Go get the book Paying for College without Going Broke. My DH is an accountant...and he really likes this book. Makes the whole process easier. Fill ASAP--this is not the year to procrastinate.
Keep in mind some schools will want a CSS profile as well.
I'll second the recommendation for this book, though the people who'll benefit from its advice MOST are those who still have small children and years to save/prepare.
My dd had an overnight at her friends house so I went on to start the process. I am using my email since she rarely looks at hers and determined a pin number. Now I need another pin number for me? Can't we share the same?
My dd is an only child so I have never gone through this process before.
Here's the thing: All parents and college students don't get along so well, nor do they all share information about things like finances. Since your daughter will soon be (or maybe already is) a legal adult, they have to provide a method of keeping parents OUT.
You're going to be hit by a few more such details as your girl begins college. She'll have the option to give you access (or not give you access) to her grades, finances and other college information. Since you have a traditional student, going straight from high school to college, it can be something of a slap in the face from the university!
Is the EFC a yearly amount or the amount that is expected to be contributed over all four years of attendance? The EFC that was calculated for my daughter is more than one year of tuition, room and board?
The EFC is what they expect you should be able to pay for this one year. It's not what they think you should be able to pay from your current earnings; rather, it's what they expect you should've saved over the last 18 years and waht they expect you can pay from this year's paycheck. If your circumstances were to change (you lose a job, add a second college student, whatever), your EFC could go up or down next year.
Our EFC was roughly 2Xs the cost of one year at my daughter's college; thus, even when our second child begins school, we're not getting any financial aid.
Changing the focus slightly: I learned a few financial lessons this year as my daughter began college.
1. They charge $709 each month for school health insurance . . . UNLESS your student (not you, your student) files a waiver proving that she has other health insurance -- and it must be done by a certain date. This must be repeated every semester. They automatically default to "student needs our health insurance". I suspect it's a big money-maker for them.
2. On the day my daughter accepted her school, she had to pay a $200 deposit. Maybe my memory just doesn't reach back that far, but I don't remember having to pay a deposit to the university. I know I had to pay a housing deposit, but this was a "Yes, I have chosen your school, here's $200 towards my first tuition bill" deposit. You'll pay this in January-February-March, so it has to be cash out of your pocket.
3. Her mandatory orientation overnight cost $160. Again, maybe I just don't remember, but I don't recall paying to attend orientation. Yes, they provided a dorm room, linens and food, so I can see it costing something, but I think a big profit margin was involved in this orientation. I didn't pay this separately; it was added to her fall semester bill.
4. Being awarded a scholarship and getting that scholarship credited are not the same thing. One of my girl's scholarships was easy -- the group who awarded it to her mailed a check to her (addresed to both her and the university), and she was responsible for turning it in to the accounts office. The second scholarship, however, was much more difficult to get credited to her account, and she made multiple phone calls, but it was a bit out of her 18-year old league; finally I stepped in and called the scholarship group about it. I was fearful that I was going to have to pay her tuition myself upfront -- or face seeing her have her schedule cancelled. However, they automatically credited her for spring semester, so maybe this was a first-semester thing.
I'm firmly convinced that the first semester is the hardest. You have to figure out how YOUR SCHOOL does things, and you have to walk your student through so many little details -- housing applications, immunization forms, orientation. There's more red tape than when we went to school 20-25 years ago. But now that she's an established student, it all seems so much easier.
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