Where to Find Expected Family Contribution on Fafsa

Numerous calculations decide the cost of college for a educatee. Luckily, y'all don't need to crunch any numbers, merely you should sympathise where the numbers are coming from.

Perhaps the most important number to sympathise is your Expected Family Contribution.

What is the EFC?

The EFC is the number that results from filling out your FAFSA. (Get info on FAFSA here.) Co-ordinate to the FAFSA official site, "The Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is a measure of your family unit's financial strength, and is calculated according to a formula established past police force" The EFC volition be expressed equally number equivalent to a dollar amount. For example, 12000 is $12,000. This means that the federal government (and colleges) expect your family to be able to reasonably contribute $12,000 per year towards your college expenses.

That said, the EFC number is not the definitive amount your family must pay for school. Rather, the number is a starting point. From this starting signal, financial aid and grant providers (normally, the federal authorities, state authorities, and your higher) volition calculate what kind of assist you should receive.

For instance, the federal government uses the EFC to determine your eligibility for Federal Pell Grants, Subsidized Direct Loans, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), and Federal Work-Study (FWS).

Of grade, in that location are besides other kinds of assist, similar merit scholarships and outside scholarships, which more often than not don't take into business relationship fiscal need (and thus don't expect at your EFC). For a full run-down of student aid, bank check out our comprehensive guide.

The Expected Family Contribution Formula

Your EFC is calculated using data you lot've provided in your FAFSA information. It will accept into account factors like your household income and the number of family members (including current college students!) that this income must back up. Information technology will non accept into account consumer debt, such as credit carte balances and auto loans. Therefore, having credit card debt, mortgage debt, or the like will non increase chances of a more favorable EFC number. If you are unsure nigh how to respond certain FAFSA questions, bank check out our tips to approach tricky questions.

The federal government and then takes your answers, and calculates your EFC co-ordinate to a complicatedEFC formula. To get into the real nitty-gritty, look for "The EFC Formula" PDF guide/link here.

Besides note that EFC is based on the recent year's income. Therefore, your EFC could change from year to year. This is especially true in cases where the person in charge of income falls ill suddenly or becomes unemployed. This is why you lot must fill up out and re-submit your FAFSA every year, so that your EFC can be re-calculated.

Simplified Needs Exam

That said, there are actually two  EFC formulas: the normal 1 and the "simplified" i.

Generally, the simplified EFC formula is for depression-income families (earning $49,999 or below) who currently also benefit from other federal assist programs (like Medicaid, the Supplemental Security Income Program, or the Free & Reduced Price School Dejeuner Program).

If yous practice qualify, the organisation will exclude household avails from the calculation of your EFC number. This generally means your household will be seen to have fewer fiscal resource, so your EFC will be lower, and your eligible help package will be higher. (In other words: if you qualify for the simple EFC, you lot'll likely go more financial aid!)

Need-Based Fiscal Help

The EFC number will be located on the summit-correct of the Educatee Aid Study (SAR) y'all receive, either electronically or physically, a few weeks subsequently filing your FAFSA. This same SAR is sent to every school y'all list as a recipient on your FAFSA. (Unlike the CSS Contour, it's free to send your FAFSA SAR to equally many schools every bit you lot want.)

[Side notation: S ome schools may crave you to make full out other fiscal aid forms, in addition to the FAFSA. The most popular of these is the CSS Contour, merely some colleges have their own forms, which they'll list on their financial aid websites.]

Each school considers your EFC to calculate how much federal student assistance you are eligible for. More than specifically, schools need the EFC number to calculate an equation measuring your "financial need" for the school twelvemonth. The schools perform the following equation: Cost of Omnipresence (COA) minus Expected Family Contribution (EFC) equals the amount of Financial Need.

Defining Cost of Attendance and Fiscal Need

Your "Toll of Omnipresence" takes into account all costs associated with studying at the university, not just tuition. The COA will often include room and board (that is, accommodation and meals), textbooks, student fees, and transportation.

Your "Financial need" is the "gap" betwixt what college will toll and what your family can pay. Normally, colleges will try to close that gap by providing you lot with a fiscal help parcel consisting of grants, loans, and piece of work-study. The maximum amount of fiscal help you can receive is this "financial demand" amount, so no school will offer you more need-based aid than your Fiscal Demand, merely depending on the school, they may offer yous less.

