Expected Family Contribution

In the post-secondary education system of the United States, an expected family contribution (EFC) is an estimate of a student's, and for a dependent student, their parent(s)' or guardian(s)', ability to pay the costs of a year of post-secondary education. The EFC is used in the United States student financial aid process to determine an applicant's eligibility for need-based federal student aid. In most cases, the same estimate is also used for state and institutional (college-based) financial aid. The EFC is included on the Student Aid Report and Institutional Student Information Record, which are sent after filing a form called a Free Application for Federal Student Aid ( FAFSA).

There are a number of free calculators on the Web to help applicants estimate the EFC before filing the FAFSA. Recipients of need-based financial aid must reapply for each year by completing a new FAFSA.

The term and concept of Expected Family Contribution will be replaced by the term Student Aid Index in 2022.

Use of the expected family contribution

The federal government does not distribute aid directly to the student or the student's family; it goes through the college. Colleges use the student's federal student aid eligibility and combine it with state financial aid (if any) and their own aid to create a financial aid package for the student. Generally speaking, the lower the EFC, the higher the financial aid award will be. Zero is the lowest EFC number (indicating that the family cannot afford to pay anything) and 999,999 is the highest.

Some relatively wealthy colleges and universities use another method called the CSS Profile, or have their own form, to calculate their own version of an EFC, which they use in distributing the college's aid. A major difference between the FAFSA and the CSS Profile is that the CSS Profile includes primary residence home equity when determining the ability of the family to pay, while the FAFSA does not.

The EFC is subtracted from the cost of attendance (COA) of the college or university to determine a student's financial need. If , then a student is considered to have a financial need.

Calculation of the EFC

Basic considerations

The formula for computing the EFC changes each year. It is different for each of three categories of student (dependent students, independent students without dependents other than a spouse, and independent students