Hoggirl Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 http://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2015/03/31/do-you-earn-too-much-to-qualify-for-college-financial-aid/ This is an article from Forbes culminating in a chart which calculaties one's EFC based solely on adjusted gross income - not taking into account any assets. No idea how accurate it is, but we have had so much discussion as of late about financing college, I thought I would link it. I hope this is useful to someone. It would be interesting to know how close the chart comes to what individuals here had as their EFCs. As the article states, it only takes into account income - not any other assets one might have, which can make a big difference. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 It gives our EFC as being more than $10K less than it is this year. We do not have substantial non-retirement assets. We also do not have anything funky like a business or a farm or investment properties than throw off calculations. He didn't address the fact that need-based aid can come in the form of loans, did he? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 That chart shows our EFC being about one fourth of what it actually is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen in NY Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 This chart looks about right for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 That chart has our EFC 6K less than what it is. We do own a business and rental properties though. Also, when we've had two kids in college it seemed a little more like it ended up having both at 60% rather than a 50/50 split (meaning we seemingly had to come up with about 20% more). Overall though, I think it's a good short article letting people know they ought to try applying for aid at various schools rather than assuming the schools will be too expensive. Too many people look at private schools and say, "No way" without realizing that some private schools are super good with aid and can cost less than state counterparts in spite of their sticker price. URoc is close to 70K per year when all the costs are totaled, but they came in the least expensive for us when middle son was choosing - beating out one of our state schools, Pitt, even with merit aid there, and a known super high merit school, U Alabama where he would have had free tuition. It won't necessarily work out that way for everyone, but with as much as middle son loves his school, I'm really glad he applied and tried it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 The only thing this is roughly calculating is the Federal EFC which is what FAFSA is about. So even if the number is close to the FAFSA EFC, it doesn't mean that the colleges will calculate your EFC the same way. So even if someone doesn't have lots of savings or a business, etc., this number may still be showing as much less than what the NPCs from colleges will show, or their financial aid offers. It will likely still be an eye-opener to those just beginning the college search process. And they need to keep in mind that this is the very minimum they'll be expected to pay. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen in NY Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 :iagree: Too true. I started to type this out before, but deleted .... maybe I will share.... The school(s) that dd#1 and dd#2 go to or are seriously considering meet EFC plus approx $5000 federally subsidized loans (no interest until you are out of school). So if both dds go to said school(s) it will cost us our EFC + $5,000/year/dd in loans. The girls are taking the loans, but we are going to see how things go along and help if we can. This is the best type of school (financially) for dd#2 to choose at this point, excepting attending the local CC + living at home, which is still a viable option. Highlight this next space for mommy brag. Feel free to ignore. :) (I can't let this opportunity go by without saying that so far, dd#1 has paid for nearly everything herself with savings from a multitude of high school/on campus/summer jobs. We get to help starting now. DD#2 will be paying for herself this year. We are very lucky to live in an area that has both jobs for teens and demand for their independent money making endeavors such as giving piano lessons and math tutoring. They both took advantage of those opportunities and worked... a lot. Very proud of them.) The schools that dd#2 is crossing off her list do not meet EFC and would cost approx $10,000/year more than schools I described above, and the aid packages contain more loan. Additionally, unlike the schools I mentioned above, these two schools do not include everything in their COA breakdown, and in fine print mention that there will be approximately $4000 in additional costs to the student per year for books, fees, and misc. expenses. So for our family they end up being close to $15,000/year more expensive in total and entail carrying a larger loan burden, even though if you look at the bottom line on the Financial Aid Award letter they look *much* closer than that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny_Weatherwax Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 It indicates an EFC $9000 higher than the FAFSA but is still $4000 lower than two of DS's financial aid packages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 I have an EFC question still. If one has studied the budget and circumstances and figured what she can afford, and the EFC comes up $15,000 higher than that, how should schools be selected? "Meets the EFC" schools won't work and I don't think merit scholarships alone could make up that difference (no national merit qualifying or anything.) I'm thinking that only schools whose COA is less than the budget should be on the list, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share Posted April 4, 2015 I have an EFC question still. If one has studied the budget and circumstances