This is a quick refresher on how the FAFSA works. The most important part of how it works is this: The FAFSA calculates your Expected Family Contribution. It is not the tooth fairy. The schools to which you apply use your EFC to determine your aid package. The FAFSA does not obligate them to meet your need; however, for purposes…
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Next year’s FAFSA will be available on Oct. 1. That doesn’t mean you need to rush online and complete it on Oct. 1. Here are a few things that should factor into your timeline for completing it.
Are you looking for the EFC Formula Guide for 2020-2021? If so, go here. The Department of Education has released the EFC Formula Guide for this fall’s FAFSA. The Formula Guide is the detailed calculation behind Expected Family Contribution, FAFSA version. Families who will be completing the FAFSA this fall should take a look.
Step 1 in figuring out how to pay for college is estimating your EFC. You can use the FAFSA4caster, or the more detailed EFC Formula Guide (note that’s for 2018-2019; the 2019-2020 version should be released this month). But EFC is just a starting point: schools aren’t required to meet your need, and they certainly aren’t required to meet it…
On our recent college odyssey, we heard about a lot of need-blind admissions policies, and no loan/100% of need met financial aid policies. These are mostly good things but perhaps not as good as they sound on the surface, so it’s worth unpacking them.