A few days ago
LJ

Is the FAFSA serious?

I just got my EFC number back and it’s a third of what my husband and I make a year. Seriously what do they base their decision on?

Top 3 Answers
A few days ago
sfox1_72

Favorite Answer

The problem with the FAFSA is that it’s really been designed for the “traditional” college student. If you are 19 and making $9 an hour in the school cafeteria, the government wants you to kick in a third of that toward your education. The government assumes that mom and dad are picking up a good share of your expenses. (Which is really unfair because the government doesn’t require them to pick up the costs, but it doesn’t give students credit when they don’t.)

Adult students who are supporting themselves get treated the same way.

Go to your financial aid office and talk to the counselors there. They have some leeway on how they interpret the ESC. They may also know of outside help such as private grants or scholarships which can be used to offset the ESC.

It’s a screwy situation.

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A few days ago
caba
There are many factors that go into calculating what your EFC is: your income and your spouse’s, any savings you may have, how many people are in your household and of those how many attend college, if you are getting food stamps or other federal assistance, if you own a business, etc. If both you and your husband were attending college, then your EFC would be lower than with just one person attending college.

If you really would like to see how it is calculated you can view the EFC Formula Guide (it’s in PDF format) at http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/0708EFCFormulaGuide.pdf !

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A few days ago
Anonymous
there are several, but here are the main ones

household income

number of family members in the household

number of family members in the household in college

cost of the school

full vs part time

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