<p>My son is a full-time student. Will be sophomore working on his bachelor’s in the fall. I am returning to school as a grad student (different school) working towards my master’s. We’ve already completed my son’s FASFA. Do I now do an entirely new FASFA for myself?</p>
<p>Yes. Everyone does their own individual FAFSA.</p>
<p>We have 3 in school - my son, my daughter, and me. They are included in number of household members on each other’s FAFSAs and on mine. I cannot be included on theirs.</p>
<p>Thanks! In doing my son’s FASFA, I noticed I could not be included on his, so was unsure how to proceed until your reply.</p>
<p>How do I read my FAFSA? My # was 7895.</p>
<p>i don’t really understand what you mean by reading your FAFSA.</p>
<h1>, as in EFC? or #, as in the 7895th person to submit a FAFSA? not sure here.</h1>
<p>when I applied online, it told me that I wasn’t eligible for Pell Grant, and the number on my SRA was 07895. Is that the amount that I responsible for each year? I’m a mother going back to school and was just wondering if I was going to have to take out loans to attend.</p>
<p>It sounds like your EFC is 7895. You will not be eligible for federal grant money with an EFC of 7895 but should be eligible for federal loans and possibly other federal aid such as work study. Any grant money would depend on the school in question and what they offer. Some schools offer institutional grant money. Many do not.
The EFC is used by schools for determining your eligibility for aid. It does not, in most cases, mean that it is all you will be responsible for paying. Many public schools do not offer much in the way of institutional aid and federal aid nowhere near meets the cost of an average 4 year public University.</p>
<p>For instance if you are going to a Public 4 year school whose COA is $20,000 and that offers only federal aid your ‘need’ for aid will be calculated as follows. COA of $20,000 less EFC of 7895 = need of $12,105. Your ‘need’ is determined to be $12,105. As your EFC is too high to be eligible for federal grant money (Pell requires an EFC of 4619 and below and other federal grants such as ACG, SMART usually require Pell eligibility) you might only be offered federal loans and possibly work study to help meet your ‘need’ of $12105. You may not be offered enough aid to meet your need - this is known as ‘gapping’.</p>
<p>Some States also offer some aid. The criteria varies so you would need to check your state. For instance my state offers a small grant of $1000 a year but it requires an EFC below 1700.</p>
<p>There are some schools that promise to meet full need without loans. They are the more competitive school. They also usually require more financial information (such as home equity) and their own financial aid forms or CSS/profile).</p>
<p>As you can see your chances for aid are very dependent on what school you are going to and what their aid policies are. At the majority of large public Us it is likely you will have to take out loans to pay.</p>