California Financial Aid

<p>How do the California public and private universities rank when it comes to giving out need based aid, especially the UCs?</p>

<p>trojanman,
that is an interesting question which probably none of us have an answer for given that California is struggling to pass a state budget. Right now there is question about Cal grants for next year and no one knows if they will or won’t be available until the budget is passed.
Are you talking about instate? Are you a CA resident? You mention private and public are you comparing the UCs to any particular private school in CA?</p>

<p>I am instate, however, I am not necessarily comparing private and public colleges, however, since I am a low income family I want a college that will financially help me out alot. For instance, if USC we will give me better need aid then UCI, I would rather go to USC.</p>

<p>I can only tell you what UC Santa Cruz offered my D: a $1000 grant, student loans, very large work study, and parent loans (yes, they presented the PLUS loan as part of their aid package). Seriously, it felt like a slap in the face. </p>

<p>California’s financial mess is not going to get cleaned up anytime soon, and colleges are taking a huge hit for the foreseeable future. I wouldn’t look for much in the way of grants from UC for a while. I have no info on private schools.</p>

<p>LasMa, what was your EFC on your FAFSA?</p>

<p>What about the Cal Polys?</p>

<p>The Cal Polys are also going to be in tough shape. Have you run your EFC on the Fafsa calculators to get an idea of where you might be?
What do your stats look like? Some privates might give you better money than the publics but only if your stats are in the top 5-10 percent of their applicant pool.</p>

<p>Stats do you mean grades or income? My income is around 20K, and somebody told me that if your parent/guardian lives off of Social Security that is an automatic EFC of 0, and my guardian receives social security. For my grades I never took the SAT or ACT, yet, and my weighted GPA is 4.3 and my unweighted GPA is 3.7. I rank in the top 8 or 9 percent of my graduating class. Does USC or Pepperdine or some other private offer great financial aid?</p>

<p>With those stats the privates may offer good financial aid in the form of some merit aid and some financial aid based on need. However in order to get merit (non need based aid) you need to be in the top percentage of applicants. If you were to look at some schools that are in the tier below USC or Pepperdine you might see more of a full ride.
Depending on your major you might look at schools like University of the Pacific, and others in that stratosphere.<br>
With an EFC of O you will see aid from the CA publilcs the problem is that the aid may be reduced (Cal grants are uncertain until CA has a budget) and you might see aid in the form of a lot of student loans. The privates might show you aid with less in loans and more in grants. You should apply to some privates and some publics.
If you are not instate for CA I would not apply to any CA publics.</p>

<p>You may very well do better at privates with your family income, especially when you factor in the large loans many UC and USC grads have had to take. If you ae competitive for great aid schools like Stanford and Pomona you should do much better.</p>

<p>However, also look outside of CA where providing geographic diversity may make you more attractive at schools offering merit aid and there are more schools with great aid for the low income.</p>

<p>Excellent point hmom5, I shouldn’t have missed that angle.</p>

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<p>Our EFC was $16K, which at UCSC gave us a demonstrated need of about $9K. </p>

<p>In the end, our experience lined up exactly with hmom5’s advice. We were able to ignore UCSC because D got an excellent offer from an LAC in the Midwest. They met our demonstrated need according to their institutional formula, which actually resulted in a slightly lower out-of-pocket than the FAFSA EFC. The only loan in the package was the usual $3500; the rest was merit scholarship, grant, and small work-study. A far far better deal, any way you look at it.</p>

<p>I don’t know if geographic diversity played a part in D’s admission and/or financial aid package, but it sure didn’t hurt. The way I see it, to UC she was a dime-a-dozen applicant. To a tiny Midwest niche LAC, she was exotic and a great fit. The two FA offers reflected this.</p>

<p>State finaid is not great. Even with a zero efc, you will be expected to contribute $9k in self-help to attend a UC, whereas at one of the top privates, you would be offered a full ride.</p>

<p>I have several family members who are currently attending USC. They all told me that USC is known as one of the most “giving” schools in terms of aid. I don’t know the exact amount but it’s based off your parent’s earnings.</p>

<p>So I am understanding that UCs wouldn’t be my best option, therefore, I am not sure if I can get accepted to the top privates in Cal, such as Stanford, or the Claremont colleges. I don’t necessarily want to leave state, I would rather just attend a less prestigious school in Cal. What are some good privates in Cal that aren’t as selective as the top privates, but also offer extremely good financial aid? And for the UCs, I have no shot of receiving a full-ride or something of that sort?</p>

<p>There’s University of the Pacific in Stockton, supposed to be a good school. I don’t know about financial aid.</p>

<p>Any other schools?</p>

<p>Santa Clara University, Occidental</p>

<p>Chapman gave my niece a large merit award, she loved the school, just graduated and has a job she found from an internship she completed at the school</p>

<p>OP, the schools we are all mentioning now that are more generous with merit money are mainly smaller LACs. They are going to feel very different from a UC. You need to check out the UCs and some LACS to get the vibe and see what each is like for you.
My DD is going to University of the Pacific in the fall. She is getting a decent merit aid and some other financial aid.
You should also go to the parents forum and search for the threads on full rides if that is your goal.</p>