FAFSA questions..

Live forum: http://forum.freeipodguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=42181

CollidgeGraduit

30-06-2006 05:39:34

My wife was just accepted to grad school, so I'm wondering if there's any tricks to help decrease our EFC. I did one of those EFC calculators online, and it gave me an EFC of $11,000. Unless I get some sort of promotion in the near future, that's extremely bloody unlikely.

Has anyone had success with things to help drop your EFC? I could pull $2000 out of our bank account. Am I just going to have to suck it up, put tuition on credit cards, and pay it off that way? Are loans still available even if it says I should be contributing that much?

doylnea

30-06-2006 05:47:06

EFC is a BS number in my experience. When I was in grad school, my EFC was something like $30K - but I got full loans and grants. I wouldn't sweat it too much.

[may be out of my ass]I do think someone mentioned that EFC has some bearing on interest rates on private loans if you need to go that route...ie the higher the EFC the better your interest rate (since in theory you have the cash, or assets to back the loan). [/may be out of my ass]

ltsmash2

30-06-2006 05:47:17

I am in the same situtation. Being married, we had to suck it up, but there are some major tuition credits you can file for at tax time. One is the Hope credit and there is one other, but I can not remember the name of it. When you file taxes, you should qualify for both. Save all receipts related to school cause that can all be counted. We ended up getting about $11000 back one year which was really good.

CollidgeGraduit

30-06-2006 06:54:27

Wow nice guys, major silver lining on a dark financial cloud. We already have deferrable loans on her undergrad, we have been paying on them for a year since she has been out of school. I told her to give them a call to see if they would be willing to give us another loan. We've paid on time, and more than the required amount, so I think they may be willing to.