<p>My financial aid rewards was recently made available for me to look at and I noticed that I did not receive a Cal Grant. When I called UCI financial aid office, they said I would receive the University Grant instead which came out to be around 13 grand. I initially thought I would be getting both the uni grant and the Cal grant so is it true that I cannot get both?</p>
<p>be glad… all i got was $3000… im gonna have to get private loans :(</p>
<p>both of you guys be glad :[ i’m starting from scratch. all from private loans :[</p>
<p>yeah seriously… 13k is over full tuition.</p>
<p>Which Cal Grant did you get? </p>
<p>If it’s Cal Grant A, they might only award that after they apply UCI’s own grants. (Which means you would get nothing anyways)</p>
<p>UCI’s grant is based off of financial aid other grant aid. (in this case Cal Grant)</p>
<p>Even if you got Cal Grant B, the aid you receive via stacking <em>might</em> lower it to the point where UCI grant is better.</p>
<p>@zairair</p>
<p>I got cal grant B</p>
<p>@moey</p>
<p>13k is a little under half of tuition…
unless I’m being charged 200% of what tuition really is</p>
<p>Tuition is different from cost of attendance. Tuition is only 8k for CA residents. The 28k is total cost including room board, books etc.</p>
<p>Tuition is around 12k I think. That’s fees that everyone must pay to go to school here. Everything else is not considered tuition; dorming fees and food for example. 24k is just their rough estimate of how much everything in total would cost.</p>
<p>Tuition has increased to 12k due to budget over the past year actually (it was a big thing in the news).</p>
<p>They offered me zero loans because of my outside scholarships. In other words, my college tuition is FREEE~!</p>
<p>So the 12k tuition is the payments I have to pay to UCI per semester?
And the remaing 16k is estimated costs which can differ from student to student?
So should I still be taking the loans they are offering me as the grant already covers the tuition?</p>
<p>All up to you. Invest wisely. I’m already up to 12k in loans! And it gets better if I make it to Med school. Hahahahahah I’m so crazy.</p>
<p>The made up rule is something like, don’t get into more debt than you’re predicted first year salary or something like that. I don’t plan on going more than 12k for undergrad.</p>
<p>Ha, I think I might graduate with about 24k loans. Gotta do what you gotta do.</p>
<p>@WarriorsMan, UCI runs on a quarter system. There are no semesters. The 12k tuition payment is per year, so expect to pay around ~3.7k per quarter just for tuition.</p>
<p>“Tuition” or registration fees are approx $11k per year.</p>
<p>Housing fees for DORMS are approx $10k per year.</p>
<p>For freshmen, that is all you owe UCI. You will be paying them in increments per QUARTER. Just divide the total values by 3.</p>
<p>The reason that it says on the financial aid page that total costs are $27,000 is because they ESTIMATE it by adding in the “Books and supplies” cost, transportation, etc. Those are things you can cut down on or find bargains.</p>
<p>For the loans, it all depends on which types of loans (subsidized or unsubsidized direct federal, or PLUS loans), and it also depends on your total cost of living- are you commuting or dorming? etc.</p>
<p>ALWAYS accept subsidized loans. Interest does not accrue until after you graduate. So you can always return that money if you don’t need it.</p>
<p>You should talk to your parents about whether or not you need the loans, figure out what they can afford etc. I don’t know how accurate the estimated cost of attendance is, or where you’ll be living so things differ. For example, the est. cost for books is $1,661, but I only spend at most $300 a quarter for books (try to avoid buying from the bookstore…)
If you get loans and you’re going to be responsible for the money, be sure to manage the money wisely! I remember freshman year when financial aid money would come in everyone was always like yes!! and took it as time to go shopping for unnecessary stuff. so you just got to figure out / budget the money accordingly.</p>