Generally the lower a family’s EFC number, the more likely a student will receive financial aid. But an EFC’s significance is often more complicated. “There’s no ‘good’ EFC because it is a range.

Any person with an EFC number at 0 will receive the maximum amount of student aid, while a number over 5273 will result in no aid at all. However, if your family receives a low EFC number that is still higher than what is affordable, it is not a good EFC number.

The overall average EFC is about $10,000, with an average of about $6,000 for students at community colleges and $14,000 at 4-year colleges. Slightly more than half of students have an EFC of $2,500 or less. Slightly more than 10% have an EFC greater than $25,000.

Legal Ways to Reduce Your Expected Family Contribution

1. Maximize Household Size. The larger your household size is, the lower your EFC will be (in most cases).
2. Increase College Attendance Among Family Members.
3. Wait Until the FAFSA Considers You Independent.

Assets can be sheltered on the FAFSA by paying down debt. Money in a bank account counts against the EFC on the FAFSA, while many forms of consumer of consumer debt are ignored. So, paying down credit cards and auto loans reduces reportable assets on the FAFSA.

If your EFC is at or below $5,711 for the 2020-21 academic year, you will be eligible to receive the Pell Grant. Each family’s financial situation is different, and there’s no one income cutoff that makes a student eligible or ineligible to receive the Pell.

The 2021-2022 Federal Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedules are here. This year the Federal Pell Grant has increased to $6495.00 for students with a zero EFC, up $150.00 from 2020-2021. The minimum Pell Grant award also increased to $650.00 for students with an expected family contribution (EFC) of 5846.

The maximum Federal Pell Grant for 2021–22 (July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022) will be $6,495. The amount an individual student may receive depends on a number of factors.

Your eligibility is decided by the FAFSA. Students whose total family income is $50,000 a year or less qualify, but most Pell grant money goes to students with a total family income below $20,000. The total amount of Pell money available to colleges is determined by government funding.