<p>"My family makes less than 20K a year…
and yet we’re expected to pay 8K a year…
isn’t that nuts!!! "</p>
<p>Chicago looks at the Profile figures, which also includes family assets (home equity and businesses as well as accounts in your name) and assumes that students will work and take loans. Your portion of the institutional EFC assumes that you will work for your education as well as incur some debt - this is somewhere around 4 or 5K. This means that your folks are expected to come up with 3 or 4K a year.</p>