Expected Family Contribution is 42, What does this mean?

Question

My efc was a 42, can anyone enlighten this for me?

Answer 1

Your Expected Family Contribution is the amount that the government has determined you are *able* to pay for college in a given year. However, it should be emphasized that this is NOT necessarily the amount that you will be *required* to pay -- you might pay less or you might have to pay much, much more.

To phrase it another way, having a $42 EFC doesn't mean that all your educational costs (less $42) will be paid for by another source. Many FAFSA applicants mistakenly believe that a very low EFC means that the school or the government will cover the remainder. This, unfortunately, is not the case. Most colleges do not have the means to meet all their students' full need through scholarships, and almost all of the Federal awards have limits that often fall short of tuition costs.

Your low EFC *probably* means that you are eligible for most of the aid that your school has to offer for students in your program, including a Pell grant (if you are an undergrad), a Stafford Loan, a Perkins loan, an SEOG, Work-Study. Depending on where you live, you may also receive some aid from your state.

Many of these funds (except Pell -- the amounts for which are set by a specific table that compares your Cost of Attendance to your EFC) are allotted at the school's discretion. These days, there is never enough SEOG, Perkins, and FWS to go around, so it is uncommon for schools to award students to their maximum eligibility -- even to full-need students.

Nonetheless, you should take your EFC as a sign that plenty of people out there feel that you show a good deal of need. Search for need-based (and merit-based, if you have done well in school) scholarships anywhere you can: libraries, your former high school, your future college, clubs/associations near you, and the internet:

http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/other.phtml
http://www.fastweb.com
http://www.srnexpress.com
http://www.scholarships.com
http://www.scholarships101.com
http://apps.collegeboard.com/cbsearch_ss/welcome.jsp
http://services.princetonreview.com/default.asp?RUN=%2Fcollege%2Ffinance%2Fscholar%2FscholInterview%2Easp&RCN=auth&RDN=7&ALD=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eprincetonreview%2Ecom
http://www.collegeanswer.com/paying/content/pay_free_money.jsp

You will probably need to cull funding from a number of sources as scholarships (small and large) are very competitive. Please be wary of scholarship scams, not the least of which is the claim that that there are "tons of unclaimed scholarships" just floating around out there. For information on this myth (and other scams), try reading these pages:

http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/unclaimedaid.phtml
http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/protecting.phtml
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/ouchalrt.htm

Answer 2

Its supposed to mean that your family is expected to contribute 42 dollars....and financial aid will be determined by cost of attendance- efc= finanical aid....but 42 seems like a random number for that.

Answer 3

The number sounds a bit odd. I'd call the FAFSA help line @1-800-433-3243. EFC means the amount of money your family is expected to kick in to pay for your college education.

Answer 4

You and your family is expected to pay $42 for your education this fiscal year. It's not an odd number, by the way; mine was $0 (yep, no money= virtually free education :) )

Answer 5

That means the government expects your family to pay $42 a year for your schooling. Congratulations, you qualify for financial aid.

Answer 6

Well, I would say that it was $42 because dollar amounts are how it shows up on my stuff. Is it actually 42%? Or $4200? Though they suck, that would make more sense.