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Determining Need
Tuition financial need is determined by the student’s cost of attendance minus the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) that was determined by the information from the FAFSA. Link to an EFC Calculator is located below.
Cost of Attendance - Expected Family Contribution - External Scholarships or other Resources = Financial Need
The EFC is calculated using federal guidelines and Institute policies and is based on information submitted on the FAFSA.
Please note that the amount of financial aid a student receives, including outside resources such as scholarships, cannot exceed their cost of attending VMI.
It is possible for students' EFC to be greater than their cost of attending VMI; in this case, they do not demonstrate eligibility for need-based financial aid. However, financial aid programs such as the unsubsidized Federal Direct Loan, the Direct (Parent) PLUS Loan, and alternative loans, are available to students regardless of their financial need.
Expected Family Contribution Estimator:
FAFSA4Caster offers an Expected Family Contribution Calculator. This calculator does not provide the amount of financial aid you may receive. Instead, it calculates an estimate of what a family is expected to contribute towards the student’s educational expenses for one academic year and helps to estimate financial need.
Virginia Military Institute offers the best package possible for each of our students. Based on the student’s eligibility and fund availability financial aid may not cover the difference between the family’s EFC and the cost of attendance.
Special Circumstances:
The federal financial aid program defines some applicants as self-supporting independent students. Students are considered independent for federal aid purposes when they meet one or more of the following definitions:
· they are 24 years of age or older
· they are an orphan, foster child or a ward of the court
· they are emancipated or under a legal guardianship
· they have legal dependents other than a spouse for whom they provide more than half the support
· they are a homeless unaccompanied youth
Undergraduate students cannot declare themselves independent of their parents due to family disagreement, living arrangements, or parents' unwillingness to contribute to the costs of their education.
We try to be responsive to unique family situations within the limits of federal regulations and VMI policies. We will consider an Appeal for Reconsideration when:
- A family experiences a change in their financial situation, such as the death of a parent or unemployment; or
- A family has an extenuating circumstance or hardship that was not addressed in the initial review.
If you have circumstances you believe should be evaluated, contact the Director of Financial Aid at eskamsm@vmi.edu or phone 540-464-7626.
Making VMI affordable, one cadet at a time: In the 2020-21 Academic Year, VMI cadets who demonstrated financial need received over $5 million* in institutional endowed scholarships, annual gifts and tuition funded grants, awarded by the college, excluding athletic aid and tuition waivers.
* Additional information available from the Office of Assessment and Institutional Research.
Explore additional scholarship opportunities beyond need-based aid...