What do the initials EFC mean?

EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution. This is the amount your family is expected to contribute toward your college education.

What does a 6 digit EFC mean?

The EFC is a mysterious six-digit number, that may include leading zeros. It is a dollar amount that represents a measure of the family's financial strength. Meaning, the federal government believes that the family can afford to contribute that amount of money toward college costs.

What does EFC of 40000 mean?

This means low-income students will often be eligible for more financial aid. For example: Say your EFC is $15,000 and your school's cost of attendance is $40,000. With this EFC, your calculated financial need would be $25,000. But if you had a higher EFC of $30,000, your financial need would be only $10,000.

What does an 8000 EFC mean?

It's really just a simple math! 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 your EFC tell you?

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 EFC Mean?

What does an EFC of 7000 mean?

This number is calculated by each college and includes room and board, tuition, and miscellaneous fees. 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 50000 mean?

Cost of Attendance (COA) – Expected Family Contribution (EFC) = Financial Need. For example, 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.

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. Unfortunately, this is simply not the case. Most schools do not meet 100% of financial need for all of their students.

What is a good EFC FAFSA score?

Families should also keep in mind that those with an EFC of 5576 or lower are eligible for Pell Grants for the 2019-2020 award year, according to the Department of Education. The Pell Grant helps students from low-income households pay for college and is the largest federal grant program available to undergraduates.

What does an EFC of 20000 mean?

If you have an EFC of $20,000, the college meets 70% of financial need, this leaves you with 30% of unmet need (Example, total cost $40,000 less EFC equals financial need of $20,000 times 30% unmet need $6,000. So your theoretical out of pocket costs would be your EFC $20,000 plus unmet need of $6,000 equals $26,000.

Is an EFC of 5000 Good?

If your EFC is $5,000 and the school's cost of attendance is $20,000, your calculated financial need is $15,000. So, a lower EFC is more beneficial. For a student with the average American household AGI of $50,000, their EFC typically ranges from $3,000-$4,000.

What EFC qualifies for Pell Grant?

Income Limit

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.

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.

Why is my EFC so high with low income?

If your family has accumulated wealth and investments, your EFC can be high, even if your family's income is low. This includes checking and savings accounts, bonds and stocks, and even the student's 529 College Savings Plan. Some kinds of financial assets do not count toward your EFC.

What does an EFC of $14000 mean?

So, if a school's COA is $42,000 and the student's EFC is $28,000, the calculated financial need is $14,000. While your Expected Family Contribution will not impact non-need-based awards (like merit scholarships), the need-based aid you receive won't exceed your EFC.

What EFC qualifies for Pell Grant 2022 23?

Under this new appropriations legislation, the maximum Pell Grant award will increase from $6,495 to $6,895 for the 2022-2023 award year, and the corresponding maximum Pell Grant eligible expected family contribution (EFC) will increase from 5,846 to 6,206.

What does an EFC of 9000 mean?

If you attend three-quarter time (9-11 credits), you generally receive seventy-five percent as much COMA. Students in the EFC range of 5577 to 9000 will receive $0 COMA if enrolled half-time (6-8 credits). Students with a bachelor's degree are also eligible for COMA.

What does an EFC of 5500 mean?

$3,500 subsidized loan limit ($5,500 total federal loan limit) $3,500 subsidized loan limit ($9,500 total federal loan limit) Second-Year Undergraduate Student. $4,500 subsidized loan limit ($6,500 total federal loan limit) $4,500 subsidized loan limit ($10,500 total federal loan limit)

What is an EFC of 5000?

Ultimately, your EFC helps the federal government and your school decide how much need-based federal aid you can receive. Your need-based aid allotment can't exceed your cost of attendance. If your COA is $10,000, for example, and your EFC is $5,000, you can't receive more than $5,000 in need-based aid.

How do I lower my EFC?

Can you get financial aid if your parents make 100k?

Also, the family may have special circumstances that affect their ability to pay for college. Eligible students may also qualify for other forms of financial aid, such as institutional grants. For example, some students whose parents earn $100,000 or more will qualify for grants from their college.

What is the highest EFC number?

Generally speaking, the lower the EFC, the higher the financial aid award will be. Zero is the lowest EFC number (indicating that the family cannot afford to pay anything) and 999,999 is the highest.

What does EFC 25000 mean?

$45,000 (COA) – $20,000 (EFC) = $25,000 of financial aid eligibility. It is crucial to understand that this $25,000 is not necessarily what the student will receive in aid. Instead, it represents the number for which the student is eligible.

What does a EFC of $6000 mean?

Use the EFC during your college selection process, because finances are a bigger deal than you think. In theory, if the FAFSA® reports that your EFC is $6,000, you'd only have to come up with $6,000 to help fund your education.

What is the maximum income to qualify for FAFSA?

One of the biggest myths about financial aid is that you shouldn't apply if your family makes too much money. But the reality is that there are no income limits with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA); any eligible student can fill out the FAFSA to see if they qualify for aid.