<p>Like many others, I am trying to make sense of the FAFSA stuff. I have an account and have finished filling it out, but wanted some clarifications.</p>
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<li>There is Federal Methodology and Institutional Methodology–when you actually recieve an aid package though, isn’t it usually from the school itself? Is it ALWAYS this case?</li>
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<p>If it was the school helping its students out, then why is there even a federal methodology at all (if the govt. itself doesn’t help the student directly?)</p>
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<li><p>There is also this stuff about a PIN number. I have read a little about it, but can anyone explain more clearly what this is for?</p></li>
<li><p>For the FAFSA does your house or place of residence count towards your asset stuff? I believe it asks for that information, but I have heard on many occasions that your primary place of residence does not count toward assets. Thanks for the helps!</p></li>
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Aid awards always come from the school. Federal methodology is how FAFSA calculates your EFC. Institutional methodology is roughly based on how schools that required additional forms such as CSS determine need in order to award their own money. Schools that require CSS use FAFSA to determine eligibility for federal aid, CSS to determine eligibility for their own institutional aid.</p>
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Financial aid awarded by a school includes federal and state aid. FAFSA is a federal form that is submitted to the school, but the school figures out what aid, including federal, you are eligible for. Some schools only offer federal aid. Some also have institutional aid.</p>
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The student and one parent must apply for a PIN number. They are what you and a parent you use to electronically sign the online FAFSA. You cannot file online FAFSA without the PINs.</p>
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Your primary residence is not a reportable asset on FAFSA. It is on CSS, but schools that require CSS have different ways of treating the asset.</p>
<p>Ummm…are you sure you filled out the official FAFSA (at fafsa.ed.gov)?! You would have had to apply for a PIN number, which you used to e-sign your FAFSA (as student or parent…not clear which you are). Also, FAFSA does NOT ask for the value of your residence…ever!</p>
<p>Schools package and distribute federal aid according to federal regs…the FAFSA EFC determines eligibility for federal aid. Federal grants are clearly identified on the award letters (Pell, Perkins, SEOG, Federal Work Study, Stafford loan). IM refers to an alternate EFC that the school might use to determine eligibility for their own institutional funds. Many schools just use the FM for both but no students can receive federal aid, even loans, without filing FAFSA.</p>
<p>Thanks for your answers, swimcatsmom and sk8rmom.</p>
<p>The website is the .ed.gov website. When I first open it I get a note that tells me how they redesigned the FAFSA. I have not sent the FAFSA out yet–could that be why I have not had to do anything with a PIN yet? </p>
<p>I have also heard some people having trouble getting PINs–should I do this ASAP even if I am not ready to send out the FAFSA yet? </p>
<p>Now this brings me to something else–I used an EFC estimator for one of my schools, which had their own little calculator and for institutional methodology it was much, much lower than the federal methodology. I guess what I want to know is which EFC do they use? I know you two said that it is a combination of federal and institutional aid, so how do they determine which of the two numbers to use (FM or IM?). Again, the numbers are pretty different, so I would just like to know how that works.</p>
<p>AND about CSS and house value…is there a certain range for that where it would be counterproductive to seek financial aid? I believe I might be in a situation where I would not be considered poor, but I can not comfortably afford a college education–is it still worth it to apply then?</p>
<p>You will not be able to submit FAFSA until you and a parent have a PIN. I would do that now. We did have a problem one year with my son’s PIN. Applied for and got a PIN. Tried to use it and it said he did not have a PIN. Tried to apply for one again and it said he already had a PIN. it was a very frustrating few days trying to sort it out.</p>
<p>All schools must use the FAFSA EFC to determine federal aid. Income has to be very low to be eligible for any federal aid other than loans. Schools that require CSS will use CSS to determine institutional aid. But, very few schools require CSS, only about 300 schools out of several thousand.</p>
<p>Every school that uses CSS will have their own way of using the financial information provided. Some will not take into account home equity at all, others may cap home equity at a ratio of income, others will have different policies.</p>
<p>I see. I have heard of families that are relatively well off recieve aid though–is this ALL institutional aid? Do some private schools have their own method of awarding financial aid? Most of my schools require either CSS or a school-specific financial aid application, along with a FAFSA. So, for an aid application to be considered complete, the FAFSA has to be sent no matter what, is that correct?</p>
<p>As far as I know all schools (other than one or two exceptions that do not accept any federal money) require FAFSA for an FA application to be complete. The website for the schools you are interested in will contain information about exactly what they require. It is very important that you check the school web sites for what they require, and to make sure you do not miss any deadlines.</p>
