FAFSA & EFC

[tigress]

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But they do calculate the money from savings accounts. I filed a 1040A and I had to put in the full amount of money from all of my checking and savings accounts, and it was calculated into my EFC.

Oh, and yeah, it felt incredibly weird to include myself in my parents' household. But I didn't have a choice, it was the only way it would accept my info, so I talked to the FAFSA people and they said that if I file parental info I have to include myself in their household. Even though it's obvious I'm not, considering I'm married 😛

One bit of info that might be useful to somebody here: I also asked if I should put my personal household size for 2006-2007 as 2 or 3, since we'll have a baby before school starts. I was told to go ahead and put 3. This might affect you if you will have an extra dependent or if you are getting married before the school year.

 

[foodlover]

But they do calculate the money from savings accounts. I filed a 1040A and I had to put in the full amount of money from all of my checking and savings accounts, and it was calculated into my EFC.

Oh, and yeah, it felt incredibly weird to include myself in my parents' household. But I didn't have a choice, it was the only way it would accept my info, so I talked to the FAFSA people and they said that if I file parental info I have to include myself in their household. Even though it's obvious I'm not, considering I'm married 😛

One bit of info that might be useful to somebody here: I also asked if I should put my personal household size for 2006-2007 as 2 or 3, since we'll have a baby before school starts. I was told to go ahead and put 3. This might affect you if you will have an extra dependent or if you are getting married before the school year.

Hi, I found this link that explains the simplified needs formula and who qualifies.

http://finaid.org/educators/needs.phtml

 

[tigress]

Okay, so I see that I qualify for the simplified needs formula. But I still had to enter my savings and checkings totals -- so they just ignore that? I can see how that's annoying for people who do have investments, although don't most of you also have incomes over $50,000 to report? I guess not necessarily. I would have investments if I had money to invest

Somebody in pre-allo brought up an interesting point -- somebody complained about having to use his/her assets to meet the EFC, and another poster asked why they think they shouldn't have to use their money to pay for school. I can see both sides. On the one hand, if you have money available, of course it makes sense to use it rather than getting aid money that others need. On the other hand, most people who have money have it tied up in other things or need it to support their families. I guess in the end it makes sense that how much you have determines grant eligibility. We can all take the unsubsidized federal loans up to cost of attendance anyway, as well as private loans. Most people I know don't get much grant money no matter what.

And while I'm bitter that I have to include parental information, I also have to admit that I probably do receive more help from my parents than some people, even though it's minimal.

I'm really blabbing. I'm waiting for my co-worker to show up so I'm just sort of sitting here 😛

 

[foodlover]

Okay, so I see that I qualify for the simplified needs formula. But I still had to enter my savings and checkings totals -- so they just ignore that? I can see how that's annoying for people who do have investments, although don't most of you also have incomes over $50,000 to report? I guess not necessarily. I would have investments if I had money to invest

Somebody in pre-allo brought up an interesting point -- somebody complained about having to use his/her assets to meet the EFC, and another poster asked why they think they shouldn't have to use their money to pay for school. I can see both sides. On the one hand, if you have money available, of course it makes sense to use it rather than getting aid money that others need. On the other hand, most people who have money have it tied up in other things or need it to support their families. I guess in the end it makes sense that how much you have determines grant eligibility. We can all take the unsubsidized federal loans up to cost of attendance anyway, as well as private loans. Most people I know don't get much grant money no matter what.

And while I'm bitter that I have to include parental information, I also have to admit that I probably do receive more help from my parents than some people, even though it's minimal.

I'm really blabbing. I'm waiting for my co-worker to show up so I'm just sort of sitting here 😛

Over $50k? I wish! Anyway, I know it all doesn't matter since most likely we'll all just have to take all loans and I'm totally willing to spend the money I do have saved. But the part that frustrates me isn't that my small amount of investments will be counted in the EFC, but that if I just happened to have that money in a regular bank account, it wouldn't be counted. Then again, it doesn't make much difference in the end. I'm probably going to be entering Loan City soon enough anyway!

