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Establishing Need

Financial need is defined as the difference between the established cost of attendance for an academic year less the a family’s calculated ability to pay towards educational costs for the given year. Here is the calculation:

Cost of Attendance (COA) less Expected Family Contribution (EFC) equals Financial Need

Establishing Need for Federal Student Aid

  • Requires completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
  • Determined using federal methodology

Establishing Need for Institutional Aid

  • Requires completion of the College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile
  • Determined using institutional methodology

Notes:
  • The aforementioned methodologies (federal and institutional) determine the EFC, which is the amount of money, based on the respective standardized formula, that a family is expected to contribute towards educational costs in a given year.
  • While many variables are used in the methodology calculations, the most common factors in the calculations are as follows:
    • Parent calendar year income for the specified year
    • Student calendar year income for the specified year
    • Value of parent assets
    • Value of student assets
    • Number of household members
    • Number of household members in college
    • Age of oldest parent
  • Institutional methodology requires financial data from a non-custodial parent in scenarios where a student’s parents are separated/divorced.
  • Institutional methodology also requires verification of sibling college enrollment shortly after the start of the student’s Tulane enrollment.

Last updated on

October 29, 2018 1:57 PM