<p>I’m not done with the FAFSA yet but according to Collegeboard’s EFC calculator, my EFC is zero. I’ll be attending Cornell University.</p>
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<p>Aid starts to downturn after around AGI of $8,000, but that generally affects grant amounts, and not loan amounts (up to your COA). I know people with AGI’s of 10k that are only getting 80% of the pell grant, and some around 15k that recieve less than half of the pell.</p>
<p>It’s my understanding that the formula isn’t universal, so talk to your financial aid office. (you will likely have to call up one of counselors and not a secretary. You can email, because giving info like that away is touchy to some schools.) Most of the time it’s based on a modification of the area’s poverty level. Eg. 8k<em>1.5 or 16k</em>.75 an so fourth.</p>
<p>As Nikkil (who is a financial aid officer) said - the AGI is taken into account when calculating the EFC. Once the EFC is arrived at that is what is used to determine federal aid - the AGI does not have any further affect.</p>
<p>
This is completely untrue for FAFSA and federal aid. The formula is universal. There is no modification for an area’s poverty level. The biggest complaint by a lot of people is that FAFSA does not take into account the area where people live. </p>
<p>The Pell grant is completely EFC driven (other than enrollment - less that full time will reduce it). There is a set table that is used to determine exactly what you Pell will be. For 2008-2009 an EFC of 0 meant the maximum Pell grant of $4731. The amount of Pell goes down as the EFC goes up until at 4042 there is no Pell eligibility. If you have a 0 EFC you will get $4731 whether you live in New York or Oklahoma. </p>
<p>The EFC formula is also a fixed formula. Income and asset and family information is run through the formula and produces the EFC. Again if you live in New York or Oklahoma the formula is the same - the only slight differences would be in allowances for State taxes.</p>
<p>Our experience is that federal aid is based on EFC, as others have said, and is not flexible based on cost of living. Separately, private colleges may base some grants on whatever they damned well please, by which I mean that they may be more generous with an EFC=0 student with a lower AGI – or they may not. My son’s school, when asked, was willing to tell us what amount of increased AGI would reduce his aid.</p>
<p>Bear in mind that the FAFSA EFC of zero does not necessarily translate to the same or sometimes even close to the institutional EFC that college that also require additional forms such as PROFILE use. If your parents are divorced, for instance, and you have a noncustodial parent, his/her assets and income along with the spouse’s will also be considered. Home equity in the primary home can also be an issue. Also, such schools could also take 401 K and 528 funds also into account. When it comes the college’s own money, there can be a lot of leeway in what counts and what doesn’t.</p>
<p>Yet those schools include the ones that can be the most generous in meeting full need. They have the endowment and often have generous formulas. </p>
<p>When you need financial aid, it is wise to have a good variety of school on your list including a couple of financial safeties. </p>
<p>We have seen all kinds of best deals among kids we know. One young lady whose family I know well is commuting to a private school, paying only $3k tuition. For them the best deal of all.</p>
<p>I’m sorry but if you could explain this a bit further it would help so I don’t tell people the wrong thing in the future. </p>
<p>I know that the formula for determining efc for the fafsa IS universal, isn’t determining the amount of aid given by each college separate? I don’t understand how I could get ~$4700 in pell this year while my friend gets ~$4000 and we both have an EFC of 0. </p>
<p>The only other thing is that my AGI is very low, while his is around 11k.</p>
<p>Are you saying that anyone below a certain AGI threshold will always get an EFC of 0?</p>
<p>What’s the cost of attendance for your two schools? They won’t give you more Pell than the COA.</p>
<p>Pell disbursement table for 2008-2009</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P0801Attach2008paysched2.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P0801Attach2008paysched2.pdf</a></p>
<p>If you are both have a 0 EFC you should both get the maximum Pell of $4731. There are a few things that might make someone get less than the full amount (the AGI would not be one of them). Off hand I can think of
- If the school’s COA is less than the maximum Pell (unlikely).
- If a student is not enrolled full time. This would reduce the award.
