Submitted FAFSA...then what?

[Bianca01]

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I submitted my FAFSA a couple of weeks ago and received an e-mail back saying my application was processed and my information was sent to my prospective medical schools. I was wondering how and when do we find out exactly how much federal aid we are getting?
Any advice is much appreciated.
Thanks
-B

 

[ShyRem]

bianca, you should have received an EFC amount when you submitted the FAFSA. If not, log back in and look at your SAR for the EFC amount. This is the amount of money you are responsible for contributing toward the total COA at your school. Schools that have accepted you should send you an FA award letter at some point to let you know what financial aid they've set up for you.

 

[tigress]

A lot of schools have additional forms you have to fill out. I think all the ones I'm accepted to have them. They should send them to you in the mail or email you about them. Those forms have additional information requested by the school. Then when you decide where to attend, some schools require a copy of your tax return (and your parents sometimes too). It depends on the school.

 

[Rafa]

Do your parents still need to send in their tax returns, if you apply for finaid annually as a med student?

 

[tigress]

Do your parents still need to send in their tax returns, if you apply for finaid annually as a med student?

You have to include parental info on your FAFSA if you want to be considered for institutional aid, meaning aid directly from the school rather than from the government. Some schools require a copy of the tax return as well, while others don't. I think some do spot checks, so they randomly pick some students to give them tax returns (I just read that on one school's form, but I don't remember which).

 

[princessd3]

bianca, you should have received an EFC amount when you submitted the FAFSA. If not, log back in and look at your SAR for the EFC amount. This is the amount of money you are responsible for contributing toward the total COA at your school. Schools that have accepted you should send you an FA award letter at some point to let you know what financial aid they've set up for you.

I have to contribute the EFC? Are you serious? That money is long gone.

 

[Rafa]

You have to include parental info on your FAFSA if you want to be considered for institutional aid, meaning aid directly from the school rather than from the government. Some schools require a copy of the tax return as well, while others don't. I think some do spot checks, so they randomly pick some students to give them tax returns (I just read that on one school's form, but I don't remember which).

Thank you. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do it for MS, after doing it for college, but I guess it's still a part of the process.

 

[Flopotomist]

Yikes.. I just got my EFC - and it is a third of the money I made this year!!! A third! I don't have that kind of cash laying around. How does this work now? Can I just borrow the EFC amount from a bank or something?

 

[deleted77919]

Yikes.. I just got my EFC - and it is a third of the money I made this year!!! A third! I don't have that kind of cash laying around. How does this work now? Can I just borrow the EFC amount from a bank or something?

In general you are allowed to borrow up to the full annual budget a med school puts out (at USC this is about $64k annually for tuition, room/board, boards, etc). Typically one would borrow 8k sub, 30k unsub and the rest in private loans. A higher EFC will reduce the amount of free money you might be able to get from an institution but will not impact your ability to borrow basically as much as you want.

 

[Elastase]

Yikes.. I just got my EFC - and it is a third of the money I made this year!!! A third! I don't have that kind of cash laying around. How does this work now? Can I just borrow the EFC amount from a bank or something?

Especially when one has spent that third on the admissions process (6-7k+)

 

[Doctor Bagel]

My EFC is totally ridiculous. Even if we weren't going to lose my income next year, there's no way we could swing it.

 

[ShyRem]

Ah, the joys of being middle class and raising a family of 4. My EFC was only $5K.

We're poor.

 

[Overlap12]

Budget people, budget! Sack lunches, ramen noodles, re-using old ziploc bags...

 

[abcehmu]

yeah, glad to hear im not the only one taken aback by their EFC. It's far more money than I have/will have when I matriculate/be able to contribute at any point.

does anyone know exactly how this EFC is calculated? im guessing it's just from your income and not from your savings/assets because when I got to the point in the FAFSA for savings/assets etc. I had the option to skip that section (for both myself and my parents), and it said that if I did decide to include that info it would not effect my federal aid......(I put the info in anyway knowing that it was very possible the schools would end up asking for it in the institutional aid apps).

so, that suggests it has to do with parental and personal income. i get the parental income, but personal? apart from the change in career course non-trad applicants, for those of us working in entry-level post-college jobs that money is usually just enough to apply to med school, eat, sleep under a roof and if you are lucky occasionally go out on the weekends. Do people who worked for a few years out of college typically get better financial aid packages their second years when that income ceases to be?? anybody?

can somebody who has had experience with this in the past give us a sense of what an average EFC is? what should be considered high?

