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Hi, I'm currently a junior right now and i've started my college planning. I've got most of the admissions stuff down, but i still have no idea how to finance my education. I will be applying to both public and private institutions, so i have no clue how much it'll cost for me.

My parents aren't well off, and i've been trying to approx how much fin aid i could get. They're total annual income is about 60,000. I've tried using those fin aid calculators, but there are a lot of things that i don't know (equities, checking accts, etc). My parents don't like me to know these things, but i know that we don't have much (no assets, very little money in bank).

I will be a first gen student going to college, and my sister will follow in 3 years. My parents make about 60grand a year, own a few stocks that aren't doing well, and we rent a horrible apartment in NYC. Can anyone approximate what my EFC is for a private/public college? I know it isn't much to go on, but any ballpark figure will help.

thanks

By Easydoesitmom (Easydoesitmom) on Tuesday, September 30, 2003 - 01:22 pm: Edit

Are you the only child going to college ? Are there more children in the family ? You should apply for financial aid anyway on your college applications and file a FAFSA . If you live in NYC , the housing is probably very high and I think it can be declared on the College PROFILE application .

Ask for a copy of their tax forms and obviously , discuss these things with them so you have your numbers correct .

By Massdad (Massdad) on Tuesday, September 30, 2003 - 03:34 pm: Edit

Thenarrator, just use a 0 for the stuff you don't know. The EFC will be a bit low, but close enough to get an idea. If you want to explore further, see how EFC changes as you change a few numbers.

The only things that impact EFC in a big way are parental income and student assets. The formula takes a big hunk of each of these, but only a nibble, so to speak, of other assets.