What does expected family contribution mean in financial aid?

2019-11-29

What does expected family contribution mean in financial aid?

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 does expected family contribution mean in college?

Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is an index number that colleges use to determine how much financial aid you’re eligible to receive. Your EFC is calculated according to a formula established by law and the information from your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®).

How is expected family contribution for college calculated?

EFC Parent Contribution

  1. Add up total annual parent income. Use both taxable and nontaxable income, including any amount put toward retirement that year.
  2. Subtract allowances for federal taxes, state taxes, and Social Security paid.
  3. Subtract an Income Protection Allowance (IPA).
  4. Subtract an Employment Expense Allowance.

What does an EFC of $14000 mean?

Expected Family Contribution
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.

How does FAFSA calculate expected family contribution?

You can find your EFC on the first page of your Student Aid Report. Note: Your EFC is not the amount of money your family will have to pay for college nor is it the amount of federal student aid you will receive.

What is family contribution?

Expected family contribution (EFC) is the amount of money that a student’s family is expected to contribute to college costs for one year.

What is the average Expected Family Contribution?

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.

What EFC qualifies for Pell Grant?

$5,846
The Department of Education will use your family’s income and expenses to calculate your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). 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.

Why expected family contribution is important?

Your expected family contribution, or EFC, impacts how much federal financial aid you receive and how much institutional financial aid colleges award you. Your EFC will change every year because your family’s income and assets won’t be the same every year.