 

[C.P. Jones]

i didn't want to make a new thread for this, but just want a quick question....sry for the temporary hijacking, but it's related; i'm doing my taxes, am i dependent? live at home, i graduated from undergrad this May. I have a full time job

I believe a full time student is dependent if they were a student for 5 months of the year.....i graduated May 8th....so the fifth month, but 8 days into it, so idk what to put

 

[Flopotomist]

yeah, glad to hear im not the only one taken aback by their EFC. It's far more money than I have/will have when I matriculate/be able to contribute at any point.

does anyone know exactly how this EFC is calculated? im guessing it's just from your income and not from your savings/assets because when I got to the point in the FAFSA for savings/assets etc. I had the option to skip that section (for both myself and my parents), and it said that if I did decide to include that info it would not effect my federal aid......(I put the info in anyway knowing that it was very possible the schools would end up asking for it in the institutional aid apps).

so, that suggests it has to do with parental and personal income. i get the parental income, but personal? apart from the change in career course non-trad applicants, for those of us working in entry-level post-college jobs that money is usually just enough to apply to med school, eat, sleep under a roof and if you are lucky occasionally go out on the weekends. Do people who worked for a few years out of college typically get better financial aid packages their second years when that income ceases to be?? anybody?

can somebody who has had experience with this in the past give us a sense of what an average EFC is? what should be considered high?

These are good questions - my EFC was just short of $15,000 (I didn't even include my parents info). I spent nearly all of my savings (~10K) on the application process, so don't have 15K to contribute, so I am freaking out a bit.

 

[SuzieQ3417]

These are good questions - my EFC was just short of $15,000 (I didn't even include my parents info). I spent nearly all of my savings (~10K) on the application process, so don't have 15K to contribute, so I am freaking out a bit.

I was also wondering about this, because mine was around that same amount, which is about what my husband and I made combined last year in part-time jobs. There's no way they can expect all of that money to go to school, right? Where are they pulling this number from?

 

[C.P. Jones]

i didn't want to make a new thread for this, but just want a quick question....sry for the temporary hijacking, but it's related; i'm doing my taxes, am i dependent? live at home, i graduated from undergrad this May. I have a full time job

I believe a full time student is dependent if they were a student for 5 months of the year.....i graduated May 8th....so the fifth month, but 8 days into it, so idk what to put

Section 151(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code defines the term "student" as an individual who, during each of 5 calendar months during the calendar year in which the taxable year of the taxpayer begins, is a full-time student at an educational organization described in section 170(b)(1)(A)(ii) of the Code. Section 170(b)(1)(A)(ii) describes an educational organization that normally maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly enrolled body of students in attendance at the place where its educational activities are regularly conducted.

Section 1.151-3(b) of the Income Tax Regulations further provides that "[a] full-time student is one who is enrolled for some part of 5 calendar months for the number of hours or courses which is considered to be full-time attendance."



"some part of 5 calendar months" does this seem to mean that graduating early in May would mean i have the 5th month?

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I was also wondering about this, because mine was around that same amount, which is about what my husband and I made combined last year in part-time jobs. There's no way they can expect all of that money to go to school, right? Where are they pulling this number from?

It is a ridiculous number. We live pretty cheap, but half of my efc calculation (assuming my spouse would pay the other half) would be one half of my take home pay. Now I know my parents weren't lying when they told me I didn't get enough financial aid to go the school I wanted to. 🙂 Luckily, it doesn't affect your ability to get loans, and since the subsidized stafford level is so inadequate, even with a high efc, you can get the max in subsidized loans.

 

[TimmyTheWonderD]

You have to include parental info on your FAFSA if you want to be considered for institutional aid, meaning aid directly from the school rather than from the government. Some schools require a copy of the tax return as well, while others don't. I think some do spot checks, so they randomly pick some students to give them tax returns (I just read that on one school's form, but I don't remember which).

what is the cut-off for not needing to include your parental info? married & 29, don't need to include parents info, right?

