EFC Calculator

1. Family Members * Number of family members that will receive more than half their support.
2. Students in College * Parents Do Not Count in This Number.
3. Age of Older Parent * This is used to determine the Asset Protection Allowance.
4. Number of Parents in Household * Number of family members that will receive more than half their support.
5. Number of Parents working * This helps to determine the Employment Expense Allowance.
6. Parent 1 Income ($) * This comes from Box 1 on the W-2.
7. Parent 2 Income ($) * This comes from Box 1 on the W-2.
8. Adjusted Gross Income ($) * This comes from your 1040, the bottom line on the front page.
9. Federal Taxes Paid * This comes from your 1040.
10. Deductible IRA, KEOGH, and 401(k) payments made by parents. * While they don't count retirement assets in the EFC formula, they do add back the amount of money you contributed to any retirement accounts in the last year to your income.
11. Parent Assets * Assets include cash, savings, checking, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, investment real estate (net of debt) and vacation homes (net of debt). Assets do not include your primary residence, retirement assets, annuities, or cash value of whole life insurance.
12. Parent's Home Equity * Home equity is added to your EFC in Institutional Methodology. Use a source like Zillow.com to estimate your current home value.
13. Business and Commercial Farm Net Worth * This is liquidation value. Do not count goodwill.
14. Is it the business a family business with <100 employees? * This question is straight forward.
15. Students Adjusted Gross Income * This comes from the 1040.
16. Student's Taxes Paid * This comes from the 1040.
17. Student's Assets * 529 plans do not count as a student asset. They should be included in parent assets. UTGMA/UGMA accounts are considered a student asset.
18. State of Residence * This is the state where the student has lived more than 50% of the time in the past year.