EFC w/ no family? how come?

[atomik]

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i know it was talked about b4... but i dont know how the hell i have an EFC on the FAFSA even though both of my parents are deceased and i was ward of the court when i was teenager. i didnt even make 10 g's last year.

which brings me to something else.. on question 4 they dont give an option for not having at least 1 parent. i need to get on the horn w/ these guys.

anybody in my situation? or know what accounts for my $2000 in 'family' contribution?

-atomik

 

[SMW]

You are considered independant as a student in a professional degree program, so the "family" they speak of is you. Welcome to SDN, and good luck with all your applications and FAFSA!! 😀

 

[omores]

The EFC is calculated by taking a certain percentage of your income after taxes and a "reserve amount" have been deducted. If you didn't pay much in taxes, and you made more than the reserve (which I seem to remember being somewhere around $8,000), then you will have an EFC.

Another part of the EFC comes from your assets: the total of all your checking and savings accounts as well as investments, trust funds, etc. Again, a "reserve amount" is excluded, and a certain percentage of what remains is added to the EFC. The younger you are, the smaller the reserve amount, and greater the chunk of your assets going to the EFC.

Bottom line: even if you had a limited income and don't have many assets, you're still likely to have an EFC, albeit a small one. Don't read too much into the word "family" -- for FAFSA, it would include parents or spouse if you have them, or simply yourself.

I think there are a few cases when you're granted an "automatic zero" EFC, but they don't apply to many people -- if you have a dependent and have income below a certain level, or something along those lines.

 

[SMW]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by omores:
• Don't read too much into the word "family" -- for FAFSA, it would include parents or spouse if you have them, or simply yourself.

I think there are a few cases when you're granted an "automatic zero" EFC, but they don't apply to many people -- if you have a dependent and have income below a certain level, or something along those lines.•••••Not so. If you didn't work in 2001, or worked very little, your EFC will be 0, regardless of your parents' income. My family is fairly well off, and my EFC is 0, because I didn't have much income in 2001. "Family" for students in pre-professional programs is defined defferently from undergraduate days. I repeat, you are considered independant for purposes of federal aid for medical school, so "family" is you (and spouse if you have one). Only medical schools will use the parental info that you enter on FAFSA, if you choose to enter it (it is not required), to assess eligibility for their own loans/grants/scholarships. However, if you don't enter it (and you have living parents), you won't be considered for school aid. For an exhaustive discussion of the ins and outs of parental info and FAFSA see <a href="http://www.studentdoctor.net/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=007872" target="_blank">this thread.</a>

For examples of some recent SDNer EFC's see <a href="http://www.studentdoctor.net/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=008014;p=" target="_blank">this thread.</a>

As I recall on FAFSA, they asked about each parent whether they were living or dead. Hope I've been of some help. 🙂

 

[Chadleez1]

I've got a question along these lines...if you have an EFC, but know that it will be impossible to meet that amount out of pocket, can you take additional loans to cover that amount, even unsubsidized loans? In my case, my family does okay for this area, but when the time comes I will probably have an efc, but my sister will be entering college at the same time I am (hopefully) going into med school.

 

[drjo2002]

You can take out loans until you reach the budget dictated by the school, which takes into account tuition, housing, books, fees, and living expenses--just like in undergrad--I know in undergrad you have to take out alternative loans or PLUS loans though instead of through the government after you exceed your estimated need. Most of the private schools I looked at had budgets around 50K (~35 for tuition and 15 for living expenses) it probably varies more for state schools and by location (due to cost of living). I think pretty much everyone gets to take out the full amount of stafford sub and unsub if they want to, which is like 24,000 (I think it is like 8500 sub and 16500 unsub) for med students.

 

[SMW]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by drjo2002:
• I think pretty much everyone gets to take out the full amount of stafford sub and unsub if they want to, which is like 24,000 (I think it is like 8500 sub and 16500 unsub) for med students.•••••It's $38,500 ($30,00 sub). Check out the MSAR for loads of helpful info on financial aid. It's in the front, not listed under each school. I just discovered it today. Wish I'd have known it was there earlier.

 

[omores]

SMW is quite correct about the fact that your family = yourself for graduate and professional schools. I got confused because many medical schools require you to fill out parental information ANYWAY if you want financial aid from the school itself.

So likely the combination of your income and assets was enough to give you an EFC.