Blue and Gold plan is it for ALL students whos income is less than 80,000?

Paying for College
1

<p>I am an independent married student,with no dependents, our income was about 36,000 for last year. My EFC this year was 7643, I didnt qualify for pell grant. Which is okay since I am still going to be at a ccc for one more year. However I am planning on transferring for Fall 2014 to a UC. I am a bit worried I will not receive any financial aid. It looks like we will be earning about 40,000 this year with both of our incomes. If my EFC is high again when I apply for fasfa, does that have to do with the Blue and Gold program? or are they two different programs? Does one qualify for simply earning under 80,000? As far as room and cost of living I think we will manage, however tuition will be impossible for me to pay, and I dont want to take out too many loans.</p>

2

<p>Shared from University of California website (Blue + Gold Opportunity Plan):

  • Be a California resident or qualify for a nonresident tuition exemption under AB 540
  • Demonstrate income below $80,000 with financial need, as determined for federal need-based aid program
  • Be in your first four years as a UC undergraduate (first two for transfer students)
  • Meet other campus basic requirements for UC grant aid (for example, be enrolled at least half-time during the academic year, meet campus academic progress standards, not be in default on student loans, etc.)
  • Submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or, if you’re an eligible non-citizen, a California Dream Act application by March 2.
  • Make sure your school submits a GPA verification form to the Cal Grant program, or download the form, have your school fill it out and send it to the California Student Aid Commission</p>
3

<p>You can use the net price calculators on each UC campus’ web site to get financial aid estimates.</p>

<p>A test of $36,000 income for an independent married student on the Berkeley net price calculator gives an in-state net price of $8,500 (they assume that all students will take a $5,500 Stafford loan and $3,000 of work or work study) after applying a $19,794 grant against the $28,294 in-state cost of attendance (living off-campus).</p>