 

[beponychick]

Over $50k? I wish! Anyway, I know it all doesn't matter since most likely we'll all just have to take all loans and I'm totally willing to spend the money I do have saved. But the part that frustrates me isn't that my small amount of investments will be counted in the EFC, but that if I just happened to have that money in a regular bank account, it wouldn't be counted. Then again, it doesn't make much difference in the end. I'm probably going to be entering Loan City soon enough anyway!

Are you sure about this? My EFC came out to 15K and I made like 45 or so last year and i put 6k in savings (part of a regular bank account). It seems like an awefully high EFC if they are not considering my savings.

 

[foodlover]

Are you sure about this? My EFC came out to 15K and I made like 45 or so last year and i put 6k in savings (part of a regular bank account). It seems like an awefully high EFC if they are not considering my savings.

Your income actually counts a lot more than savings anyway. Somewhere online you can find the formula they use. Basically they take your after-tax income, subtract a miniscule "income protection" allowance, and then it's pretty much 1/2 of the remaining that makes up your EFC. So if your EFC is about 1/3 of your pre-tax salary, that's about right, unfortunately!

 

[LabMonster]

I'm wondering if the EFC makes more of a difference to real need-based students, especially at the school level. I'd be willing to bet most non-trads here, except those with a spouse in school, made more that 40k last year which would and should rule you out of aid for low-income students.

That isn't to say I actually saved 28k last for for medical school (because being realistic, I wasn't sure I'd even get in!)

I'm not too worried about not getting loans - med-school attrition rates are low and they know we'll be able to pay it off later - sometime 🙂

 

[ShyRem]

Well, our AGI was about $50K (although our taxable income was less than $28K), but we have two children, home mortgage interest, I was in school full-time, and my EFC was only about $5K. That'll probably go down since any jobs for my husband at either school I may end up at only pay about $30K. Talk about a pay cut. Ouch.

It's more about how much you make PER PERSON in the household.

 

[tigress]

I submitted my changes and my EFC came out to $0! I'm pretty sure it's because my household size next year will be 3. We also had deductions from my husband's tuition, and I only worked 6 months of 2005 so only half of my salary showed up.

Of course my parental info is going to eliminate my chances for institutional aid anyway 🙄

 

[.edu-MD]

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[tigress]

I thought it was last year's household size that they calculate it on (i.e. the household size the year of the tax return).

Anyhow, if that's all it takes, I'd better get a move on... 😉

Yeah, they ask for last year's exemptions from taxes. Then they ask what your household size will be for 2006-2007. I asked the FAFSA people if we should put 3 since we'll have a baby before the school year, and they said yes! Very cool. I'm glad that gets calculated in, because it obviously adds to our expenses 🙂

So yes, it does look like extra family members help with the EFC. Everybody take notice 😉

 

[.edu-MD]

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[humuhumu]

So has anyone heard from any schools yet about their financial aid packages? If not, when is the soonest we could hear something? Did any of you submit your FAFSA in early January?

 

[tigress]

I must have missed that part. So in all seriousness, how can they ask anyone to predict this? It just seems like such a huge variable. I mean, someone can be trying to have a baby, so should they assume they'll be successful and increase that number by one? If not, one could potentially lose out on some need-based aid because it'd all be gone by the time they realize they're actually pregnant. On the other hand, a large percentage of pregnancies don't get past the first trimester. So if someone is very early in their pregnancy when they file the FAFSA and then is unfortunate enough to lose the pregnancy, they'll have to amend and in all likelihood give back some loan money and maybe even some need-based grants???

Well, I think it's really only if the baby is going to be born before the school year. So at this point for that to happen the pregnancy would have to be in at least the second trimester. If a baby is born during the school year you can usually go talk to financial aid and they will help change your budget and get more loans. I have a friend who had to do this, and it worked fine.

