2015 Guide to FAFSA, CSS Profile, College Financial Aid, & EFC

Use the article from Forbes to answer these questions in complete sentences. Please
change your responses to another color or bold.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2014/11/28/2015-guide-to-fafsa-css-profile-collegefinancial-aid-and-expected-family-contribution-efc/

Applying for College Financial Aid

1. What are the 2 possible forms to complete to apply for need-based financial aid?
The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and the CSS Profile.
2. What form do most colleges and universities nationwide use to determine need-based
financial aid?
The FAFSA
3. What is the CSS Profile used for?
To assess the students eligibility for the colleges own institutional aid dollars.
4. What colleges require the CSS Profile?
Ex: University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, William & Mary, Georgia Institute of
Technology and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Calculating Your Expected Family Contribution
5. What is the process for applying for and obtaining financial aid?
The student is required to complete and submit the aid forms as part of the
applying process. After, the EFC (expected family contribution) will determine how
much financial aid will go to the cost of college.
6. What is the EFC?
The Expected Family Contribution; determines how much money goes toward the
cost of college.
7. How is EFC calculated?
It represents a dollar amount, which is the output of your aid forms and
calculations.
8. What factors determine a persons EFC?
The amount of income the parents get, family size, and the number of dependent
children enrolled in college in a given year.
9. Why might a person get 3 different EFC amounts?
Because the students EFC can be different under each formula.
Using EFC to Determine the Need for Financial Aid
10.How is EFC used to determine if a student qualifies for need-based financial aid?
They use a formula, which is Cost of Attendance EFC = Financial Need
Cost of Attendance
11.What elements add up to the cost of attendance?
Its the total cost of enrolling at a college, including tuition, fees, room & board,
books, travel and personal expenses.
12.What is the national average cost of attendance for:
a. 2-Year Public College?
$20,000
b. 4-Year Public College?
$28,000
c. 4-Year Private College?
$55,000

4-Year Elite College?

$65,000
Putting EFC into Perspective
13.When would a student qualify for need-based financial aid?
When you have 2 dependent children and one of them is enrolling in college, with
your actual EFC higher.
14.What are students eligible for when they qualify for need-based financial aid?
They will receive need-based grants, scholarships, work-study and student loans
15.Why is it incorrect to assume a student will get financial aid if s/he is eligible?
Because eligibility does not mean certainty and you have to wait and see how
much it would be worth.
16.When would a student be denied need-based financial aid?
When your EFC is higher than cost of tuition.
Eligible for Aid at One College, But Not at Another
17.What is eligibility for need-based financial aid dependent on?
The cost of attendance of each college the student is considering
18.Why might a student be eligible for aid at one college but not at another?
When the cost is just based on the parents income alone and nothing else.
Predicting the Financial Aid Award
19.When will students know their financial aid package amounts?
Not until the student receives a financial aid award letter.
20.What types of resources are included in a financial aid package?
Federal aid and state aid amount, private scholarships.
What to Do if Your Family Has Special Financial Circumstances
21.What form does not include a place to explain special situations?
The FASFA forms
22.What form does have a place to explain special situations?
The CSS profile.
23.What can parents do if using the FAFSA to explain their financial circumstances?
Provide additional detailed information at the college financial aid office at each
school.
How College Selection Impacts Financial Aid
24.What factors make a student more likely to get an aid package that meets a higher
percentage of their need?
If the student is a good candidate for admission or the college want the student for
a particular reason.
25.Why is aid more complex at elite private colleges?
The student will need to complete the FASFA and the CSS profile to determine the
students need.
Merit Aid
26.What is merit aid based on?
Based on the students academic, athletic, music and other merits but not family
finances.
27.Why is merit aid so great?
1) Merit award are typically grants

2) Students can be rewarded merit aid regardless of family income

28.What is important to know about merit aid at elite colleges?
Almost all of the elite colleges in the country do not offer academic merit aid.
Student Gets Merit Aid But No Need-Based Aid
29.What will happen if a student qualifies for merit aid but not need-based aid?
Your out-of-pocket cost will be sticker price minus the merit aid award.
Why Merit Aid Reduces Need-Based Aid Eligibility
30.True or False: If you qualify for need based aid and merit aid, you subtract both of them from
the college cost to determine how much you will pay.
31.True or False: If you qualify for need based aid and earn a scholarship, you will have a lower
cost to pay than if you did not have the scholarship.
The Out-of-Pocket Cost of College
32.What information will be given at the end of the college admissions and aid application
process?
You will arrive at a list of colleges to which the student has been accepted for
admission, and have been given an official financial aid award letter by each of
those institutions that explains the students eligibility for all of the aid that
he/she is eligible for and/or has been awarded, including outside scholarships,
state grants, student loans, work-study, etc.
33.What elements are included in the financial aid award letter?
Includes the total cost of attendance to enroll for the upcoming academic year,
including tuition, fees, room, board, books, travel and personal expenses.
34.What factors contribute to the total cost of attendance?
Out-of-pocket cost minus the amount of the aid package at each college.
35.What is the formula for out-of-pocket cost?
Cost of attendance financial aid
36.Why might the out-of-pocket cost be greater than what is calculated using that formula?
If the parents and/or students take on student loans to fund a given college.

Extra Credit: At home, speak with your parents and review the chart in the article 2015 EFC
Quick Reference Table for College Aid and answer these questions.
A. Is it likely you will qualify for need-based financial aid?
B. What is the plan to pay for college?
C. Are there any colleges your parents will not let you go to? Or, are there any limits they
have for where you can go to college? (Distance, cost, 2-year or 4-year, etc.)