Welcome to FAFSAEFC.com, where you can learn more about the Expected Family Contribution also known as an EFC.  Anyone that fills out a FAFSA or Free Application for Financial Student Aid application will receive an EFC score.  This EFC score will determine if you qualify for federal financial aid assistance.  Federal financial aid can be used for all post secondary educational expenses, while in school.

     When a student applies and submits a FAFSA form, they will automatically receive an EFC number.  This number represents the amount a family can expect to contribute towards a student’s college costs. Financial aid administrators (FAAs) determine an applicant’s need for federal student aid from the U.S. Department of Education and other sources of assistance by subtracting the EFC from the student’s cost of attendance (COA).

The EFC score is used to determine the need for aid from the following types of federal student financial assistance:

(1)   Federal Pell Grants, Academic,

(2)   Competitiveness Grants (ACGs),

(3)   National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grants (National SMART Grants). 

(4)   Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grants (TEACH Grants)

(5)   subsidized Stafford Loans (through the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan [DL] Program or through the Federal Family Education Loan [FFEL] Program)

(6)    “Campus-based” programs—

·        Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs)

·        Federal Perkins Loans

·        Federal Work-Study (FWS)

     All data used to calculate a student’s EFC comes from the information the student provides on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).  After the FAFSA has been processed, your school will send an output document containing information about his or her application results. This document, which can be paper or electronic, is called a Student Aid Report (SAR). The SAR lists all the information from the student’s application and indicates whether or not the application was complete and signed.  The SAR will include the student’s EFC if the application is complete and signed and no data conflicts,. Students are instructed to carefully check the information on the SAR to ensure its accuracy. All schools listed on the student’s FAFSA receive application information and processing results in an electronic file called an Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR).

 

New for 2009-2010: Provisions in the CCRAA mandate an increase in the income threshold for an automatic zero EFC from $20,000 to $30,000.