For anybody who has had or knows anybody who has had an EFC of 0, what did the financial aid package look like? My fiancee just got a 0 and I'm curious as to what it might look like.

It is hard to tell without knowing all the details...cost of attendance, grade level, if the student is dependant or independant, grad or undergrad. A lot of states have there own state aid, so it is pretty well impossible to predict.

Tennessee
Freshman Undergrad
Independent

I agree that there's no way to tell. She'll probably get the max Pell grant available, if the tuition is greater, or they'll also offer the SEOC grant as well. And her loans will be subsidized, most likely. The school might even give her a need based grant.

Is your fiancee over 24?? If not, she would still be deemed as dependant.

I think TN does have some in state programs so her best bet is going to probably be her schools website.

yeah, over 24, and the school's website isn't much help...

Is it a university, or a smaller community college? Not that it matters a lot, she'll probably still get close to the same amount of money either way... there's a maximum of being able to borrow each year for stafford loans (subsidized and unsub.) For freshmen, it's $2625 sub. and $4000 unsub. for a total of $6625 per year. (it'll go up as she becomes a sophomore, etc.)

In Ohio, as an independent undergrad, I get over 12k in grants and loans... Half of that being loans, but with a soon to be newborn, and going to school full-time, it'll be nearly impossible to work much. The grants alone pay for my schooling because I go to a smaller, lower cost school, the loans help pay my living costs.

It depends on the state and school.

HTH.

It depends.

I got offered a Pell grant, a couple Tx grants, a University grant (due to raising the cost of tuition), and subsidized and unsubsidized student loans.