What is Affordable?

One of the most important factors in selecting a college is cost. What can you reasonably afford? Do you want to attend an Ivy League school and graduate with $120,000 in student loan debt or can you get a similar education at a state school and graduate with $20,000 in debt? If you are concerned about keeping college costs even lower, you may want to attend a community college for two years and transfer to a 4-year school to finish off your degree.

If you have an accomplished resume of extracurricular activities and a stellar transcript, you may qualify for thousands of dollars in scholarships, school grants, etc. Colleges like to “advertise” that they enrolled a certain percentage of students who were at the top of their classes or who had great scores on the SATs or ACTs. If your transcript and SAT scores aren’t quite so high, you probably will need to rely at least partially on existing family savings or student loans. But how do you know exactly how much you will need?

Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC)

Your EFC is the government’s assessment of what you and your family can reasonably be expected to contribute to your education. It is calculated based on the information submitted on the FAFSA. Colleges use the EFC to determine how much financial aid you qualify for. The EFC is calculated according to a government formula or federal methodology. It is calculated based on family income (taxed and untaxed), assets and benefits, size of family and the number of children a family currently has enrolled in college. Subtract your EFC from the Total Cost of Attendance for your school and you will get your Financial Need. Your EFC will be the same for each school that you apply to, but your Financial Need may vary based on the Total Cost of Attendance at each individual school. For example, your Financial Need for attending a private school will probably be much higher than if you are attending a public community college.

Compare the financial aid packages

You should receive financial aid packages from each of the schools that you were accepted to and sent the FAFSA to. You will probably receive a different package from each school. Every school has a certain amount of money to give away. Some have more; some have less. The earlier you apply and send in the applicable forms, the better your chance of getting more money. You may be surprised at the different packages. You may apply to College A (a state school) and College B (a private school). College B may seem considerably more expensive initially than College A. Take into consideration that College B may have more financial aid available for students than a larger state school with more students in need of funds. College B may actually offer you more financial aid and make the overall costs comparable, if not lower than College A.

You should always weigh your options before deciding on a college. There are many things to consider, including overall cost. It probably would not make sense to attend a college that doesn’t offer your major just because it costs less than other schools. You should always weigh the pros and cons of each school.