Hello, I have a question relating to the Blue and Gold Plan given by UC Berkeley. In my current situation, I’m eligible to receive the 12k+ that’s supposed to cover tuition, fees, etc. However, if I interpreted the description of this plan correctly, then the plan considers other sources of money, such as scholarships, and adjusts the 12k respectively. For example, if I have 5k in scholarships, then the plan will give only 7k to create a total sum of 12k (so if my total scholarship amount is 15k, only 3k will actually be “useful” ). In this case, is it reasonable to apply for scholarships since the Blue and Gold plan will cover my tuition anyway? (I also plan to live on campus, so I don’t know if I can use scholarship money to cover that too). Thank you for your responses.
Bump
Do you qualify for a Cal Grant? What is your EFC? How much is the family income?
If you qualify for a Cal Grant, then you get that to cover tuition. Cal Grant A for a UC is a set amount. It can’t be reduced.
While the wording can be confusing. There are UC students with Cal Grants covering tuition PLUS other grants/scholarships.
B&G Plan is a promise that those who qualify will get AT LEAST their system-wide tuition/fees covered. Covered can mean thru a variety of ways…a Pell Grant, a UC Grant, a Cal Grant, other scholarships.
Some students qualify for B&G, but don’t qualify for a Cal Grant, so their UC tuition is covered by UC grants and other aid.
@ucbalumnus If a student qualifies for Cal Grant A, and they are an incoming frosh, do they always get Cal Grant A? If not, when would they NOT get Cal Grant A?
In our case, for my two (one at UCLA and one at Cal), outside scholarships took away from loans and work study before taking from “free money”. So if your package includes 12K of scholarships plus say 8K of loans and work study, the 5K outside scholarship would be taken from the 8K. But if COA was 20K and B&G covered 12K and you had an outside scholarship of 10K, they would not give you more than the COA, so 2K would be taken from the 12K.
@tx5athome Thanks for your answer.
@mom2collegekids I qualify for Cal Grant A for $12,240. My family’s (4 people including me) income is $60,000 and the EFC is 5380. So in this case the $12,240 wouldn’t be affected by any outside scholarships?