What's the Expected Family Contribution (EFC)? Your EFC is an index number that college financial aid staff use to determine how much financial aid you would receive if you were to attend their school. The information you report on your FAFSA form is used to calculate your EFC.

What is a good EFC number?

The overall average EFC is about $10,000, with an average of about $6,000 for students at community colleges and $14,000 at 4-year colleges. Slightly more than half of students have an EFC of $2,500 or less. Slightly more than 10% have an EFC greater than $25,000.

What does an EFC of 14000 mean?

Amount of Financial Need = (Cost of Attendance) – (Expected Family Contribution) So, if a school's COA is $42,000 and the student's EFC is $28,000, the calculated financial need is $14,000.

What does my fafsa EFC number mean?

Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is an index number that colleges use to determine how much financial aid you're eligible to receive. ... The EFC factors in your family's taxed and untaxed income, assets, and benefits (such as unemployment or Social Security).

What does your EFC tell you?

Trying to understand the EFC number and what it means? An EFC number is the "expected family contribution", or the amount a family is expected to pay for their student's college education. It short, the EFC has an effect on how much federal grant money you will be given for college expenses.

What does the term EFC stand for?

What does an EFC of 50000 mean?

Here's how: under the formula, the EFC is for the total family contribution, not per child. Even with an EFC as high as $100,000 (from income of about $200,000), after a 50/50 split the EFC is $50,000 for each child, less than the average cost of many elite schools.

What is the maximum income to qualify for financial aid 2020?

Currently, the FAFSA protects dependent student income up to $6,660. For parents, the allowance depends on the number of people in the household and the number of students in college. For 2019-2020, the income protection allowance for a married couple with two children in college is $25,400.

Is an EFC of 10000 good?

In a perfect world, all schools would meet 100% of a family's financial need. So, if your EFC was $10,000 - no matter where you attend - you would know you wouldn't pay more than $10,000 each year. ... Most schools do not meet 100% of financial need for all of their students.

What does an EFC of 7000 mean?

Understanding Your EFC

This number is the amount of money that you and your parents can afford to pay towards college. ... For example, if your EFC is $7,000 and the total cost of attendance for a particular college is $28,000, your total financial need would be $21,000.

What does an EFC of 12000 mean?

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.

What does an EFC of 20000 mean?

EFC Determines Your Financial Need

So if the total COA (Tuition & fees, Room and Board, Books, Supplies, etc) at a particular school was $50,000, and the family's EFC from the FAFSA was $30,000, they would have $20,000 of financial need. This does not mean you will receive a financial aid package totaling $20,000.

Is the EFC for 4 years?

Colleges use a student's EFC to determine a family's financial need. That need is calculated by subtracting the EFC from an institution's cost of attendance for one year, which includes the college's tuition. ... There is no maximum EFC, so it can range from zero to any number.

Can I get financial aid if I make over 100k?

4 answers. None of the above for qualifying for Federal Aid. It's 60,000 tops in most cases. It's very rare anyone's family making over $60,000 would qualify for a Pell Grant.

What is the income level to qualify for a Pell Grant?

Income Limit

To be eligible for the Pell Grant for the 2021-2022 academic year, your EFC needs to be at or below $5,846. Because of this, there is no set income cutoff for Pell Grant eligibility.

What does a EFC of 6000 mean?

This means that you will not get sufficient financial aid at MOST schools to cover the Cost of Attendance minus your aid. In other words...there will be a "gap" which you will also need to fund.</p> <p>In addition.

What is an EFC score of 0?

Zero is the lowest EFC number; 99,999 is the highest. If a dependent students' family's income is less than $24,000 and government assistance was needed for that filing year, the EFC will automatically be zero. A zero means a family has no ability to contribute to the student's education.

What does an 8000 EFC mean?

Everything about FAFSA boils down to three letters, EFC, which stands for Expected Family Contribution. ... For example, if your EFC is $8,000, and the college costs $15,000 to attend, you may be eligible for $7,000 worth of aid.

What does an EFC of 100 mean?

Frequently Asked Questions about EFC

This means that the college does not expect your family to contribute any amount of money to your education. ... Only colleges that meet 100% of demonstrated financial need will cover your full cost of attendance. Other colleges may only cover a portion of your total costs.

How do I lower my FAFSA EFC?

1. Maximize Household Size. The larger your household size is, the lower your EFC will be (in most cases). ...
2. Increase College Attendance Among Family Members. ...
3. Wait Until the FAFSA Considers You Independent.

What does an EFC of 9000 mean?

With an EFC of 9,000 you would not be eligible for federal grants but would probably be eligible for loans and work study. The school uses the extra financial information you provided on CSS to determine your need, for institutional aid purposes, using their own formulas.

Is EFC a dollar amount?

According to the FAFSA official site, “The Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is a measure of your family's financial strength, and is calculated according to a formula established by law” The EFC will be expressed as number equivalent to a dollar amount. For example, 12000 is $12,000.

What is the highest EFC for Pell Grant?

The maximum expected family contribution (EFC) eligible for a Pell Grant for the 2021–22 Award Year is 5846 as compared to 5711 for the 2020–21 Award Year.

Does fafsa really check bank accounts?

Does FAFSA Check Your Bank Accounts? FAFSA doesn't check anything, because it's a form. However, the form does require you to complete some information about your assets, including checking and savings accounts.

How much money can your parents make and still get financial aid?

Unfortunately, it is a common myth for many college-bound students to assume they are not eligible for financial aid because their parents have middle- to upper-income levels. As long as they make $250,000 or less, you are likely to qualify for more financial aid than you realize.

What happens to unused Pell Grant money?

If some of your grant dollars are unused, the school will issue you a Pell Grant refund. You may receive a check for the remaining amount, or the school may transfer it via direct deposit into your bank account or student account.