<p>Does anybody have O EFC at a 4 year college that is around 215 a credit hour (without fees)</p>
<p>If so, can you tell me what your calculated budget from fafsa was?</p>
<p>Not certain what you are asking.</p>
<p>EFC is the only thing calculated from the FAFSA. If you have a 0 EFC, then that is the FAFSA calculation.</p>
<p>If you are asking what you can expect to spend out of pocket with a 0 EFC, that depends entirely on the schools you are applying to. Each school can treat that EFC differently. You might spend nothing at one, but spend $10,000 per year at another.</p>
<p>Neither of those is what I am asking.</p>
<p>I wanted to know if anyone out there has a zero efc, and is attending a 4 year university around 215 a credit hour?</p>
<p>I was wondering what your fafsa calculated budget is on your notification of benefits?</p>
<p>Western Illinois University specifically - but I know that’s a shot in the Dark, I am just trying to get an estimation of the budget they calculate from 0 EFC.</p>
<p>There is no such thing as a FAFSA calculated budget. All FAFSA does is calculate your EFC and send it to the school. After that everything is done by the school. The COA for a school is calculated by the school. The financial aid package is put together by the school. Having a 0 EFC does not necessarily mean you will pay 0 - the EFC is just a number used to calculate eligibility for aid.</p>
<p>Each school calculates their own COA (cost of attendance), The COA usually includes an average tuition and fees/books/room & board/travel expenses/personal expenses. You should be able to find this number somewhere on your school’s website. This cost of attendance is the same for a student whose EFC is 0 or 5,000 or 20,000. There is no different ‘budget’ for someone with a 0 EFC.</p>
<p>Your financial need is your school’s COA less your EFC. So if the school COA was $20,000 and your EFC was 0 then your ‘need’ would be $20,000. It will depend on the school and their financial aid policies how and if your need will be met. Some schools offer only federal aid and they may not meet your full need. This is very common. The maximum Pell grant for 2009-2010 is $5350 and even if you get the Pell and other possible federal grants (ACG = $750 grants, SEOG varies from school to school - at my sons school the max is $200, at my daughter’s it is $2000) that would not meet full need. You would probably be eligible for loans and work study. All this federal aid added together is not generally enough to meet the full cost of even a 4 year state U.</p>
<p>Then there are schools that promise to meet full need without loans (generally very competitive schools). These schools often require more detailed financial information from you. And there are schools that promise to meet full need but may include a lot of loans.</p>
<p>But, as I said, there is no such thing as a FAFSA budget.</p>
<p>Here is a link to the estimated COA worksheet of WIU</p>
<p><a href=“Financial Aid - Home - WIU”>http://www.student.services.wiu.edu/fa/pdf/COA_2009-2010.pdf</a></p>
<p>The average total budget is $22,420.</p>
<p>Not fafsa calculated budget, I meant the budget the school determines from your fafsa on your notification of benefits.</p>
<p>I know it does not mean I will pay zero. </p>
<p>I am just asking for anyone to share thier budget as listed on thier notification of benefits, if they have a 0 efc and a school around 215 a credit hour.</p>
<p>I know the maximums of everything, I work for a college. </p>
<p>I am just asking for personal references, examples.</p>
<p>I have a different budget listed on my notification of benefits than others I have seen from friends. So apparently you can have a different budget depending on all circumstances averaged together.</p>
<p>More specifically my school had my budget listed as 13,175, and then went up to 16,675. So how could it be the same?</p>
<p>0910 FAFSA question 104 (where you indicate the schools to have the FAFSA sent) gives you 3 housing options - “on campus”, “off campus” or “with parents”. Different housing choices create different budgets. Your EFC has nothing to do with your budget, only (possibly) your award.</p>