 

[veenut]

what is the cut-off for not needing to include your parental info? married & 29, don't need to include parents info, right?

depends on the school

 

[JustBreathe]

When I completed the FAFSA, it said that my EFC is "82". Is that only $82? How did I luck out like that?

 

[tigress]

Flop and others, don't freak out about your EFC. It won't affect what you can take out in federal loans, or private loans for that matter. It just affects what the institutional will give you as aid, mainly. Those of us with parents who have a combined income solidly in the middle class probably won't get much in the way of institutional aid no matter what. (This is based on what I've read and my own experience with my husband's loans. And his parents don't actually have that much money, but he still didn't get any institutional aid. You really have to be extremely needy.)

Basically the EFC is meaningless. You aren't really expected to contribute that much money. You can pay for full tuition with loans no matter what your EFC is. But it's an indicator for schools to figure out who is most needy to get institutional aid.

TimmyTheWonderD, most schools require you to include parental info to be considered for institutional aid no matter what your status. QofQuimica was discussing this recently -- some schools will let you leave it out if you're over 30, but they seem to be in the minority. I know all of my schools require it no matter what. That's hard for those of us who are married!

edit: Does the EFC take into account parental info? I seem to think it does, but it occurred to me that I don't actually know for sure, since I never actually saw my husband's EFC from last year. But it must, for schools to determine institutional aid, right? Argh this is confusing...

 

[JustBreathe]

Flop and others, don't freak out about your EFC. It won't affect what you can take out in federal loans, or private loans for that matter. It just affects what the institutional will give you as aid, mainly. Those of us with parents who have a combined income solidly in the middle class probably won't get much in the way of institutional aid no matter what.

Basically the EFC is meaningless. You aren't really expected to contribute that much money. You can pay for full tuition with loans no matter what your EFC is. But it's an indicator for schools to figure out who is most needy to get institutional aid.

TimmyTheWonderD, most schools require you to include parental info to be considered for institutional aid no matter what your status. QofQuimica was discussing this recently -- some schools will let you leave it out if you're over 30, but they seem to be in the minority. I know all of my schools require it no matter what. That's hard for those of us who are married!

So, as a follow-up question, does the FAFSA take parental income into consideration when calculating EFC, even though we're considered independent students?

 

[Its_MurDAH]

When I completed the FAFSA, it said that my EFC is "82". Is that only $82? How did I luck out like that?

ROFL

 

[JustBreathe]

ROFL

Sorry, I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing.

 

[tigress]

So, as a follow-up question, does the FAFSA take parental income into consideration when calculating EFC, even though we're considered independent students?

lol, I just edited to ask that same question. Anybody?

 

[tigress]

Sorry, I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing.

That's okay, I just pretend I do

 

[JustBreathe]

That's okay, I just pretend I do

Thanks. 🙂 I felt kind of embarrassed that I asked what is apparently a stupid question. It's just that my EFC is nowhere near 1/2 of my take-home pay, so it seemed disproportionately low compared to some others.. However, my mom makes very little so maybe that's why.

 

[Its_MurDAH]

Thanks. 🙂 I felt kind of embarrassed that I asked what is apparently a stupid question. It's just that my EFC is nowhere near 1/2 of my take-home pay, so it seemed disproportionately low compared to some others.. However, my mom makes very little so maybe that's why.

Oh sorry. I wasn't really laughing cuz i thought your question was stupid. I just found it funny that your EFC was 82 dolalrs and you were all like "did i luck out?"...i could just picture someone saying that.

sorry!

 

[JustBreathe]

Oh sorry. I wasn't really laughing cuz i thought your question was stupid. I just found it funny that your EFC was 82 dolalrs and you were all like "did i luck out?"...i could just picture someone saying that.

sorry!

Oh, I'm sorry, I misunderstood. I think this process is making me crazy

 

[ShyRem]

When I filled out the FAFSA, it said that based on my questions I was determined to be independent, but some schools want parental information. I believe it also stated that parental information would in no way change my EFC, but only be used by the schools for private FA. I provided parental information - if the FAFSA had used it, I think my EFC would have been much higher.

