Colleges calculate their own EFC for you however they want based on information from the CSS Profile and FAFSA.
The FAFSA EFC is used only to determine federal aid, unless a specific college chooses to use it for the purpose of calculating its own aid.
@avaw21, please start your own thread since asking questions for yourself is considered hijacking of the Original Post.
These are valid questions^. I don’t see them as getting “worked up”.
This is the time of year when CC tends to get a number of students who are realizing that they don’t qualify for neither merit, nor need-based aid.
What I’ve found is that most of the students, as well as their families, presume that all of their high stats and coursework will qualify them for scholarships and grants, regardless of CSS profile info.
The financial aid pages on the websites, and the NPC’s are really good estimators of costs.
Out of State students at public universities are almost always full pay with the exception of military dependents.
The first in line for paying tuition and fees is the Bank of Mom and Dad.
I’m in California, and I am constantly surprised by the comments from students and their parents when they realize that no State aid is open to non-residents. The students decry: ~“but I’m a high stats student and I’m supposed to get a scholarship”. When you ask about the NPC, they have no idea what we are asking. They didn’t look at the cost of attendance and just applied with the assumption that aid would be given.
Yes, it’s a learning process, but there is a lot of information on the websites that gives direct information about costs.
We have to assume the entire cost is on us parents. If scholarships and grants are given, then that’s a bonus.