FAFSA question (EFC):

[jread]

So, I just filled out my FAFSA for the coming school year (starting graduate school this summer). My EFC (expected financial contribution) was something like 10k. Is this going to affect my ability to get federal loans? There is no way in f'ing hell I can put 10k of my income toward tuition. Am I screwed? I'm going to be royally pissed if I can't get enough aid to pay for graduate school.

The difference is that we're filing jointly as we're legally married, where I filed as single last year.

 

[Tiamat]

Estimated Family Contribution. You are lucky, my EFC was 30k and my parents didn't pay for my school. Lots of overtime work

 

[shortspanishguy]

you basically use up your maximum of federal loans first and then move to private. You will be fine.

 

[DVK916]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Estimated Family Contribution. You are lucky, my EFC was 30k and my parents didn't pay for my school. Lots of overtime work

Your family must be rich, so I have no pity for you. You had it easy growing up, living in wealth.

 

[jread]

Originally posted by: shortspanishguy
you basically use up your maximum of federal loans first and then move to private. You will be fine.

Hmm... I'm going to need about 21k to pay for the entire degree. Hopefully the federal loans will last that long. I'm already at about 25k from my bachelor's.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: DVK916

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Estimated Family Contribution. You are lucky, my EFC was 30k and my parents didn't pay for my school. Lots of overtime work

Your family must be rich, so I have no pity for you. You had it easy growing up, living in wealth.

your family must be fat, so i have no pity for you. You'll have it easy surviving off your own lard when global warming kills off all food supplies.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Fausto1/DVK916.jpg

 

[Terabyte]

Originally posted by: IAteYourMother

Originally posted by: DVK916

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Estimated Family Contribution. You are lucky, my EFC was 30k and my parents didn't pay for my school. Lots of overtime work

Your family must be rich, so I have no pity for you. You had it easy growing up, living in wealth.

your family must be fat, so i have no pity for you. You'll have it easy surviving off your own lard when global warming kills off all food supplies.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Fausto1/DVK916.jpg

Why is this picture linked in so many posts..

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: jread
So, I just filled out my FAFSA for the coming school year (starting graduate school this summer). My EFC (expected financial contribution) was something like 10k. Is this going to affect my ability to get federal loans? There is no way in f'ing hell I can put 10k of my income toward tuition. Am I screwed? I'm going to be royally pissed if I can't get enough aid to pay for graduate school.

The difference is that we're filing jointly as we're legally married, where I filed as single last year.

i think it says that EFC is not a dollar amount...

 

[pg22]

My EFC is zero

But then again, I'm starting law school...

 

[MSCoder610]

Originally posted by: pg22
My EFC is zero

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: DVK916

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Estimated Family Contribution. You are lucky, my EFC was 30k and my parents didn't pay for my school. Lots of overtime work

Your family must be rich, so I have no pity for you. You had it easy growing up, living in wealth.

Nope, not rich

FAFSA takes into account many things like my dad's retirement investments, and savings bonds that wont mature in 10 years etc.

I don't look for pity. I work hard and it sometimes pays off. I did not have it easy growing up, and I certainly didnt live in wealth.

Your parents dont have to be making a lot of money for FAFSA to screw you over. My mom makes 0$ per year, and my dad, the standard Engineering Salary ($95k after 35 years of working) that you get working for the government.

Fafsa really hits the families who have tons of investments and those who save money (in terms of a large percentage of their salary) the hardest.

 

[hdeck]

EFC is the estimated contribution you/your family can make. if you can't/won't commit to 10k/year to tuition then you shouldn't have listed that as your contribution. obviously your EFC is going to affect how much you can get in federal loans.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: hdeck
EFC is the estimated contribution you/your family can make. if you can't/won't commit to 10k/year to tuition then you shouldn't have listed that as your contribution. obviously your EFC is going to affect how much you can get in federal loans.

I don't know if you've done FAFSA recently or if it's changed over the past few years since you've done it, but the EFC is a number calculated by FAFSA based on the information you provide them. You do not choose your EFC.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: hdeck
EFC is the estimated contribution you/your family can make. if you can't/won't commit to 10k/year to tuition then you shouldn't have listed that as your contribution. obviously your EFC is going to affect how much you can get in federal loans.

EFC is calculated based on your finances, not by the applicant.

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: BigJ
You do not choose your EFC.

It's been that way since the mid '90s when I got screwed by FAFSA too. Some things don't change

techfuzz

 

[fallenangel99]

Yeah, I am plan on applying for FAFSA soon and my EFC might be high (I"m not sure how the calculatin works). I have been working for the past 2 years and I saved a lot of money. It is going to suck if I can't get aid based on account balance. I could have spent all my saved up money on like HDTVs , a new car, etc. but I guess saving money is not good when applying for FAFSA.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: fallenangel99
Yeah, I am plan on applying for FAFSA soon and my EFC might be high (I"m not sure how the calculatin works). I have been working for the past 2 years and I saved a lot of money. It is going to suck if I can't get aid based on account balance. I could have spent all my saved up money on like HDTVs , a new car, etc. but I guess saving money is not good when applying for FAFSA.

Thats how it was for me. I saved about 20k$ due to working during high school and JH, and they factored that into the EFC. What hurt me the most was my dad's assets. They consider them liquid even though they sort of aren't (incurred penalties for early withdrawal of invested funds).

Good luck! Try to enroll into some merit based endowed scholarships.