What does a 1600+ EFC for the fafsa get you?

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello, I am very new to how all the financial aid stuff works. I submitted my fafsa a few days ago and I just went to check what my fafsa EFC was and it was in the 16 hundreds. This number will be considerably lower than my css profile EFC because my home is all payed for and most of my parents savings are in retirement plans.</p>

<p>So my question…
What most likely will fafsa offer me. Will it be grant money, loans, etc???</p>

2

<p>Fafsa offers you nothing. It’s just the application.</p>

<p>Your EFC is low, so you’ll likely receive fairly generous financial aid offers from the schools to which you are accepted. Some more generous than others. </p>

<p>And don’t expect the Profile to show a lower EFC. A paid for home will likely increase your Profile EFC; home equite isn’t considered in the FAFSA formulation.</p>

3

<p>If the student has not applied to schools utilizing the FAFSA standard as opposed to the Profile standard, they should do so ASAP.</p>

<p>Make sure you have applied to schools with generous track records. With an EFC that low, you have a lot to lose if you apply to schools with lousy financial aid histories.</p>

4

<p>The only thing that your FAFA efc of 1600 means that you are eligible for federal aid (subsidized loans and pell grants). As sblake stated depending on where you apply the college may require the CSS profile which means yor EFC will likely change.</p>

<p>At schools that are need sensitive /need aware (as only a few schools are need blind) if you are a “boderline” candidate, your financial need could work against you (because right now, you need a lot of money).</p>

<p>Remember that all FA is not created equally because at one school you could get an aid package that is heavy on grant aid, at another school (NYU for example) you could get an aid package that may be heavy on loans.</p>

<p>Your best pet would be to look up the common data set at the schools which you are interested in attending. You should look up the following:</p>

<p>% of need met
average amount of loan aid
average amount of grant aid</p>

5

<p>Perhaps many of the Ivies or near-Ivies discussed on the site are not need-blind; but in actuality, most schools across the country are need-blind.</p>

<p>From finaid.org–</p>

<p>Need-Blind
Under need-blind admissions, the school decides whether to make an offer of admission to a student without considering the student’s financial situation. Most schools use a need-blind admissions process. A few schools will use financial need to decide whether to include marginal students in the wait list.</p>

6

<p>Hmmm. My understanding is that most private schools are not needblind, though public schools are. (That doesn’t mean that they will provide you with enough financial aid to attend though!) Some of the heavily endowed private schools (mostly highly selective schools) are need-blind. They admit students without regards to their need for financial aid. Some of the heavily endowed schools also meet 100% of your financial need (although they get to decide what that need is, and how they will meet it w/grants, loans, workstudy etc.) These include Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Rice, Grinnell, etc.</p>

7

<p>I am applying to
NYU
Boston College
Colgate
U of Rochester
Lehigh University
Carnegie Mellon</p>

<p>and safety is Providence College</p>

<p>QUESTION:
On the SAR it says my EFC is 01652*
Does that mean it is $1652. Also, what does the asterick mean?</p>

8

<p>***NYU ***- on average meets 67% of need at a cost of approx 43,710/yr you are going to have a $14,426 gap off of the top (gap is the amount of need not met). average need based grant $13,629, average self help aid (loan and work study) $7209 average debt $27,639</p>

<p><a href=“Research with Human Subjects”>Research with Human Subjects;

<p>***Boston College *** could not find anything that states what percentage of the aid is grants and the average amount of loan aid is given.
Boston College is committed to providing funds to meet the full demonstrated need of every admitted student who has filed the required paperwork to apply for financial aid. </p>

<p>Colgate
<a href=“http://www.colgate.edu/desktopdefault1.aspx?tabid=1183[/url]”>http://www.colgate.edu/desktopdefault1.aspx?tabid=1183&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>2005-2006 Cost of attendance
Tuition $ 32,885
Student Activities Fee $ 220
Room $ 3,895
Board $ 4,170
Combined student charges $ 41,170
Personal expense/books $ 1,830
Total cost of attendance $ 43,000 </p>

<p>Incidental fees beyond total cost
Transcript (one-time fee for first-year students) $ 50
Health insurance (required for those not covered by a family plan) $ 515 </p>

<p>Financial aid statistics for the class of 2009 </p>

<p>Average award for students receiving financial aid
Colgate Grant $ 26,519
Student loan $ 2,625
Campus job $ 2,300
Total award $ 31,444 </p>

<p>Admitted students with demonstrated need met in full 100%
Percent of class receiving financial aid 35.6% </p>

<p>Average contribution for students receiving financial aid
Student $ 1,400
Parent depends on EFC (FM & IM)</p>

<p>U of Rochester cost of attendance $43,063
meets 100% of demonstrated need. (If you are a student from NYS you would also be eligible for TAP at both U of R and NYU) does nto give a grant to loan breakdown</p>

<p>I would suggest running your numbers through the school’s FA calculator</p>

<p><a href=“http://enrollment.rochester.edu/financial/estimator/index.php[/url]”>http://enrollment.rochester.edu/financial/estimator/index.php&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

<p>***Lehigh University **<a href=“tab%20H”>/i</a></p>

<p><a href=“http://www.lehigh.edu/~oir/cds/lucds2004.xls[/url]”>http://www.lehigh.edu/~oir/cds/lucds2004.xls&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>meets 97% of need. average grant $19,980 avg. need based self help $4492 average debt upon graduation $18,652</p>

<p>***Carnegie Mellon *** meets 80% of need (20% gap) $40,960 cost of attendance (potential 8192 isnot covered)
<a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/ira/CDS/h_0405.htm[/url]”>http://www.cmu.edu/ira/CDS/h_0405.htm&lt;/a&gt;
avg scholarhip $17,604 avg need based self help $5,595 average debt 22,902</p>

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<p>Thankyou!!!
I really appreciate it. I looked up what the asterick after my EFC meant and apparently I was randomly selected to have my fafsa “verified”. Now, colleges have the right to see my IRS forms. Will they tell me if they want them or must I send them to the colleges?</p>

10

<p>Usually int he financial aid section for each school will tell you what you have to submit and when it needs to be submitted.</p>

11

<p>Another question…</p>

<p>Are there many private scholarships (not through the colleges that I am applying to) that I can apply to that give money based on financial need.</p>

12

<p>sybbie, I saw the BC meets 100% of need on another website.</p>

13

<p>Hi </p>

<p>I wrote in my post that BC meets full demonstrated need, but I could not find anything on the average grant aid and need based self help.</p>

<p>Remember that a school can be heavy on loans and will still have met your demonstrated need. I would guess that hopefully BC will be heavy on grant aid.</p>

14

<p>Hi, Sybbie-it is a little dated but this is the breakdown from 2003 for BC-
ave. financial aid package-23,215
ave. need based loan-4,521
ave. gift aid-17,698
ave. non-need based aid-7,305
ave. indebtedness upon graduation-15,723</p>