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<p>If you are offered Stafford and/or Perkins Loans as part of your finaid package, they are NOT part of your EFC. Your EFC is what YOUR FAMILY is expected to contribute, not the college federal loan programs that are part of your finaid package. COA minus EFC equals finaid, or finaid and gap. </p>
<p>But as you say…you are not obligated to TAKE the loan. If you don’t take the loan offered to you, you would have to get those funds from elsewhere.</p>