Are UC colleges like UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine all Need Blind when it comes to admissions? How much is financial need a factor in accepting low income students? Thanks!
According to their brochure, UCLA is need-blind, while the other UCs are evidently not. However, it is unlikely that it will make a difference for in-state students.
I’m pretty sure that the UCs are need-aware for OOS students - OOS tuition dollars are important revenue, and there is very little financial aid for OOS students. So each low income OOS/international applicant that they accept is not only in place of a students who will pay OOS tuition, but also that low income student will most likely not to be able to afford a UC anyway and won’t enroll.
The UC’s are public universities funded by the State and its taxpayers.
When you apply as a resident and ask for financial aid, that information goes to the financial aid office.
The UC fees are typically the same across the board, at all of the UC’s. Room and board is the expensive issue. If you are a non-resident, then those fees are $67K per year with minimal help from the State.
Some of the UC’s do give out scholarships but, most of the large funding, for resident students, comes from the State in the form of: Cal Grants, the Middle Class Scholarship, and State University grants. If a student qualifies for federal loans, then that is also listed.
There are site-based scholarships that are dispensed by the individual UC’s depending on what the budget limitations are at that UC. Commonly running at $2k-5K which is chump change in my opinion.
Because the UC’s are large public universities, they don’t really have the coffers to offer the big scholarships to a large part of their students. UCLA and Berkeley tend to have a little more in their budgets, but for the most part, a student cannot rely on the private budgets from the UC’s to attend if low income.
The financial aid page will show a combination of: Federal grants, loans, Cal Grants, MCS, and SUGs (State University Grants).
If you are OOS, expect to pay $67K with little to no help from the universities or the State.
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For OOS applicants, it’s a moot point; there is no FA.
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From the UCSD Financial aid website:
At UC San Diego, we are committed to providing a comprehensive need-based financial aid program that makes it financially possible for admitted students to attend. Our admission program is need-blind , meaning, for all but some international applicants, financial status will not affect the admission decision.
Many schools are need blind for admissions but even if the UC’s are need blind for admissions, they will not help meet need for low income students unless they are California residents. Also need is defined by each campus so there is some variation in the FA you can receive.
Probably yes. However, it is likely that correlates of financial need are considered, though apparently in reverse of the way that many other colleges use them, since UCs tend to have significantly higher percentages of students with Pell grants than other colleges of similar admission selectivity. Note also that some application items that have a stronger correlation to high SES than most typical college application items (legacy and SAT/ACT scores) are not considered by UCs.
If you are not a California resident, there will be no need-based financial aid at UCs, and large merit scholarships are very rare and hard to get.
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