Calculating Eligibility
Aid recipients must be U.S. citizens or eligible
non-citizens. Additionally, you must have a valid
Social Security number and, if required by law to do
so, be registered with the Selective Service
System. To maintain eligibility for federal aid, you
cannot owe payments or be in default on a Federal
Perkins Loan or a Federal FFEL or Direct Stafford Loan for
attendance at Tufts or another institution; nor can
you owe a repayment on a Federal Pell Grant or
Federal SEOG Grant; nor can you have borrowed in
excess of the loan limits, under Title IV Programs,
at any institution.
All undergraduate financial aid at Tufts is
need-based.
This need, or aid eligibility, is the difference
between educational expenses and the university's
estimate of what the family can contribute toward
those expenses. Educational expenses in our total budget include
tuition, fees, room, board, books, and personal
expenses, as detailed
here.
Tufts does not offer any merit or academic
scholarships. All aid is based solely on financial
need and is not adjusted for superior academic
performance or extracurricular activities. The only
exception is a small ($500 per year) Tufts National
Merit Scholarship program.
You and your family are expected to contribute to
your undergraduate educational expenses to the
extent that you are able. In our analysis of family
finances, financial aid officers review information
reported on the PROFILE, the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and federal income tax
returns in order to determine the family
contribution. We also review business
taxes and/or
non-custodial parent information, if either of
these apply to your family. The parental contribution is our estimate
of your parents ability to contribute to your
education based on such factors as income, assets,
whether you will have housing charges or commute
from home, your family size, and the number of
siblings in
college. If there is one or more siblings enrolled full
time, with similar costs, the family contribution
will be divided.
The student contribution is based on
student income and assets. The typical expectation will be
$1,500 - $2,200, plus a minimum 35 - 75%
(depending on grade level) of reported assets in
your name.
The combination of the student and parent
contributions make up the Estimated Family
Contribution, or EFC.
In determining eligibility for Tufts aid, Tufts
will make institutional adjustments to the federal
analysis as well as adjustments for information on
the parents' tax returns. In some cases, the EFC shown on the
Tufts Financial Aid Notice could be significantly
higher than the federal EFC shown on the FAFSA Student Aid
Report from the federal government. Tufts uses
our institutional calculation to
determine eligibility for Tufts grant aid, unless
the government mandates a higher contribution via
the federal calculation.
Curious what your own EFC might look like?
We encourage all families to visit a site, with
information about paying for college, which is run
by the College Board, using this
EFC link. They have
a tool called a Calculator that can be used to
determine both a federal and an institutional EFC.
The calculator leads the user though a series of
screens that allows you to input a family financial
picture, and then calculates an approximate
Estimated Family Contribution (EFC). Another
resource for great calculators is available through
this trusted
site.
The estimates provided are only as accurate as the
information that has been entered, and we advise
using them only as a guide to what a family
might expect to have to pay for educational
expenses. The institutional calculator is not
effective when the family has a business, reports
losses on federal taxes, has a sibling enrolled at
an institution with costs much lower than Tufts, or if
there is a noncustodial parent to be considered.
Tufts uses our institutional calculation to
determine eligibility for Tufts grant aid, unless
the government mandates a higher contribution via
the federal calculation.
Appeal Process
Entering students: if you wish to appeal
your aid decision, you should submit an
Appeal
Form to Student Financial Services immediately. Once you
have paid your admission deposit, you will normally
not be considered for any additional first-year aid
unless there is a drastic change in your family’s
financial circumstances. We have awarded you the
maximum aid for which you are eligible, based on the
Tufts financial aid policies. If there have been
changes in your family’s financial situation or if
you feel there are special circumstances to be
communicated to your aid counselor, please contact
us immediately. We do not match financial aid offers
from other institutions, and different awards from
other institutions will not be used alone as a basis
for adjusting the Tufts aid award.
Returning students: if you wish to have
your aid decision reconsidered, you should submit an
Appeal
Form to Student Financial Services.
Normally, revisions are made based upon changes in
family circumstances or clarification of information
previously submitted. In general, returning student
appeals will not be reviewed until the end of
October, and any additional aid will be credited to
the Spring bill. Families should plan to pay the
Fall balance in full when due in August.
Returning students who wish to discuss a financial
aid grievance should follow these channels: 1. The
student’s financial aid counselor; 2. Director of
Financial Aid; 3. Dean of Student Services. If
unable to obtain a satisfactory explanation, you may
write to the Committee on Admissions and Financial
Aid, which will appoint a faculty member as
Ombudsperson to investigate. If the Ombudsperson is
unable to resolve the grievance informally, a formal
recommendation for resolution will be made to the
Dean of Undergraduate Education.
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