Anyway, when I asked the FAFSA people I specified that the baby will be born prior to the school year. Believe me, I know how hard it is to predict, since it was a full year of trying before we ended up pregnant. I didn't actually plan to have a kid the first week of school (And yeah, I'm probably deferring, but since there's a chance I won't I need the financial aid stuff complete just in case.)

 

[tigress]

So has anyone heard from any schools yet about their financial aid packages? If not, when is the soonest we could hear something? Did any of you submit your FAFSA in early January?

I know that two of the four schools I submitted my info in don't even send reward letters until April at the earliest. Most schools don't start determing aid until March (which is why they recommend submitting all info by the end of February). I wouldn't expect to hear anything for at least another month. I'm sure there are exceptions of course.

 

[ShyRem]

"reward" letters - I like it!!

I did just get a request for supplementary FA form from one of my DO schools; my FAFSA was submitted almost 3 weeks ago.

 

[medworm]

I too had an estimated EFC of $0, based on <$2,000 income for myself last year as a full-time post-bacc.

For my med school, priority filing is March 1st. Does having an estimated FAFSA on file count?

Thanks. Keep the tips rolling.

 

[njbmd]

I just filed my FAFSA and was horrified to see an EFC of $30668! Are they crazy?!?

I thought they assumed the student would have a zero income while in school?? That EFC is more than I ever made in my life except for last year! But it's still 3/4 of what I made last year? What am I supposed to live off? What kind of EFCs are other people seeing?

Hi there,
That EFC means that you will very likely not qualify for need-based scholarships based on the income information that you suppled with your FAFSA. This does not mean that you are expected to come up with the EFC on your own. Most likely, you will be borrowing the maximum based on your school's budget and will have to supplement anything extra through private loan sources. For example: If your school's maximum budget for tuition and estimated living costs is $45K, then that is the max that you can borrow though Federal Loan sources. If you need more than that i.e. you have a family, then you have to borrow from private loan sources.

There is always the possiblity that you can get a scholarship if you do very well in medical school or if you have excellent grades and MCAT scores going in. If you have interest in primary care, there are scholarships available there too and do not forget the military if you can qualify.

The EFC does not mean that you will be expected to fork over that amount or contribute that amount.

I had an EFC of $10K each year and received a full-ride tuition scholarship. I borrowed about $10K each year from Federal sources for living expenses and will pay that back after residency.

njbmd 🙂

 

[tigress]

"reward" letters - I like it!!

I did just get a request for supplementary FA form from one of my DO schools; my FAFSA was submitted almost 3 weeks ago.

lol yeah, I meant award letters

 

[.edu-MD]

That EFC means that you will very likely not qualify for need-based scholarships based on the income information that you suppled with your FAFSA.

That's what I was afraid of. And going to a state school, the in-state student budget is not much more than the calculate EFC, which I suppose translates to very little available to us in federal loans. So it looks like we'd have to take out the higher interest rate private loans, which is really frustrating.

There is always the possiblity that you can get a scholarship if you do very well in medical school or if you have excellent grades and MCAT scores going in. If you have interest in primary care, there are scholarships available there too and do not forget the military if you can qualify.

I, probably not unlike most non-trads, can only hope for doing well first year and there being something available based on that. If all else fails, I can only hope NIH hasn't eliminated their Clinical Research Loan Repayment Program in 9 years ( <-- the time it'll take to complete school, residency, and fellowship). 😀

 

[foodlover]

Hey guys, I wanted to send my FAFSA to more than 6 schools so I followed their directions and sent in a correction where I deleted the original schools and put in the extra schools.

But now I am paranoid that the first 6 schools aren't going to get the info. Someone please assure me that I did this correctly!

 

[angietron3000]

My EFC is $195 ( 😱 !) but my parents make well over 100k, will this screw my chances for subsidised loans? Does it matter that they won't be giving me one red cent?!