Did I get Regents? - (Also can gift aid be greater then COA?)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Irvine
1

Hey all,

I would appreciate some help here in determining what my UCI grant means.

***Background:

I am a transfer student that was accepted into the UCI (CS) program.

I just received my financial aid package from UC Irvine yesterday and I am a bit confused, the UC Irvine Grant is huge and I am wondering if it means that I received the regents scholarship. ( UC Irvine Grant ~ $17,500 )

My Irvine Grant has a different description then UCSD and UCSB. (Whose descriptions say UCxx grant is aid from UCxx).

The description of my Irvine grant is:
“The Regents of the University of California and the State of California provide funding for UC Irvine Grant awards. The amount of your grant is based on demonstrated need and UCI awarding policies.”

So it looks like I received some large award and I can’t make sense of it. When I was accepted to Irvine (just a week ago), the only email I received was one telling me to check my online status. On the online status it just says accepted as a junior into CS. It does not say anything about regents, and I have not received an email about regents.

I am going to either drive over to Irvine or call them on Monday, but I am too excited to wait without trying to get some input.

***My questions for those who are kind enough to respond are:

1.) Do you think this 17k Irvine grant (& the quoted description above) implies that I got the regents scholarship?
2.) On my online application - where it says admitted - is it supposed to list Regents anywhere?
3.) Is there another way for me to find out whether I received regents that I have not listed here (besides contacting the school).

& Finally, one tough question…

4.) Assuming I get a 12k cal grant, my gift aid will be over the estimated COA.

  • If the Irvine Grant DOES include a regent scholarship - Can aid go over the estimated COA.
  • If the Irvine grant is just a generous gift - Can aid go over the estimated COA?
    (in the latter case I would assume the Irvine grant would decrease, but don’t know about regents).

---------------- Random Info about my aid so far ----------------------------

I have the following for financial aid so far:

Pell Grant: ~ $5,000
Opportunity Grant: ~ $250
UC Irvine Grant ~ $17,500

Grants from your state: N/A (Cal grant would go here I believe)
Other scholarships you can use: N/A

(My Cal Grant application has not been processed yet but other schools are estimating ~$12,000)

2

If thats too much for info (probably is haha)… Simply put:

Does a UCI Grant of $17,000 have any special meaning?

Why would they give so much?

3

You know I may be getting this wrong and all, but I think that UC Irvine grant accounts for the cal grant OR blue gold plan (only one can be applied, since they both pay off tuition) AND free gift aid. If you get cal grant B, and not A, then you get a bit around up to 1.5k per year. Most students are automatically put into A because B can’t be accomodated by everyone and seriously consider the “financial need” factor.

I got the same amount under UC Irvine grant and I suspect that this is the case. I did a deduction of the total [UC irvine grant + pell grant + health fee waiver] minus tuition and fees, and I would get roughly the same amount of gift aid that UCSD is offering me. Both my net costs for each school are ±500 of each other, and if my calculations are correct, then that 17.5k grant already includes tuition and fees (like health insurance) and you would need to deduct them to find out your total gift aid.

Source: 3 yrs of financial aid research and headaches

4

That seems like it is most likely the case with me. However there is a spot for “Grants from your state”, which says “N/A”. Since cal grants are a state grant I figured it would have been in there.

Thank you for the response :slight_smile: