<p>My efc is 0, and I reported that I would live on campus while I filled out my fafsa.
Now, Cal grants me about $18,000 gift aid (including $3,000 for work study) totally; but I want to save a little bit more by living off campus with my friends.
Since my total amount of aid will be deducted if I switch from living on campus to off campus, I am wondering how much aid I am going to sacrifice for this choice.
Thus, anyone, who will live off-campus with 0 efc, can tell me how much you receive from Cal?
Thank you so much. =)</p>
<p>Good question! I’m on the same boat. Anyone knows?</p>
<p>Just look up the cost of attendance w/ off-campus housing on the financial aid website.</p>
<p>Same here… any1 knew???</p>
<p>I’m off campus with 0 efc, and my total gift aid is 13,500…16,500 with workstudy so yeah…</p>
<p>Thx physicsfem,
I check the ucb financial aid site to found out the “Total Resident Budget” for “Living in a Residence Hall” and “Living Off Campus”. The former one is $28,312; latter $23,594; and difference between them is $4718.
I am wondering if they are going to cruelly take that much money from my aid…</p>
<p>let’s assume this worst situation comes true, and calculate how much rent i should pay for a month of rent…
($13,900 (for a double room) - $4718) / 12 = $765… (this amount doesn’t include the cost of buying needed furniture and paying utility)</p>
<p>um… sound like that I can upgrade from sharing a room to having my own room?</p>
<p>Thx UCBlove, </p>
<p>$15,000 - 13,500 = 1,500. This is wayyyyy better than lossing $4715…</p>
<p>$13,900 (for a double room) - $1500) / 12 = $1033.
nice… I am still saving roughly $233 per month even if I pay $800 for a single room including the utility…</p>
<p>If you live off campus, the most your aid can total is the cost of attendance for living off campus. So if your need is being fully met, your aid will total $23,594, you can’t get more than the COA.</p>
<p>You can always do a budget appeal. It covers the cost of 2 flights home, laptop purchase, rent over a certain amount (like 750), utilities up to $50, relocation fee (if off campus), and a bunch of other stuff</p>
<p>But do keep in mind that budget appeals above your efc will almost always result in unsubsidized loans, meaning that you will be accruing interest on those loans while you are still in school.</p>
<p>wth?? budget appeal?? to where…</p>
<p>^^whoa… how would you be able to buy all that? i’m getting 17k gift aid but i calculated it and it doesn’t cover the tuition and room & board, let alone the books/supplies and other stuff…</p>
<p>I did the Budget Appeal and got work study. Although most of the time people get loans.</p>
<p>Also for a short term solution you can take out an emergency loan up to 775. It is the easiest thing I have ever done. </p>
<p>You fill out a form, turn it in, an hour later you pick up the check. You pay a $20 fee and have 3 months to pay back. You can do it as many times as you want, as long as you pay it back before asking for more money. </p>
<p>I have used this to pay my rent several times.</p>
<p>Here is what financial aid at UCB told me about housing and Financial Aid:</p>
<p>You are automatically given an off-campus budget. If you get the housing you want, you can then ask to have your budget changed to on-campus. They will increase your housing budget (on campus housing is ALWAYS more expensive than off-campus). For me, they told me they would increase my grants and not my loans, but it might be different for other people. If I want some of the more expensive (i.e. nice) on-campus housing I think they would give me loans to cover that.</p>
<p>The thing about the on-campus housing is that they only “guarantee” it if you are willing to take anything. That may mean you’ll end up in the cheap housing with two other people in a small-ish room or the nice housing that may be more than financial aid will cover. The financial aid person told me that they find that a lot of people just end up living off campus because of that and that is why they automatically asign transfers the off-campus budget.</p>