FinAid questions.

SBR
Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:28:17 +0000

From the FA policies page on Duke’s FA website, I’m given to understand that your Effective Family Contribution (EFC) as calculated using the FAFSA (for allocation of federal grant and loan funds) do not take into consideration home equity. However, EFC calculated using the CSS PROFILE (for allocation of Duke FA funds) does up to a certain cap that is based on the income level. I have no idea how all of that works out though.



Duke FA policy:

We also consider assets in determining the parent contribution. Our institutional methodology analysis first protects a portion of your parents’ assets and then considers no more than 8% of the remaining amount. Home equity is included in the institutional methodology asset analysis, although it is excluded from the federal methodology analysis. The amount of home equity considered is capped based on the parent income level . Retirement funds such as 401k, 403b, and IRA accounts are excluded from consideration under both methodologies.



Source: http://finaid.duke.edu/documents/policies/policies_ch6.pdf

So I guess if your parents just bought that really nice house and just started paying off the mortgage then it probably won’t factor too much into the EFC.