 

[tigress]

Right, I thought parental info wasn't taken into account for the federal stuff, but then I got confused. But I guess my confusion lies in why so many people have high EFCs. Well, for one thing, the person who posted on the last FAFSA thread that all med students are considered to have no income when they enter med school must not be the case, if we have high EFCs because of our present income (check the old thread if you weren't there for that argument 😛).

So I guess my EFC will be high, since I had an income this year (but only for 6 months, so not too bad). I wonder if it takes into consideration the fact that my spouse doesn't make any money. And the other thing is as of filing taxes and FAFSA we won't have dependents, but when I start med school we will have one dependent. So I don't know what to do about that.

This is way too confusing and annoying.

But still, your EFC must have to be very high to keep you from getting full federal loans. And even if it is high, and you can't get all the loans federal, you shoudl be able to get private. So at least we'll be able to pay for med school somehow 🙄

 

[JustBreathe]

Now I'm worried that my estimated EFC was wrong. Last year, I made a little under $7000, and I have about $700 in the bank. No other assets or anything, no dependents, one deduction (myself). Does it make sense that my EFC is nearly zero? Did I screw something up? 😕

Right, I thought parental info wasn't taken into account for the federal stuff, but then I got confused. But I guess my confusion lies in why so many people have high EFCs. Well, for one thing, the person who posted on the last FAFSA thread that all med students are considered to have no income when they enter med school must not be the case, if we have high EFCs because of our present income (check the old thread if you weren't there for that argument 😛).

So I guess my EFC will be high, since I had an income this year (but only for 6 months, so not too bad). I wonder if it takes into consideration the fact that my spouse doesn't make any money. And the other thing is as of filing taxes and FAFSA we won't have dependents, but when I start med school we will have one dependent. So I don't know what to do about that.

This is way too confusing and annoying.

But still, your EFC must have to be very high to keep you from getting full federal loans. And even if it is high, and you can't get all the loans federal, you shoudl be able to get private. So at least we'll be able to pay for med school somehow 🙄

 

[tigress]

No, because $7000 isn't much at all. I think an EFC of $0 sounds about right.

 

[ShyRem]

tigress, you can always appeal your FA. I did this when I went back to undergrad school - from a two income family (granted, my income was only about $15K 'cuz I was only working part-time) to a one-income family and a new financial drain. Also had child-care for the first time EVER. I went to the FA office, gave them some documentation (my termination letter for lack of job, letter from child-care), and my FA was increased. Check with the FA offices of your accepted med schools and ask. They should be very helpful in this regard.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

edit: Does the EFC take into account parental info? I seem to think it does, but it occurred to me that I don't actually know for sure, since I never actually saw my husband's EFC from last year. But it must, for schools to determine institutional aid, right? Argh this is confusing...

I don't think it does for us independent students. I included my parental information, but I think my efc would have been much higher had it been used to calculate the number. I don't think the federal government penalizes us by raising our edc just because we opt to include parental info.

 

[tigress]

Thanks ShyRem. It's good to know they might at least consider unusual circumstances.

I'm filing taxes tomorrow (would be tonight, but I won't get home until after 10!), so I'll file my FAFSA on Friday hopefully. But I don't really have parental info yet, I'm going to have to beg it off of them 😛 It will be estimated. In any case I'll have my EFC by the weekend, and I'm really curious what it will be!

 

[TracksuitsRock]

Thanks ShyRem. It's good to know they might at least consider unusual circumstances.

I'm filing taxes tomorrow (would be tonight, but I won't get home until after 10!), so I'll file my FAFSA on Friday hopefully. But I don't really have parental info yet, I'm going to have to beg it off of them 😛 It will be estimated. In any case I'll have my EFC by the weekend, and I'm really curious what it will be!

I think most schools have a form you can fill out where you can adjust what you filed. Like you can say (obviously) that you will no longer have full-time wage income, and I'm sure you can also tell them about your dependent (I guess congrats are in order?). Check out the financial aid websites, usually you can find the adjustment form there.