<p>I got into my dream school, but I’m way short on funds.</p>
<p>If I get the difference between cost of tuition and my “expected family contribution,” I’ll still be way short. Don’t want to take out loans.</p>
<p>The school guarantees that grants will meet the student’s “full institutionally determined need.”</p>
<p>Can anyone decipher that one?</p>
<p>thanks.</p>
<p>Institutionally determined family contribution is usually higher than EFC because the formula can include such things as siblings’ accounts, home equity, and non custodial parents’ financials which FAFSA does not use to come up with EFC. The institutions can also include any and everything like value of cars, pensions, etc. There are, however, situations where the institutional method can be more generous to the student; it depends on the specific situations both the students’ and the particular college.</p>
<p>So that EFC you get from FAFSA just determines your eligibility for government money. The individual schools have their own definitions of need and when they guarantee to meet full need, they mean nee as they determine it, not the way you define it or the way FAFSA defines it nor the way another college may define it. </p>
<p>Even if you get past that need definition, you can then run into the situation of HOW they meet your need. Few schools meet even their own definitions of need with grants. THere can be a lot of loan and work study funds in there.</p>