and figured what she can afford, and the EFC comes up $15,000 higher than that, how should schools be selected? "Meets the EFC" schools won't work and I don't think merit scholarships alone could make up that difference (no national merit qualifying or anything.) I'm thinking that only schools whose COA is less than the budget should be on the list, right? This certainly *seems* accurate to me, but I will let those more in-the-know on FA answer this. I will say that many people feel like their EFCs are more than they can afford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 I have an EFC question still. If one has studied the budget and circumstances and figured what she can afford, and the EFC comes up $15,000 higher than that, how should schools be selected? "Meets the EFC" schools won't work and I don't think merit scholarships alone could make up that difference (no national merit qualifying or anything.) I'm thinking that only schools whose COA is less than the budget should be on the list, right? Two choices... schools that are less than the budget or schools that REALLY want the student as any college can opt to give their own money to a student. They just can't offer federal money or subsidized loans below the EFC. How might a college really want a student? - Stats that are very high for the school. Most schools want to bring up their stats, so if your student's ACT score is 29 and the average for the school is around 23, it's worth a try as long as the school has merit awards high enough. - Geographical diversity. If you live in South Dakota and want to head to a school on the East Coast that has representatives of many states, but is missing South Dakota... you might find yourself getting an attractive package. - Sports star. Sports scholarships are pretty big for some kids. It's not always a known sport. Even chess can provide scholarships at some schools if the student is that good. - Some sort of rare hook the college really wants. These can be varied and can make newspaper articles. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Ours looks to be about 30% too low -- I calculated ours based on the federal forms from ed.gov after doing our taxes. We actually could afford the EFC on the chart, but we have assets that the financial aid system wants a pretty large chunk of, especially when you multiply out over 6 or 7 years (depending on when 2nd DD starts college). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VANURSEPRAC Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 So depressing, my DD really needs merit money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artichoke Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Our EFC is almost double what is listed in the article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Two choices... schools that are less than the budget or schools that REALLY want the student as any college can opt to give their own money to a student. They just can't offer federal money or subsidized loans below the EFC. How might a college really want a student? - Stats that are very high for the school. Most schools want to bring up their stats, so if your student's ACT score is 29 and the average for the school is around 23, it's worth a try as long as the school has merit awards high enough. - Geographical diversity. If you live in South Dakota and want to head to a school on the East Coast that has representatives of many states, but is missing South Dakota... you might find yourself getting an attractive package. - Sports star. Sports scholarships are pretty big for some kids. It's not always a known sport. Even chess can provide scholarships at some schools if the student is that good. - Some sort of rare hook the college really wants. These can be varied and can make newspaper articles. Thanks for the suggestions and verification. We live in a populous state, so I don't think that will help (though he really wants to go to the opposite coast, so I'll see.) I can't imagine exactly how to research for schools that want students from X state. No hooks or sports, but I can look for schools with lower stats. Is being in the top 25% good or do we really need to look at top 10%? His stats seem really good to me, but not much on the EC side (or not anything colleges care about.) We've visited many schools all over the country, but I don't see a good answer for the cost. I'm really wondering how many apps he should bother with or if the local U branch will just have to be good enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Our EFC is the same as the article predicts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 So depressing, my DD really needs merit money. Hopefully she likes to read. My guys did well with merit aid, but my natural reader did better than the other two. Fortunately, he's also good with math. Definitely do some test prep, but start it relatively early (at home) and be sort of nonchalant about it. If you put stress on it, then she will feel it too and most students don't do well with tons of pressure. They do well when it's routine for them and they have a bit of practice. (Some can do well without prep, but it's not the majority.) There are tons of test prep books out there including many available from the library. The PSAT is going to be new this year (SAT too if I recall correctly), so be certain books are up to date. There are some freebies online too. Thanks for the suggestions and verification. We live in a populous state, so I don't think that will help (though he really wants to go to the opposite coast, so I'll see.) I can't imagine exactly how to research for schools that want students from X state. No hooks or sports, but I can look for schools with lower stats. Is being in the top 25% good or do we really need to look at top 10%? His stats seem really good to me, but not much on the EC side (or not anything colleges care about.) We've visited many schools all over the country, but I don't see a good answer for the cost. I'm really wondering how many apps he should bother with or if the local U branch will just have to be good enough. Many schools will list characteristics of their freshman class. That's where I looked for state representation. For limited number top scholarships, you'll want to be in the top 5% or better of students... There are some schools that give automatic awards for certain scores. One can look on their website for these levels. U Alabama is one of those that we, personally, used as a financial safety, but there are some that require lower scores too. Nova Southeastern (Ft Lauderdale, FL) is one we visited with youngest that I can recommend. I liked that school and they have decent merit aid for lower than average "high" scores. