I’ve found some interesting information on how EFC is calculated for the Institutional Methodology (Profile). Of course, colleges can use their judgment and do whatever they want, but many use the IM as the starting point.
Total family income = bio parent income + stepparent income + unearned income (dividends, child support, etc.)
Bio parent income share = bio parent income + 50% of unearned income
Bio parent percentage of EFC = Bio parent share/total family income
So if bio parent earns 50,000, stepparent earns 110,000, and unearned income is 20,000, total family income is 180k.
Bio parent income is $60k. If total EFC is $30,000, the bio parent percentage is 33%, so the expected parental contribution will be $10,000.
Do the same for the NCP, and add them together.
I’m not using assets in this example, but my understanding is that it likewise uses 50% of assets, regardless of who owns the assets.
Interestingly, they use 50% of child support, treating it as household unearned income, regardless of who the child support is for (whether the bioparent is receiving child support or the stepparent, which could be true of the stepparent has other children).