I just recieved an EFC of 371 from my FAFSA financial aid...?

Question

... is this good? Can I expect to get a fairly good amount for my schooling this year?

I'm totally clueless : (

Answer 1

that stands for ESTIMATED FAMILY CONTRIBUTION..thats a number FAFSA comes up with after reviewing all the info you supplied..that means thats why they expect your family to contribute to your college costs..im going thru this samething right now with my daughter..

Answer 2

Did you include your parent's information as well? It just seems rather low (which is good if you're looking to get things such as Pell grants).

Answer 3

The EFC determines your eligibility for a Pell Grant.  The college's financial aid office will also use it to determine what other type of aid you are eligible to receive based on their policies and procedures.  The lower the EFC the better types of aid you are eligible to be considered for.  You'll need to wait to hear from the aid office for the exact breakdown.

Answer 4

EFC is a Estimated Family Contribution. You are in really good shape if this is the case. Typically your Fin Aid office(via the Federal Government) will ask for verification that this is actually your EFC. This means they will require tax docs for both yourself and, if you are dependent(under 23, non-military and not emancipated), tax docs for your parents as well.

However you should get over 4k in Pell Grants(free money, you don't have to pay it back) along with usual Stafford loans, probably Perkins loans and Federal Work Study.

All in all, you are in very good shape!

Shawn

Answer 5

An EFC is your expected family contribution. If it really is 371 then hooray for you! That's great! That means it will tell the university you attend that based on your family's income, you should only be expected to pay 371 dollars out of the total cost of education. What your college will help you with is different for each one so you should try to find more information.

Answer 6

A low EFC such as yours means you will get a boat load of aid at schools that meet 100% of financial need. The bad news as that most schools don't meet anywhere close to that.

You will get the maximum Federal benefits: Pell Grant, subsidized loan and work study. After that it's up to the schools that accept you what they choose to give on top of that. The wealthy schools often give huge grants to folks with your EFC and several even require no loans. These tend to be ivy league schools and other top colleges.

Most other schools do what called "gap" you. They give you some grants and some loans but it's not enough to pay the full cost of the school meaning you really can't attend.

This is why many people with very low EFCs end up at community colleges. When choosing schools to apply to, pay close attention to the percentage of need met. College Board has this info on their web site.