Question about Financial Aid

[Anonymous]

My oldest DC is a high school senior and I'm completing the FAFSA and I see that our Expected Family Contribution (EFC) will be about $50,000, which is about what I expected because we have saved for college expenses over the years.

Here's my question: Next year, and in each year after, as our savings is reduced by the amount we pay for DC's college expenses, should I expect our ECF to go down as well? And our "need" to rise by a corresponding amount?

That seems logical to me, but I wonder if it is a common experience that a student gets no need-based aid as a freshman, but gets more each successive year as the parents' savings shrinks. Or, is the amount of need-based aid one gets as a freshman held steady over the four years?

Would love to hear from someone who has been there. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I has an efc of 7000. My son attends an out of state school. We got zero discount, only loans.

[Anonymous]

I have not "been there" because DS is a Jr., but I am "going there" and have been reading up on this matter a lot. You are in much better shape than we are. FWIW, here are my thoughts:

I *believe* the EFC is based on a formula that hinges largely on the parents' annual income and other assets, including savings. And while your college savings for DC will be depleted over 4 years, your EFC will probably stay about the same so long as your income and other assets remain constant.

If you have 2 DCs in college, then I believe your EFC is sort of split between the 2 DCs, but I would not look for it to go down.

The age of the oldest parent also factors into the EFC. The older that person is, the more the contribution goes down, as the parent is expected to be saving for retirement. I don't believe this is a big drop, however.

Any savings in the student's name is also considered at a very high percentage - more so than any savings in the parents' names.

The EFC calculation will vary by institution.

If you own other property besides your primary residence, or if you own your own business, it's extremely important to run the Net Price Calculator on each college's web site...and, even then, your EFC estimate may not be accurate.

If you haven't checked out the web site College Confidential, I suggest you do so. Go to the Financial Aid section and read the sticky threads at the top. Post questions after you've read through/searched the threads. There are also good books you can read on this topic, and I can't recall the titles, but you will find them listed there on CC.

Congratulations on saving as much as you have. That probably required sacrifice on your part, but your DC has many more options than most DCs. Our savings have been largely depleted due to a series of medical expenses that exceeded what insurance would pay, so our DS will be looking at colleges that award merit scholarships for his stats. We have 3 kids following DS, so that's the way it's going to go for them, too.

Best of luck!