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I am applying for financial aid from Hastings, Davis, Loyola-LA and Santa Clara. The first two ask for a Need Access application to be considered for need-based aid. I heard the Need Access app asks for parent info. My dad is currently unemployed, but I don't think having savings counts as being needy.

Need-based grants and the Federal Perkins Loan are probably out of the picture for me, right?

What about the Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan--interest-free loans sound great, but how needy do I have to be to qualify? If there is no hope for receiving any of these, I may as well just submit the FAFSA only because I don't want to waste $28 on Need Access for something I won't get.

Just to cover all the bases, I believe I can still get the Unsubsidized Stafford Loan and the Federal Graduate PLUS Loan via FAFSA only.

Federal loans do not care about your parents, since graduate school makes you independent regardless of whether or not this is actually true. The only thing that your parents enter into is the Need Access form and your eligibility for institutionally based financial aid (the school stuff, not the federal stuff). The EFC you listed may not actually be all used, depending on your age. Most schools only expect a percentage, with less expected as you get older. Also, is this for this for one year of school, or over the course of your schooling. If it's all, then it will be spread out over three years, and $5,000 hardly covers law school, even after federal loans are accounted for.

bananas wrote:Federal loans do not care about your parents, since graduate school makes you independent regardless of whether or not this is actually true. The only thing that your parents enter into is the Need Access form and your eligibility for institutionally based financial aid (the school stuff, not the federal stuff). The EFC you listed may not actually be all used, depending on your age. Most schools only expect a percentage, with less expected as you get older. Also, is this for this for one year of school, or over the course of your schooling. If it's all, then it will be spread out over three years, and $5,000 hardly covers law school, even after federal loans are accounted for.

+1

15076 EFC = Eagerly Finance (a new) Car.

bananas wrote:Federal loans do not care about your parents, since graduate school makes you independent regardless of whether or not this is actually true. The only thing that your parents enter into is the Need Access form and your eligibility for institutionally based financial aid (the school stuff, not the federal stuff). The EFC you listed may not actually be all used, depending on your age. Most schools only expect a percentage, with less expected as you get older. Also, is this for this for one year of school, or over the course of your schooling. If it's all, then it will be spread out over three years, and $5,000 hardly covers law school, even after federal loans are accounted for.

This is for one year of school, 2010-2011. Could you clarify what you mean by schools expecting a percentage?

I guess my question still is if I would still qualify for subsidized stafford loans (i.e., interest-free-until-graduation federal loans for "needy" people) with only the FAFSA + 15k EFC, and whether my relatively stable financial situation would absolutely shut me off from need-based grants assuming I submit the Need Access stuff. I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth submitting the Need Access.

a male human wrote:

bananas wrote:Federal loans do not care about your parents, since graduate school makes you independent regardless of whether or not this is actually true. The only thing that your parents enter into is the Need Access form and your eligibility for institutionally based financial aid (the school stuff, not the federal stuff). The EFC you listed may not actually be all used, depending on your age. Most schools only expect a percentage, with less expected as you get older. Also, is this for this for one year of school, or over the course of your schooling. If it's all, then it will be spread out over three years, and $5,000 hardly covers law school, even after federal loans are accounted for.

This is for one year of school, 2010-2011. Could you clarify what you mean by schools expecting a percentage?

I guess my question still is if I would still qualify for subsidized stafford loans (i.e., interest-free-until-graduation federal loans for "needy" people) with only the FAFSA + 15k EFC, and whether my relatively stable financial situation would absolutely shut me off from need-based grants assuming I submit the Need Access stuff. I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth submitting the Need Access.

Yes, you should be able to receive Subsidized Stafford loans. Last year I had an EFC much higher than that because I was (originally) planning to go part-time while working full-time, and I still qualified for Subsidized loans. I don't know what the cutoff is, but you should be fine.

I found this: "When your EFC is subtracted from the cost of education, if a balance remains, your child is eligible for a Subsidized Stafford Loan that is equal to the balance, not to exceed the annual loan limit." (http://www.collegeboard.com/parents/pay ... 21423.html)

So, as long as your EFC is less than the cost of education (minus any scholarships), you should qualify for Subsidized loans.

My EFC is 28444 and the cost of attendance of the school I'm going to is about $20,000 (counting the scholarship). So does that mean I won't be eligible for subsidized Stafford loans?

Apple Tree wrote:My EFC is 28444 and the cost of attendance of the school I'm going to is about $20,000 (counting the scholarship). So does that mean I won't be eligible for subsidized Stafford loans?

I don't know. I'm waiting to find that out myself. After I subtract my scholarship from the cost of attendance, my EFC is higher as well. I hope that I'll get the Subsidized loans, but I won't know until they send me my financial aid package.

You guys above probably won't be eligible for any subsidized loans. Here's how it's calculated:

Cost of attendance - EFC = need-based aid eligibility

Scholarships, grants, and subsidized loans (including perkins) are considered need-based financial aid. So if your cost of attendance is $50,000, your EFC is $25,000, and you have a $20,000 scholarship, you would only be eligible for $5000 in subsidized loans.

Is Need Access only useful for free need-based grants or something? (Since according to this topic, only FAFSA's EFC is taken into account when calculating any type of federal loans) I called Hastings and the guy said I don't need to submit Need Access even though the website says it's required. Pretty confused.

What's EFC?

krissyyyum wrote:What's EFC?

Estimated Family...Contribution, I think.

devilishangelrjp wrote:

krissyyyum wrote:What's EFC?

Estimated Family...Contribution, I think.

I think it's "expected"

a male human wrote:

devilishangelrjp wrote:

krissyyyum wrote:What's EFC?

Estimated Family...Contribution, I think.

I think it's "expected"

EFC is expected family contribution, the magical number calculated by the FAFSA.

I hate this...I feel so broke and yet my EFC is high. Plus, they included the contribution to 401K as well. If my money is in the retirement account, how can I use it to pay for law school?

Apple Tree wrote:I hate this...I feel so broke and yet my EFC is high. Plus, they included the contribution to 401K as well. If my money is in the retirement account, how can I use it to pay for law school?

I think it's not so much that it is in there, it's that you put it in when you could have chosen not to. You could've allocated it otherwise (I think, since they only ask for what you contributed and not the total amount in your 401k). I could be wrong.

Unless you're going part-time and continuing to work full-time, it should mostly only be an issue your first year (unless you make a lot this year before school starts). After that, your EFC should drop significantly because you're not working.