Question by dray-dray: My EFC for college is 39. What does this mean? Please help.?
I’m an independent student starting summer at Academy of Art University. Summer semester is only $ 1480 but a full year is $ 17,760/yr. How much money will I get? I’m sure I will need to take out loans. Please help. Thank You.
Best answer:
Answer by NotAnyoneYouKnow
Your EFC score is an index of your financial aid need. Your school can use this score to compare your need to the need of all of the other applicants who will be attending your school next year.
Your EFC of 0039 (which is not read with a dollar sign, by the way), indicates that you have demonstrated what’s known as “exceptional need” – that category is made up of all applicants with EFC scores below 4041.
Students who have demonstrated exceptional need are eligible for special aid programs known as “need-based aid”. These programs include the various educational grants, the Perkins Loan, the subsidized Stafford Loan and the Federal Work-Study Program.
Though you may be qualified for those programs, only the Pell Grant is actually guaranteed. All of the other forms of need-based aid are awarded on a case-by-case basis by the financial aid department at your school. There is a limited amount of each of these funds available to your school, and they must determine the most equitable way to allocate those funds to eligible students.
Based on your EFC score of 39, you will be awarded a Pell Grant of $ 5300 for the 2009-2010 school year, assuming that you are enrolled as a full-time student.
You are also guaranteed to be offered a Stafford loan, and there is a good chance that part of that loan will be subsidized. The maximum Stafford available to an independent freshman is $ 9500.
When you say that you are an independent student, I just want to make certain that you understand that you are only independent if you fit the statutory definition of independence. Independence is NOT a matter of whether you are paying your own way through school, or whether you live with your parents, or whether they’re helping you out with the costs. A financial aid applicant is independent if they are at least 24, or married, or supporting dependents, or are an active military member or veteran, or are attending graduate school, or an orphan, etc.
Depending on your state, and the Academy of Art University’s own funds, you may be eligible for state funded assistance, or institutional aid offered by the school. No one can predict your eligibility for those funds – so that’s another variable that would make it impossible to accurately guess your aid award.
In fact, there really is no way for anyone to predict what you will be required to pay out-of-pocket next year. Your school will put together an aid offer letter that describes the aid that they have available for you – and the letter will provide instructions on how you can accept and receive that aid.
I hope that helps you – good luck!
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