Recently I talked a bit about EFC - expected family contribution. While this is most relevant to finding out how much support you’ll receive from the government, theres another more practical application! An acquaintance who will graduate from high school next year asked me how much money I thought it would cost his parents for him to go to college - they aren’t exactly well off, and he knows that going to college will be a burden on them.

At first, I tried to sort through all of the potential expenses with him to come up with an estimate. Before long, it had become apparent that I wasn’t going to be much help - but it dawned on me - this is exactly what EFC calculators do! So, parents, if you want an estimate of how big your piggy bank needs to be before you send little Johnny off to school, have a look at an EFC calculator (in case you’re too lazy to find one yourself, I’ve got one for you - just click here).

Keep in mind that this is an estimate, and a rough one at best - use it as a starting point, and draw your own conclusions.