The EFC, or Expected Family Contribution, is the cornerstone of the financial aid awarding process. For federal aid eligibility, your EFC will be determined from your FAFSA application. If you are not aware of the questions that affect your EFC, you may inadvertently make an error on your FAFSA that could have a serious impact on you child’s award package. Briefly, both the parent’s and student’s income and assets impact the EFC. Careful attention to these questions is vital. Two other questions that have a major affect on the EFC are the family size and number in college questions. A family with two children in college will have half the parent contribution of the same family with one child in college. The EFC calculation, which is the result of Congressional action,...