<p>i am very unclear about this whole student aid thing and would appreciate if someone cleared it up. so the maximum grant you can get is like 5550 right? and then there are other grants and everything from say, cal grant and the school and everything. but if im going to a UC and the tuition for a semester is ~~ 25,000, then where does the rest of the money come from??? i know its not from me because my family's income is about 20,000 a year and it said our efc is 0. sooo yeah, im pretty lost.</p>
<p>Danny…if the tuition at a UC is $25,000 a semester, then you would be an out of state student and would NOT be eligible for the Calgrant.</p>
<p>Most UCs are on the quarter system. I think the only ones that on the semester system are Cal and Merced.</p>
<p>Anyway…If you’re in Los Angeles and you’re going to a semester UC, then tuition is NOT $25k per semester. It would be about $7k per semester plus room and board. The whole year’s COA is about $31k. </p>
<p>Anyway…you’ll likely get about $21k in various grants with a 0 EFC. Then you’ll likely be given about $7k in loans and about $2k in work study. Anything leftover YOU will likely have to cover from earnings from a summer job.</p>
<p>So, when you say that none of the money should come from you, that may not be correct. It’s very reasonable to expect students to earn a few bucks over the summer to cover things like books, dorm stuff, and maybe personal expenses. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that the UCs don’t promise to meet need, but they do a good job with 0 EFCs that are instate.</p>
<p>Edited to add…looks like you’re going to UCI…it’s on the quarter system.</p>
<p>ok let it be 13k im just giving a number lol. but yeah so, they give you grants by semester? or is it just the whole years amount?</p>
<p>For UCI, you’d get the aid per QUARTER. They’re not going to give you a whole year’s worth of aid, because what if you drop out after one quarter? </p>
<p>So, if you’re given $21k in grants, you’d get $7k per quarter, plus 1/3 of the loans, plus 1/3 of any other aid (W/S), etc.</p>
<p>You should try to get a job this summer to pay for whatever’s not covered…transportation, books, personal expenses, dorm stuff, etc.</p>
<p>Danny, your financial aid is given by the semester. Your first semester bills from a school may have higher amounts than the second semester because some schools front load certain or all fees, and health insurance can be an issue too. So you are billed by the semester, and your financial aid goes directly to the school and is applied to the school bill first. If there is not enough aid, you are billed for the remainder. If there is excess, you can get it after a few weeks from the Bursar’s Office, usually via check, though different schools may have different ways they pay this out. A lot of schools will wait till the drop date before giving you the money, to make sure you are officially a full time student for the term.</p>
<p>If a school goes by trimester or quarter and so bill, then the funds are broken up that way.</p>
<p>Danny…hopefully you got all of your paperwork in for the Calgrant, and Blue and Gold. Did you do the applications on time, and submit your GPA ON TIME. If your income is as stated, you should be able to cover your costs of attendance at UCI assuming YOU get a job and contribute to your schooling.</p>
<p>And FWIW, when you put a cost of attendance on these forums, it sometimes guides the answers you receive. Had you put an accurate COA for your UC, for example, I would have known you were instate. Instead, I assumed with a $25,000 a semester cost that you were out of state for CA. Accurate information helps drive better responses, in my opinion.</p>
<p>yeah i submitted everything on time, and sorry i was mistaken my bad…thanks tho</p>
<p>Danny, have you gotten your aid pkgs yet? Are they online now? If so, what did you get?</p>
<p>yeahh, i got total 18k from all the grants, 3.5k from uci, 1.5k in work study, and like 4k in loans…</p>