<p>Hi. I was accepted into LMU recently and the estimated cost of tuition (altogether) is around $52~53k. I filled out my FAFSA and all I got was the Stafford for $2500/semester. Due to the economy and 401 k my FAFSA showed that we had more money than we actually do. Our EFC is like 82000 which is completely ridiculous because my parents combined income is around $150k. Anyway, the only way I could afford LMU is to get private loans. I was looking into the Parent Plus Loan and other private loan companies. Do you think I’ll be rejected for loans? Does anyone have any good loan companies they could recommend? I really don’t know a whole lot about Finaid as you can probably tell. Thanks a lot. </p>
<p>Note: I got in off the waitlist there so I’m not expecting a good amount, if any finaid aid through LMU</p>
<p>401k assets are not reported on FAFSA so should have no affect on the FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>honestly i dont know what the actual reason was but all in all we dont have as much money as we did or that the fafsa shows … the efc is way too high</p>
<p>i don’t understand how my EFC is higher than any cost of college. why would I need to contribute over 80,000 a year anyway? is this an error?</p>
<p>If Adjusted Gross Income on their tax return is 150K and they don’t have any additional real estate or investments that are not retirement your EFC should not be that high. Did you list 401K amounts as assets of the FAFSA? Do you or they have significant savings?
It is not necessarily an error that your EFC is higher than the cost of any college. I have seen EFCs at 99,999. What is unusual is that with 150K in income you are showing an EFC of 82K.</p>
<p>The EFC is not what you are expected to contribute. It is merely a number used to calculate eligibility for aid. If the EFC is higher than the cost of the college then you would not be eligible for aid.</p>
<p>As ebeee said 82,000 is high for an income of $150k. I would expect it to be more around the 30- 40k unless there are high reportable assets.</p>
<p>If it really is 82k and your parents are unable/unwilling to contribute I would strongly advise against taking almost $50k a year in loans for any school. That would be a dreadful amount of debt to start your life under.</p>
<p>Absolutely too much to borrow. Go to one of the payment calculators and figure out what your monthly payment on that amount of student loan would be. You will be shocked. Don’t forget that student loans are not forgivable via bankruptcy. They follow you everywhere and MUST be paid.</p>
<p>Hopefully you have an affordable option already in your pocket. If you do not understand the FAFSA and you want to understand, then you should talk to your parents to see if they would go over it with you. Clearly if they filled it out correctly they have assets that are not in their 401K. This could be money they had saved, possibly for retirement, in mutual funds, stocks, bonds, REITs, etc. It is not impossible to amass a financial nest egg over time with two incomes if you bank one and live on the other and dependent on where you live in the country.</p>