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Earlier this yr I linked lists of lower cost universities and high merit ones. There are good scholarships available for non-NMF. I'm on my phone and can't link. Lots of schools don't factor in EC in scholarships and base them just on stats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 I have an EFC question still. If one has studied the budget and circumstances and figured what she can afford, and the EFC comes up $15,000 higher than that, how should schools be selected? "Meets the EFC" schools won't work and I don't think merit scholarships alone could make up that difference (no national merit qualifying or anything.) I'm thinking that only schools whose COA is less than the budget should be on the list, right? Our EFC is laughably high, given our actual financial circumstances. (Briefly, my husband makes decent money, but we spent years careening from one crisis to another and have no savings, no assets, etc. and debt we will probably never pay off.) In any case, between the deceptively comfortable-looking salary that would rule out need-based aid and the high EFC, I knew we had to be strategic about where my son applied to make sure he finished up with at least a couple of affordable options. He focused on schools at which his test scores (which were fine but not stellar) would put him at least in the upper 25% of applicants. He is a guy in a field -- performing arts, dancing specifically -- in which males are under-represented, which we hoped would make him a reasonably hot commodity. And he tried to stick with colleges that offered juicy scholarships for performers, in addition to academic merit aid. I insisted he cast a pretty wide net, rationalizing that it was worth the extra dollars up front to cover application fees and costs if it got him access to another few thousand dollars a year in scholarships. He applied to 11 colleges and ended up with offers from three of them that result in our out-of-pocket costs being about half of our EFC. It's still more than I had hoped, but with me working, it's manageable. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamato4 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 DH and I are savers and frugal. One big reason for that is that he worked independently for a number of years and his work was inconsistent, so we saved money for those months without work. He's in a regular job now. This saving habit is really biting us big time now. The EFC listed on the chart is not even close to what was actually calculated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabelen Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Our actual EFC was about $10,000 higher than what is on the table. Having gone through several financial upheavals due to the job market, we were not willing to pay more than we were personally comfortable with. No loans, no digging into savings. You never know when you will need to use the savings for every day expenses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenade Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 This saving habit is really biting us big time now. The EFC listed on the chart is not even close to what was actually calculated. It does seem that it is wise NOT to save money anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 It does seem that it is wise NOT to save money anymore. I don't think I'd go that far... I'm *glad* we have the nest egg. Losing at least a third of it over the course of putting two kids through college hurts, but it still beats loans. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamato4 Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 I don't think I'd go that far... I'm *glad* we have the nest egg. Losing at least a third of it over the course of putting two kids through college hurts, but it still beats loans. :iagree: Even though we do have to deal with the pain forking out more money, at least we know our kids won't be burdened with paying off loans. We keep telling the older three that since they'll be done with undergad college when #4 starts college, they're responsible for her tuition :laugh: It does make us think that we really should consult a financial planner that knows the ins and outs of how to save money for college but yet be able to do so in a way that does not penalize us. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Here is the link that I referred to earlier in this thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html#latest 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 I don't think I'd go that far... I'm *glad* we have the nest egg. Losing at least a third of it over the course of putting two kids through college hurts, but it still beats loans. I prefer to pay what we can for our boys. I'd love it if we could afford to be full pay to be honest. We plan to continue donating to our boys' colleges long after they graduate so they can continue to provide merit and need based aid to other students. This will likely have to happen after middle son finishes med school, but it will happen. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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