<p>i think those commercials are so funny.</p>
<p>Yeah, the only one I don’t like is the “honey, you look like a million crispy chicken nuggets.”</p>
<p>There are like 5 crispy chicken nuggets in each box. So that’s like saying she looks like $200,000.</p>
<p>i never thought about it that way. prolly b/c i don’t eat much fastfood so i don’t know how many crispy nuggets come in a container.</p>
<p>One more thing I should ask. Since my EFC is way above the costs of any school, should I bother with Profile or the institutional forms? I realize that I won’t get any grants, but would I qualify for loans if I filled out these forms?</p>
<p>yes fill out the FAFSA then you can get Stafford loans- even Bill and Melindas kids can get Stafford loans- unsubsidized</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>‘a degree from a community college isn’t a degree it is a certificate.’</p>
<p>Actually, a CC will grant both certificates and Associates degrees.</p>
<p>I know that they call it an AA degree which can be in either AS( associate of science) or AA (Associate of arts)
but when most people think of a degree it is a bachelors degree, otherwise it is just two years of college which may or may not transfer to a 4 yr degree granting institution</p>
<p>Ok I’m worried. My dad makes about 75K a year teaching but he’s retiring this year, and my mom makes $8k a year teaching private piano, and our EFC was $41k. Doesn’t that seem high for a total family income of about 80k(soon to be more like 70), or it just me? I’m an only child and we don’t have any mortgages, but still. I’m thinking I’m screwed here because there’s no way my parents are going to shell out more than half their combined income on college each year when I could “live at home and go to the local state university for almost nothing”. Blah!</p>
<p>A big hunk of that EFC was probably assets, yours and your parent’s. With a bit of planning, you could have (or perhaps still can) lower your EFC by managing your assets.</p>
<p>Did you show any assets in your name? Did they show significant (over 40K or so) assets in the form of non-retirement savings or investments?</p>
<p>Cindy</p>
<p>That does sound high for a FAFSA EFC. Does your family have a lot of assets? FAFSA doesn’t take into consideration the value of your primary residence nor assets in retirement accounts.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks for the info. I checked and apparently my dad was having a senior moment and included an extra $100K of a retirement fund. However, that only lowered the EFC to $35K, because I guess there’s still like $58K in an education fund for me. Too bad my parents were all “yay, we’re saving for college!”, huh?:)</p>
<p>Yeah-- good that they saved, bad that they saved in your name.</p>
<p>That 58K gets assessed at 35% the first year, increasing your EFC by $20,300. If it was in your parent’s name, it might have been below the asset protection allowance (student doesn’t get one of those). Even if half of it exceeded that allowance, it would only be assessed at about 6% the first year, or about $2,000.</p>
<p>So putting it in your name instead of theirs could have been an 18K per year mistake.</p>
<p>(Double check to see whose name it’s in).</p>
<ol>
<li>This is my EFC for entering LS. I applied the three schools here in Alabama. The university of Alabama School of Law, Cumberland, and Jones Law School. Jones is the only unaccredited institute. I fear that I will not get into Alabama, which is the cheapest school at $9K per year. I have a 3.3 CGPA, so I would have to score about a 164 on the LSAT, and I just dont feel that confident about my performance a couple weeks ago. I think I will be a good candidate for Cumberland, however they are a private school, so tuition is $25K per year. I have no clue how I will fund this. I know I can get $18,500 in Perkins loans and $5K in Stafford loans (or the other way around) but I still have to have money to live on, since I will be quitting my $35K per year job.</li>
</ol>
<p>Yup. Definitely in my name, because I guess my grandpa started it for me a while back, and it makes the EFC go from 14K to 35K. Awesome! (ahh!)</p>
<p>Cindy
I don’t think there is much you can do now about your EFC, but when it comes time to pay for college, use the money in YOUR name (in your educational fund) first…try to spend that down. That way, your EFC will be lower the second and subsequent years.</p>
<p>Yeah-- spend those assets first. In fact, if you’re considering some major expenses (a car, for example, or a computer, or a trip), try to make the expenses first, and then complete the FAFSA update after when you have a lower balance in your account.</p>
<p>You can also help your parents with some household expenses to pay down that account some, so that when you fill out the FAFSA next year, it will be much lower. Just document all expenses in case the FAO queries you about the drop in student assets (which will result in a lowered EFC and a better aid package).</p>
<p>Yeah, I think we might buy me a laptop now instead of at graduation or something; we’re trying to figure something out. Thanks so much for all the advice and help on here everyone!</p>
<p>I totally agree with some of the previous statements that the cost of living should factor into our efc. Like some of you, I live in an expensive metropolitan area (New York City) and my parents have an income over $100,000. When I first found out my efc, both my parents and I were very surprised(of course i’m the oldest child in the family so the whole college process is new to us). I’m wondering if my efc makes sense for my family’s financial status. Here’s my info: EFC of $37,000, income of $105,000, no assests except my parents have about $4,000 in the bank. One of my parents is also retired and is receiving a pension of $20,000 a year(I included this in the total income). The $37,000 efc is about the exact cost of tuition + room & board at my first choice, so does this mean my family will be paying full for everything?</p>
<p>Thanks,
-Julie</p>
<p>Julie-</p>
<p>EFC of about 37K sounds like it’s in the right ballpark-- based on parental income alone.</p>
<p>Parental assets are below the protection allowance, so no contribution to the EFC there. You didn’t mention any assets of yours, so I’ll assume you don’t have any significant savings or investments in your name. And that you didn’t receive over $2600 in income in '05.</p>
<p>That leaves parent’s income. You didn’t mention how many in the family, but for a family of 4 with only one entering college (typical example), the income protection allowance is about 21K. That gets subtracted from the income, leaving about 84K of adjusted available income. Parental contribution for that amount is (from the tables) $6677 + 47% of the amount over $24,700. That works out to about 35K contribution to the EFC from parental income alone.</p>
<p>The difference between the 35K and the 37K might be because you had some savings or investments in your name (if you had 6K in your name, for example, that would increase the EFC by 2K, which is about the difference). </p>
<p>Still worth filing, though – you might be eligible for some low interest loans. And you might end up at a school where the total cost of college is well over 40K, leaving you potentially eligible for some other aid.</p>
<p>My mom makes 30,000 a year. But I dont consider myself poor. We may live in Eastern Kentucky, we can’t afford new cars, fancy trips, or a lot of things, but we still aren’t poor. Our house is paid for, cars paid for, no mortgage. So I dont think that making under $50,000 a year would peg someone as being poor, because unless they have outrageous debt, or a gambling problem, they are more than likely living just fine. </p>
<p>But as for this post, my EFC is $193.</p>