Instance calculations

Here are three examples of how this calculation will work:

1. Imagine your EFC is $15,000. At a schoolhouse where the COA is $xxx,000, your calculated fiscal need is $30,000 (COA) – $15,000 (EFC) = $15,000 (Financial Demand).
2. Imagine your EFC is $22,000. At a school where the COA is $30,000, your calculated financial need is $xxx,000 (COA) – $22,000 (EFC) = $viii,000 (Financial Need).
3. Imagine your EFC is $22,000, just now y'all're attending a schoolhouse where the COA is $18,000. Since your EFC is greater than your COA, your calculated fiscal need is $0, and you would not receive any financial help. (Your family unit tin can beget to pay more the higher costs.)

As you tin tell, given the same COA, a lower EFC generally means more fiscal help. Nevertheless, it'due south all relative, since these numbers are in relation to each other.

Options Across Need-Based Financial Aid

Some schools or organizations also offer financial assist that is non need-based, to provide further financial assistance.

Schools employ the following formula to calculate this assist: Price of Omnipresence (COA) minus Financial Aid Awarded So Far equals Eligibility for Not-need-based Help.

In other words, your eligibility is based on the amount remaining, after receiving need-based help, scholarships, and grants. Directly Unsubsidized Loans and Federal PLUS Loans are two forms of non-need-based financial help. Your EFC is not considered here.

Another option is external scholarships (also known as "outside scholarships") provided by contained third parties, similar foundations or companies. Many of these scholarships take no household income requirement and are open up to all kinds of families, not just low-income ones. Going Merry is your best source to find those external scholarships.

What if your Expected Family Contribution is zero?

A student's EFC can be zero. This ways that, given your family'south financial situation, they would not exist able to contribute anything towards your college education.

If your EFC is nix, the number on your SAR will appear as multiple zeros in a row. Tip : A person or household making less than $25,000 and filing a 1040 or 1040EZ tax return automatically has an EFC of zero.

Having an EFC of cypher does not mean the school will cover the complete cost of attendance (which, in your case, equals your fiscal need). Many schools can only cover 50-60% of the fiscal need for each student. After the amount your school is covering is subtracted, the remaining amount is chosen unmet need. The pupil or educatee'south family unit is responsible for finding money for this unmet demand.

Closing the gap: Unmet financial demand

Pretend for a moment that your EFC is $19,000 and your financial need is calculated to be $viii,000. Your school offers you $4,000 of need-based financial assistance. This leaves $4,000 of unmet need. Consequently, the family needs to manage funds to cover $23,000 (EFC plus unmet need).

One great manner to help with this is to apply for outside scholarships. Many times, these scholarships are granted to students based on merit (bookish or athletic) and/or based on scholarship essays. Going Merry is a dandy manner to find and apply for outside scholarships efficiently. Sign up for an business relationship here, or read about how it all works.

The Broader Moving picture: Comparing Fiscal Aid Offers

Once yous receive your college admissions letters (go you!) and their associated financial aid offers, we recommend that you summate and compare your unmet need at each school. Nosotros also recommend that you consider what pct of your help package is loans (that you have to pay back) vs. grants (free money).

Remember that the more expensive college (based on listed tuition costs) may actually notwithstanding be more than affordable for you, if they offer you a more than generous aid bundle.

For instance:

• School A costs $45,000 (this is their COA). They encounter "full financial need." And so based on your EFC of $xv,000, they offer you $30,000 in need-based aid. Therefore, your effective cost would be $45,000 – $30,000 = $15,000. Your unmet need is $0.
• School B costs $30,000 (this is their COA). Based on your EFC of $15,000, they offering you $x,000 in need-based aid. (They exercise not see total financial need.) Therefore, your effective toll would exist $xxx,000 – $10,000 = $20,000. Your unmet need is $v,000.

High school sophomore or junior? Start thinking most higher affordability now.

You lot don't take to await for senior year (much less senior jump) to starting time thinking virtually your financial aid offers. We recommend you start early to make sure college is affordable:

1. Apply for outside scholarships. There are many external scholarships that all high schoolhouse students are eligible for. Sign up for Going Merry to fill out a brief contour and become matched to scholarships you can apply for.
2. Research your college listing. Starting time researching colleges y'all're interested in, including their financial aid policies. Some colleges have really generous merit scholarship programs.

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Feeling better near financial aid? Sign upwards for a free Going Merry profile then we can match you with the all-time outside scholarships. It'south gratis and takes less than a minute!

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Shalon is a content author for Going Merry. Our team personally vets every college scholarship listed on our website equally your one-stop shop for scholarships. We're non simply ane of the all-time scholarship search engines, but we're also the but scholarship application platform–all offered to students for gratuitous.

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