The EFC is the Expected Family Contribution. This value is calculated by using the income figures reported, number in household, number in household going to college, and state of legal residence in a formula written by Congress.
The Primary EFC and Secondary EFC are broken down into monthly values, in case there is a need to perform calculations on less than or greater than the standard academic year. If both a Primary and a Secondary EFC appear, it means the student qualified for the Simplified Needs Test (SNT) but also provided information about assets. If only a Primary EFC appears, it means either 1) the student did not meet the Simplified Needs Test criteria and only the full-data calculation was done, or 2) the student met the SNT criteria and provided no asset information, or provided incomplete or inconsistent asset information and only one calculation could be performed.
Intermediate Values
These abbreviations represent the intermediate steps used in calculating the EFC. They show the separate components of the need analysis formula, such as the "employment expense allowance" or "parents' contribution from assets." These components are defined in the law. The values can be useful to FAAs when doing recalculations or making professional judgment adjustments to data items.
The intermediate values are identified as follows:
TI |
Total Income |
ATI |
Allowances Against Total Income |
STX |
State and Other Tax Allowance |
EA |
Employment Allowance |
IPA |
Income Protection Allowance |
AI |
Available Income |
CAI |
Contribution from Available Income (Independent Student) |
DNW |
Discretionary Net Worth |
NW |
Net Worth |
APA |
Education Savings and Asset Protection Allowance |
PCA |
Parents' Contribution from Assets |
AAI |
Adjusted Available Income |
TSC |
Total Student's Contribution |
TPC |
Total Parents' Contribution |
PC |
Parents' Contribution |
STI |
Student's Total Income |
SATI |
Student's Allowance Against Total Income |
SIC |
Dependent Student's Income Contribution |
SDNW |
Student's Discretionary Net Worth |
SCA |
Dependent Student's Contribution from Assets |
FTI |
FISAP Total Income |
More information on the need analysis formula and methodology for calculating the EFC is available in the 2021-2022 FSA Handbook: Student Eligibility.
Table of Contents Customer Service