EFC - Estimated Family Contribution FAFSA BS????

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PugMD

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Anyone who entered their parent's info for their FAFSA will be shown a calculated value for their estimated family contribution (of which is BS, but I won't even begin to go there). Does anyone know what is considered low or high for students attempting to secure need based scholarships and grants?

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Anyone who entered their parent's info for their FAFSA will be shown a calculated value for their estimated family contribution (of which is BS, but I won't even begin to go there). Does anyone know what is considered low or high for students attempting to secure need based scholarships and grants?

I believe that if you're a graduate student, your EFC will not include parental income even if you include that info. While mine last year was ridiculous, there's no way it was based on my parental info because it would have been higher.
 
I didn't know whether or not the value was a rating or an actual dollar amt? Mine is "921" ?
 
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I didn't know whether or not the value was a rating or an actual dollar amt? Mine is "921" ?

It's actually a dollar value, so yours is $921, which is pretty normal for traditional students. With that, you'll have no trouble getting federal aid, which unfortunately isn't much beyond Staffords. For the parental income amounts and school aid, it probably depends on the school. At my school, I've heard of people getting need-based aid for their parents making less than $100k/year.
 
Well I'm screwed b/c with just my husband and I's incomes, my EFC is $30,000!!!! :eek: Like we can really afford that when I won't have my income when school has started.
 
Mine was ridiculously high as well, over $17,000. I believe if you have any money invested then that may increase it significantly. I personally didn't report any income but I have ~$10,000 invested, and it just happens that my EFC was ~$10,000 more than my brothers.
 
What is the cutoff for the EFC that determines whether or not we'll receive aid?
 
Yeah even if you enter parental info its not calculated in. By checking the doctoral program box in the first few pages the system automatically leaves their info out of calculating the EFC.

So it is solely based on your income for that year. And yes it sucks because most of us won't have the same income next year.

Mine was like 3,000 or so. No big deal.

As far as EFC cutoffs - EFC is worthless so their aren't any. Pretty much everyone can get Stafford loans (there is a cut off for the 8.5k of subsidized Staffords, but I'm not sure what it is), so the only 'aid' that is really helpful is institutional grants given by the school.

Every school that I've heard of giving institutional grants gives them based on your and your parents income. Since the EFC doesn't include your parents income its useless in figuring out if you'll get institutional aid.

If you really want to know how much you'll get, call up a school and see if they estimate what someone with your parents income will get. Thats the best you can get at this point.
 
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