC is 1/3 of salary (assuming avg assets) so the number is in the ballpark. Losing a dependent and the extra salary accounts for the increase I think. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that 1) in most cases it costs more than the EFC, and 2) the EFC does not assume it is paid out of current salary. The formula assumes your family has been saving for college for years. No additional aid if savings did not occur.</p>
<p>YES…both of those things would account for the upward swing in your EFC. JUST not having your sister in college would about double your EFC. So right there…you would have an EFC of about $10,000. Then add the extra income AND the fact that your sister is no longer a member of your household (household is THREE this year…was FOUR last year), and is no longer attending college and, yes…your EFC could easily be in the $30K range with a family income of $120,000 and a family of three with one in school.</p>
<p>It can be a shock to many families. Make sure you are talking to your parents and absolutely make sure you have an application in at a college you and your family can afford. The reason that it feels high to you is many, many, many families do not have 6 figure incomes in these days of high unemployment. Good luck.</p>
<p>1) huge increase in earnings (a 33% increase - going from $90k to $120k)</p>
<p>2) sister no longer going to be in school (which halved your EFC last year).</p>
<p>3) sister no longer being a dependent (so your family is now smaller)</p>
<p>Frankly, your parents now are earning a whole lot more money, so they should be paying for your education. If not them, WHO should be paying for your education???</p>
<p>frankly an EFC of 5K with 2 in college and income of 90K seems low in retrospect.</p>
<p>when I first did the fafsa this year, I got an EFC of about 6K. I knew that was wrong (since EFC’s for years 1-3 have been 11-12K) and I realized I forgot to put in my untaxed retirement contributions of 16K (yes I maxed it out to drawn down savings since as a single parent I have less than 1/2 income protection of married couple with same amount in savings). EFC came up to 13K with correction. Yup, almost 1/2 the amount of the retirement savings.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. My parents income did jump a lot, but when I looked back at it, the combined wages for my parents doesn’t add up to even close to $120K. My thinks this has something to do with my dad’s job prior to going active duty Army (I think she was saying they reported he earned $18K when he didn’t even work there and they didn’t see that money, which I guess would mean it’s a problem with their taxes. But I could be wrong about all of that).</p>
<p>Also, if my EFC is higher than my COA last year, does that mean I (most likely) won’t be getting any aid? I’m just trying to figure this all out because I want to move out over the summer but that will depend on how much of my tuition will be covered.</p>
<p>My parents income did jump a lot, but when I looked back at it, the combined wages for my parents doesn’t add up to even close to $120K. My thinks this has something to do with my dad’s job prior to going active duty Army (I think she was saying they reported he earned $18K when he didn’t even work there and they didn’t see that money, which I guess would mean it’s a problem with their taxes. But I could be wrong about all of that).</p>
<p>Can you clarify this? Are you saying that it was somehow reported that your dad earned more than he actually did? Can that be corrected?</p>
<p>I’m really not sure. I mentioned it to my mom and she said she’d look at it and that it had something to do with where he worked. But, he didn’t actually work there last year at all (he was in the Guard but doing some training elsewhere). I don’t know if it can be corrected or not or even what the real issue is. All I know is my mom’s salary plus my dad’s salary didn’t add up to their gross income or whatever it is.</p>
<p>And I do get merit scholarships through my state and school that should continue on next year (assuming my GPA stays above a 3.0).</p>