Why is my EFC so high ? help ?

Hi guys ! Fairly new to this whole thing. I decided to go to school and im in the process of enrolling. I filed my fafsa information for 2018-2019. My efc came back as 6700, Both my parents made (combined) 70,000 in 2016 however that was in 2016. Currently they have no assets and they didnt have any last year (as i listed). I dont have any assets myself either and filed 5000 in income in 2016. does that efc number make sense it seems high to me but im also very new to this so im not exactly sure. My parents will not be contributing to my school so i want to try to get as much pell grant as i possibly can. Currently it says im not eligible for pell grant. i searched everywhere for postings but i couldnt really seem to find someone in a situation similar to mine (no assets but a higher parent income). Thanks for the advice !

Not sure about the pell grant, but that efc sounds right for the income. You’re probably not gonna see anything lower than that unless you get a full ride scholarship. You can start looking for some outside private scholarships.

   Income is the biggest driver of FAFSA EFC. It also may not be especially relevant, what does your school  list look like?

That’s not really the EFC colleges will use. Likely, unless you get into one of the more generous Meet Full Need Colleges, your expected portion will be larger. Most schools expect a contribution from student summer earnings and work study, as part of your part. And many don’t have much aid money to offer, in the first place. What you get in aid depends entrely on their policies.

You need to educate yourself on how FA works, how to go about finding the right college for you that can offer discounts, making it affordable Try running some NPCs, Net Price Calculators, found on the college FA pages.

One option is community college, especially if you’re in a state that has a Guaranteed Transfer program, where you later transfer to another state U or college. (Different states run this differently.)

The EFC is not high based on your family income in 2016.

@Ronik686

Your first post is a bit confusing…so I’m hoping you can clarify.

You mention a $60,000 income in 2016. And a FAFSA EFC of $6700. That EFC sounds accurate to me as well for that income.

But then you start going on and on about assets. You say your parents have none now, etc. did you mean to say INCOME?

The Pell Grant is completely determined by the FAFSA EFC. Yours is too high to get a Pell. You cannot get a Pell with an EFC as high as yours.

There are net price calculators on EVERY college website. Did you use these before you applied?

Are your parents self employed? Do they own a business? Are they divorced? If no, then the net price calculators should be pretty accurate.

What state do you reside in? There are some states that provide decent aid to families in your income range. NY, CA, FL come to mind. But there are others.

Also, what is your GPA, and what is your SAT or ACT score? Maybe there is a school with excellent merit, or a school that meets full need for all that would work for you. There are some colleges still taking applications.

What year in college will you be when you re-enter? If a sophomore, you will get $6500 in Direct Loans. But that’s it.

Have you received a financial aid award from the college yet? Maybe they will give you some need based aid.

And…you need a job! Now. And while you are attending college.

Income too high for a Pell Grant. Even if you were to somehow have a bit lower EFC to qualify for Pell, you might only get 250 per semester. Pell is graduated…so unless EFC is like 1000, you’re not going to get much each semester. The max Pell is less than 3000 per semester for an EFC of ZERO

As mentioned…get a job…commute from parents home to a local school so you don’t have living costs.

Why aren’t your parents contributing? (In the us, parents are first in line to pay for college.) Have they been blindsided by all these articles about loans and expect you to “pay with loans” and not realize you can borrow 5.5k, that’s it - not enough even for dorming?
Where have you applied and what did the NPC say? Because in most cases your EFC is the minimum you’ll have to pay - and the NPC is a better gauge of what each college will expect.