Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
In plain English
Expected Family Contribution, or EFC, was the number the FAFSA produced to estimate how much a family could be expected to put toward college, used to determine need-based aid. It was renamed and revised into the Student Aid Index, or SAI, in a FAFSA overhaul. The name was always somewhat misleading: it was never a bill or the amount a family would actually pay, but an index colleges used to calculate need. Anyone reading older guidance will still see EFC; the current term is SAI, and while the formula changed in some ways, the basic role, an index that helps size need-based aid, carried over.
01Why it matters
Older college-planning material still says EFC, so knowing it is now the Student Aid Index, and that neither was ever the actual price a family pays, prevents confusion when comparing new and old aid guidance.
02The math, step by step
A family reads a few-years-old guide referencing their EFC and worries it is the amount they must pay. It never was; it was an index for sizing need-based aid, and today's FAFSA calls that number the Student Aid Index instead.
03What this is NOT
It was never the real price. EFC, now the Student Aid Index, is an index colleges use to calculate need-based aid, not a bill. The actual cost depends on the school's price and the aid it awards.
04Receipts
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