<p>Yes, some schools give aid to people with highish incomes. This would be mostly their own institutional money unless they include federal loans. Most schools that award generous money from their own coffers will require more information than supplied by FAFSA.</p>
<p>Yes, many schools have their own way of awarding financial aid. If it is their own money, they can choose how to award it. If it is federal or state money, they must follow federal or state rules on how to award it, but have some flexibility about how to award the campus based federal aid programs (usually for very low income students).</p>
<p>I have heard that even if the whole aid package even includes ANY federal money at all, the institution can not choose to “sweeten” the whole package with their own money. Is this true? Say a student gets into a college and the FAFSA EFC Is $30k, but through the institutional method the school calculates a $23k contribution. Even if part of the package is federal money, can the school choose to lower the expected contribution to $23k (with their own institutional funds?)</p>
<p>I have a question about the FAFSA and hope someone can help me. My son is to start college 9/2011. He has a $2000 bond that we would like to acquire as the payment for the car we bought him. In doing so, his assets would diminish from about 5000 to 3000 which when doing the FAFSA, it looks like he could get a PELL GRANT of 1700. Does this make sense to do? I am mostly concerned about the income he will have in 2011 but doesnt it make sense to get the free money??? I do not want to put any red flags up for the FAFSA because ultimately we just did not get around to getting the bond cashed. Do we give him bill of sale etc. The bond has his social, name and also was bought when he was an infant, it was an education bond. Thanks</p>
<p>Using the scenario that you presented, you would most likely get aid based on the following:</p>
<p>50k- 30k (EFC) = 20k demonstrated need</p>
<p>the student would have a student contribution that would most likely be filled by summer earnings.</p>
<p>Unless your school mees 100% demonstrated need (as the vast majority of schools do not meet 100% need) has a no loan policy, your 20k need would be met in the following manner</p>
<p>probably some work study (not federal work study but work study employment)</p>
<p>grant aid</p>
<p>if your school does not have a no loan policy, your package would most likely consist of </p>
<p>a minimum 3500 stafford loan
work study (employment)
grant aid</p>
<p>funnyman4-- there’s another component to aid that hasn’t been discussed here and that is merit aid. If you qualify for that, it can be outside your need-based aid. Case in point, my D was just accepted at a college. The letter came with an offer of a scholarship. We have not yet applied for aid from that school. Another case, D was accepted EA to another college. For that school I filed the Profile early. She was accepted with a scholarship and tentative need-based aid package. My point being that every school seems to have its own way of determining need and aid. I just sent the Profile to a bunch of colleges and one wanted to know all kinds of details about our cars (???) Other schools asked for trust fund information (yeah, right!). So, just go for it and good luck!</p>
<p>I’m told that some schools also want financial aid forms to be filed for some merit aid. I guess they want to make need a partial consideration - they don’t want to give large amounts of merit aid to someone who clearly doesn’t need it and won’t have their choice of college influenced by it.</p>
<p>upstatemom, I have been aware that some schools do offer merit aid, but after checking a lot of my school’s websites, they say that there is no merit-based aid…even at a lot of the Ivy Leagues, where you would expect merit aid to be available, they say that there is no merit aid available. If this is the case, do they usually offer more financial aid (need-based)? </p>
<p>So the moral of our discussions seems to be that the aid depends on the school, and the “Expected” part of the Expected Family Contribution doesn’ seem to be “expected” at all.</p>
<p>I have heard that even if the whole aid package even includes ANY federal money at all, the institution can not choose to “sweeten” the whole package with their own money. Is this true? Say a student gets into a college and the FAFSA EFC Is $30k, but through the institutional method the school calculates a $23k contribution. Even if part of the package is federal money, can the school choose to lower the expected contribution to $23k (with their own institutional funds?</p>
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<p>The FAFSA EFC is used to determine eligibility for federal aid. Neither a $23k nor a $30k EFC is eligible for anything but federal work study (maybe) and Stafford loans (and MAYBE Perkins loans, if available to those with such a high EFC). If the COA minus the FAFSA EFC minus all need based aid (scholarships/grants/possibly Perkins loans & work study, if offered and depending on school’s packaging order) is greater than $0 the difference is called Need. Subsidized Stafford loans can be offered up to $3500 for a freshman — but if Need is less than $3500, the school can only offer the sub loan in the amount of the Need. The eligibility for unsubsidized loan is COA minus all other aid … a freshman would be eligible for an unsub loan of $5500 minus the sub loan that is awarded.</p>
<p>The $23k Profile EFC is used by the school is awarding its own aid (institutional aid).</p>