<p>Let's say If your EFC turns out to be $20K, does that mean your out of pocket expenses will be minimum $20K regardless of the college you join? In other words, is EFC contribution taken first out of COA and then grants and scholarships?</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>Most colleges and universities do not guarantee that they will meet full need. Of those that do, very few use only the FAFSA, which means that they will get to determine what your “need” is. Each college/university website has a Net Price Calculator. Run your famiy’s numbers through those to get an idea about how likely it is that the aid package will make the place affordable for you.</p>
<p>COA-EFC=Need</p>
<p>The short answer (I think the way you’re asking it), is yes.</p>
<p>From there, the college will meet that need in a variety of ways. They might give you grants and outside scholarships and work-study and/or loans. They might be honest and say they won’t be able to meet your Need, thus increasing actual out-of-pocket expenses.</p>
<p>Two things to keep in mind- loans are a part of the FA package, which means they are considered part of need, not EFC. So you might end up paying 20k and taking out a 5.5k student loan.</p>
<p>Schools all calculuate EFC differently. If 20k is the number from running the FAFSA data, that is the EFC used by all public schools. Private schools, however, can calculate your EFC differently by playing around with how much is ‘up for grabs’ in regards with your assets. Some parents might have the actual numbers/details with home equity and retirement accounts.</p>
<p>If your EFC is $20,000, then the minimum you would pay is likely $20,000…the minimum. The only way you would pay less is if you got a very plentiful merit award. For need based
awards, your family would pay at LEAST your EFC, and at most schools the amount would be more.</p>
<p>Yes, as thumper said, you can pay less then EFC if you get substantial merit. BUT, you generally can’t combine merit and need-based aid to pay less than EFC. This is because scholarships decrease your need.</p>
<p>Example. If the COA is 60K and your EFC is 20K and the school “meets full need” and also happens to compute a 20K family payment for you, that could look something like this:</p>
<p>Grant aid 30500
Student loan 7500
Student work 2000
Family pays 20000</p>
<p>Note that you (the family) are actually paying 29500 here, since the 7500 in loan will eventually be paid back by the students, and 2000 is coming from student work during the school year. (Yes, a freshman can only take 5500 in federal loans, however some schools that “meet full need” will give additional school-based loans rather than all grant aid.)</p>
<p>Now you might think that if your student earns a 10K outside scholarship, you get to pay 10K less out of pocket. That will not be the case. If you are lucky, the school will let you replace the “self help” portions of your package first, before reducing loans. So that would look like:</p>
<p>Grant aid 30000
Scholarship 10000
family pays 20000</p>
<p>What you really pay is in fact less (no loans and if the student works that is now “bonus” money). But you still have to come up with the 20K to enroll. However the student will be eligible to take 5500 in federal loans which are not already accounted for in the package, so you could have the student take those loans and only have to come up with 14.5K.</p>
<p>If you’re less lucky, the school will just reduce your grant aid and the student will not see any benefit at all:</p>
<p>Grant aid 20500
Scholarship 10000
Student loan 7500
Student work 2000
Family pays 20000</p>
<p>The only way you pay less than 20K is if the student earns more than 40k in scholarships. If the student earns a 50K scholarship, then you only pay 10K out of pocket. And 5500 of that can come from the student’s federal loan if necessary.</p>