An important concept I need to understand

sybbie719
Sun, 22 Aug 2010 06:17:29 +0000

When I say that the EFC is 20-25k a year, I mean that my parents wouldn’t be able to pay all of that. So what I mean is, a lot of it would still be on me.



Actually, it is not going to be on you. It is going to be on your parents. Out side of the max 5500 in staford loans, with an additional 4000 if your parents are not creditworthy enough to take out a PLUS loan, no one is going to loan you that kind of money.

Back to square one. You need to have a realistic talk with your parents as to how much they are willing to borrow/pay for you to attend college.

If the 20-25k EFC is based on using the FAFSA4caster or another calculator to determine your Federal EFC, then this is most likely in the neighborhood of the amount your parents would have to pay no matter where you went (unless you receive merit money).

Remember that Dartmouth also uses the CSS profile, which means your EFC could be higher because it factors in things that are not covered on the FAFSA.