- If a student has a lot of merit aid - scholarships (outside or institutional). If the merit awards were high enough they might reduce the financial need which would reduce the Pell. For instance if the school’s COA was $17,000 and there were scholarships of $13,000 then the remaining ‘need’ would only be $4000. Neeed based aid + scholarships + EFC cannot exceed the COA so this circumstance would reduce the need based grant.</p>
<p>For 2008-2009 a parent AGI of <$20k made a dependent student eligible for a 0 EFC as long as certain other criteria were met (mainly eligibility to file a 1040a or 1040ez ). AGIs of over $20k could also have a calculated 0 EFC depending on other factors such as number in family, other income etc. There is not a ‘cut off’ per se as more than one factor can affect the final EFC (assets etc).</p>
<p>This year the cut off for the automatic EFC is increased to $30k (again with some other qualifying factors). If I have a 0 EFC with a $25k AGI and you have a 0 EFC with a $8,000 AGI we are both eligible for maximum Pell. The AGI has already been factored into the EFC.</p>
<p>off the top of my head, per year, 5300 here at MTSU, i think about 5500 at UTK (I went there also for one year)</p>
<p>
Oh wow that’s interesting! I knew about the second part as I tried to file for special circumstances but ended up just having to wait until I turned 23, but I didn’t know about the first part regarding the parents AGI. </p>
<p>Anyway, I think I understand now. So AGI only directly modifies EGC calculation? I’ll have to recheck with him to see if maybe I got something wrong. Can you automatically get efc of 0 below that cap? Or is it possible to have a efc of say 500$ with an income around 10-15k?</p>
<p>My parents both make under 30K combined. Last year under 20K.<br>
But I still respect my parents for there professions (minister/social worker)</p>
<p>Good Luck to ALL!</p>
<p>FYI - An independent student without a dependent other than a spouse is **not **eligible for the automatic 0 EFC. </p>
<p>An independent student with an AGI of $15k would probably have a higher EFC than 500 as an independent students get between $6-7k income protection and any income over that 50% goes to the EFC.</p>
<p>It is possible for a dependent student whose parents earn $10-15k to end up with more than a 0 EFC. If they are ineligible for the automatic 0 EFC for some reason then several factors could contribute to the EFC - assets above the protected protected parent asset allowance, student has income over the protected amounts ($3-4k for dependent students), student has reportable assets (no asset protection for students).</p>
<p>My first post here. </p>
<p>I am an independent student with kids and a hubby. My EFC is 0. Just filed the FAFSA yesterday for the Fall of 2009 semester. I will be going to Kent State University (A branch, not the main campus.) and going for a nursing degree. My grants should cover everything. (They have in the past.) Of course I will check exactly what the cost is vs. the grants and if need be I can take out a loan or try for some scholarships. </p>
<p>I have read the entire thread before posting and I have to say that when I was in a community college everything was paid for. I usually got about a $1,000+ rebate check back each semester. I checked the national FAFSA and for semester of college I have gone too I noticed that there was at least $1,000+ that could have still been paid for that year. </p>
<p>Personally, I think it is sad when someone has an EFC of 0 and they still have to try to come up with a way to pay for college on their own. I’ll update when I get the actual letter stating how much I will get through grants.</p>
<p>You can check to get a snapshot of how good your financial aid package will be by checking out these two sites.</p>
<p>[FinAid</a> | Answering Your Questions | No Loans for Low Income Students](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/questions/noloansforlowincome.phtml]FinAid”>http://www.finaid.org/questions/noloansforlowincome.phtml)</p>
<p>[Project</a> on Student Debt: Financial Aid Pledges](<a href=“http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php]Project”>http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php)</p>
<p>Some of these colleges are hard to get in though.</p>
<p><strong>Pell disbursement table</strong></p>
<p>When will a table like this come out for the 200/2010 school year?</p>
<p>Good question. They have to finalize what the grant will be before they can make the table. Last year it was supposed to be $4,800 but once the budgets were finalized it ended up being $4731 which I thought was a random sort of number. For now I would guess that FAOs will have to go by the old table until a new one is distributed. It was not originally scheduled to increase again until 2010-2011, but who knows.</p>
<p>inspiringmind - it depends on the tuition costs at the school. My son has a 0 EFC and the Pell grant more than covers the tuition at the CC and leaves him with some money for other expenses. That with a Stafford loan helps him with living expenses. If he was at the 4 year state U my daughter is at, the pell would not come near to covering the tuition and fees. She has the Pell, SEOG, and ACG and together they do not quite cover tuition and fees. Luckily she has merit scholarships as well. State schools often do not have much in the way of institutional aid so federal and State aid is often all there is.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom;</p>
<p>thank you for the response. So I can kinda look at the 08 chart and get an idea of my Pell award for 09 school year? How exactly do they figure how much per quarter (semester) you get.</p>
<p>For the 08 year my EFC was 1100 or 1101 and I went winter q. (now) and then spring. My award per q. was 895. My EFC this time is 0 and I will go fall, winter, and spring. So will my award be split between those 3 q.</p>
<p>BTW I go to a community college and that 895 plus a few extras way covered my costs. Basically I got a full (free) ride.</p>
<p>swimcatsmom,</p>
<p>Regarding your daughter’s SEOG, how much did she get? I’m asking because I want to know how the algorithms for determining SEOG eligibility works. I know it says “for students with the highest financial need” but that sounds somewhat vague.</p>
<p>Also, how much loans did she take out and how much for work-study?</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your time.</p>
<p>It is vague. My understanding is that each school makes their own decision about how to award SEOG. Unlike the Pell, where a student gets what they are eligible for based on their EFC, SEOG funds are limited funding and are campus based awards (I think that is the term). Each school is only given a set amount of SEOG $$s to award and once it is awarded there is no more. Each school sets their own criteria for how to award it. I am sure it varies depending on the demographics of each school. I *think *my daughter’s school awards it to those with a 0 EFC. I Her first year her EFC was low but not 0 and she did not get it. Her 2nd year it was 0 and she did get it. So for a 700ish difference in EFC she got an extra $2k in grant money. Another poster on CC said that at their school a 0 did not necessarily get the SEOG, but that it seemed to go to students with dependents. So as far as I know there is no algorithm for determining SEOG. I think the 0 EFC is a fairly common requirement but there is no standard requirement. The maximum SEOG also varies by school (and is set by the school I believe). At my D’s school it is $2000. At the local CC it is only $200.</p>
<p>At my D’s school the maximum for WS is $3400. (this also varies by school) She was awarded the maximum her 1st year but converted half into a loan as she had an outside job at the start of the semester. She ended up quitting the outside job as it was very stressful trying to work the specific hours they needed. She ended up not earning the full remaining balance of the WS because her WS job was related to a professor’s research and the research kept getting delayed. This year she kept the full WS of $3400 and it looks like she will earn the full amount. In fact she will probably run out of WS award a little before the semester ends.</p>
<p>With the SEOG and WS this year her loans this year are very low. last year they were $3-4,000.</p>