<p>According to Tuition</a> Dollars & Sense, undergraduate studies tuition is $4,477.
And estimating from FINANCIAL</a> AID: 2008-2009 Undergraduate Cost of Attendance (COA) I've read that dorm is about $4100. So that's about $8500 per semester. </p>
<p>So why does it say on my FAFSA that my COA is $11,449 per semester? That's a huge amount.</p>
<p>And what does EFC of $3,453 mean? All that FAFSA gave me was loans anyway so isn't that "contribution"?</p>
<p>I believe that just means that according to the FAFSA formula, you COULD pay $11,449 per semester, not that anyone would CHARGE you that amount. The college wouldn’t make you pay more than full price.</p>
<p>COA is more than tuition and housing. There’s books, fees, food, transportation, personal expenses, etc…</p>
<p>Omgg. My efc is so high compared to everyone else. It’s like 45000! My parents made 130k last year…is that efc normal for that income?</p>
<p>It depends on your specific situation. Like if you are an only child then it would be higher or if your parents have only one child in college at the time and your parents investments and assests.</p>
<p>my efc is in the mid 50,000s.</p>
<p>That translates to more than any university in america room and board plus tuition list prices in a year. Yours is probably right.</p>
<p>Mid 50’s??? Would anyone in their right mind think that an “Expected Family Contribution” would be in the mid 50’s for a state school? </p>
<p>Though I guess it would be nice if you parents actually did contribute that…</p>
<p>Expected Family Contribution simply means that they believe your family can contribute up to that much to your college education. In most cases, though, the EFC amount is way higher than what a family can actually pay comfortably.</p>
<p>I think the EFC assumes this is what a family of that family’s income/assets level could pay out of income and savings for that year of college for that student. (I might be wrong, but I think it factors in what they think you could have been saving instead of what you were actually able to save.) I doubt many families could pay their calculated EFC out of that year’s income, and of course many of us (myself included!) think our family’s calculated EFC is unbelievably high. Some of the adults on the Financial Aid forum on CC know a LOT about how the FAFSA, calculated EFC, etc., work. It is a good place to post financial aid questions.</p>
<p>I think most colleges set the estimated COA really high so you are prepared for the worst, and that if you don’t travel home a lot or eat out a lot, you can bring your COA down to well below the estimated COA.</p>
<p>My cost of attendance was high too! I was really confused about it and asked a couple of friends who go to UT and all said that at the most they pay $17,000 a YEAR for everything put together, books, tuition, room/board, meals, everything. They said that it’s high because its an estimation, but since I got only loans for each semester I’m wondering how much I should reduce the offer if I’m not going to use all of it.</p>
<p>hmf123 - I’d love to know how your friends are paying at most $17,000 per year!!</p>
<p>For my son, at minimum, we are paying around $9,000 a year on tuition/fees, $8,400 a year on his rent (that we have to do for 12 months a year to keep the place), $4,000 a year (guess-timation on food and expenses including cell phone, cable, internet, gas, spending money, etc), and $1,000 on books. That adds up to $22,400 a year. For him (optional costs), add in his fraternity dues and club sport fees and it’s up to $29,000.00 a year - in state.</p>
<p>Where do your friends live? My son lives in a multi bedroom unit, so we’re not paying for an individual apartment which is more expensive, but he does live close by in West Campus. Maybe that’s where the cost is different?</p>
<p>My friend lives in kinsolving dorm, she’s paying instate tuition, but I really think the difference between your son’s and her fees is the tuition, she told me she pays $6000 for it.</p>
<p>It may be because of her major, my son is in the business school and I think their tuition is high. What major is she in?</p>
<p>I have another son who is (hopefully) going to UT fall, 2010, and he wants either engineering or PlanII, I hope the tuition is more in line with your friend’s!!</p>
<p>I know that in engineering, there is merit scholarship opportunity, so we are hoping for that as well.</p>
<p>It has certainly ended up costing more for the UT son than we had anticipated! (come on stock market - go back up!!!:))</p>
<p>Yeah it’s b/c he’s in business. My friend is a biology major. But I hear there are a lot of aid opportunities for engineering so good luck to your other son! :)</p>
<p>where do you find your EFC?</p>
<p>FAFSA gives it to you in your student aid report (SAR) but there’s also the EFC that’s shown on your finaid package from UT. If you haven’t gotten you finaid package yet then you shouldn’t know it just yet.</p>
<p>My EFC is 0…I get all Pell Grant, and the millitary pays the rest.</p>
<p>The general rule on financial aid at UT is the $80,000 barrier from what I recall. I believe the general procedure is that below $40,000 you get it all paid for, and between 40 and 80 you get some grants and some loans. Above $80k your package will be pretty much all loans.</p>
<p>I read this somewhere in an official UT document but don’t have the URL right now, but this has been confirmed by a finaid counselor.</p>
<p>20k a year is too expensive for my family’s income…
Most of the loans they gave me had high, high interest rates. So much for financial aid.
I don’t want to be 80k in debt when I graduate.
So I guess I’m not going to UT anymore. :(</p>
<p>But…is it hard to transfer (maybe if I get scholarships next year, etc) into their Nursing school as a sophomore?</p>
<p>What does the COA include total? Is it just tuition and room/board? If it is then mine only adds up to about $18.3k if I were to live in San Jac. and my estimated COA was the same as yours around $22k.</p>