Important Financial Aid question! help!

thumper1
Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:10:53 +0000

However, a lot of schools are giving me no financial aid (including fafsa) expected contribution was 0555.



First of all, the FAFSA doesn’t “give” any financial aid. It’s an application form that school use to (primarily) determine eligibility for need based federally funded aid.

With an EFC of $555…you should be eligible for about $4500 in Pell grant money, and $5500 in Stafford loans for your freshman year. You might also get work study, and perhaps a Perkins loan. You might also be eligible for state aid for low income students (based on the FAFSA EFC). Check that.

If your schools are not giving you more aid, there could be a couple of reasons. First…most schools do not guarantee to meet your full need. Many schools give only federally funded need based aid. They don’t have the financial resources to give additional institutional money to students.

Second…your schools might also be using the CSS Profile or a school financial aid form. These forms consider additional assets that the FAFSA does not consider (e.g. home equity, business expenses from the self employed). Is anyone in your family self employed? What kind of equity do you have in your home? Do you have significant family assets (savings, additional real estate, etc)?

I’m confused…you say that your family income looks “impressive” but your FAFSA EFC was only $555…that would indicate a very low family income.