If your parents have savings, that is a death knell for need-based financial aid. Our EFC exceeds our annual take home pay after taxes. That doesn’t take into account the fact that out of that money we need to pay for clothing, food, shelter, transportation, and insurance. It is ludicrous to expect families to contribute more than their entire take home pay to college education, but that is probably why we have an entire generation saddled with college debt. We refuse to partake in that system so my daughter will go where she receives merit aid.