<p>I currently attend UC Irvine, my EFC is zero, and my parents make $13000 annually . However, I hardly get enough grant money to cover housing. I also do not get enough loans to cover the food and books. My parents contribution was stated as $3000. Is it normal for UC Irvine to not give enough aid to cover housing for impoverished kids ? I am also interested in seeing what other low income kids are getting so feel free to post them.</p>
<p>There are other more knowledgable posters about Calgrant eligible kids. But my understanding is no…the student cost is in the $10,000 range.</p>
<p>Are you currently receiving a Cal-Grant? </p>
<p>You need to tell us more. </p>
<p>Are you instate?</p>
<p>Did you go to a Calif high school and graduate?</p>
<p>If so, then you should qualify for Blue and Gold. What exactly is in your aid pkg? Can you copy/paste it here?</p>
<p>Did you decline the student loans and work study???</p>
<p>Is this your 4th year of college? Or have you been going to college for more than 4 years??? </p>
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<p>Do your parents have assets? Something isn’t right. No one would have an EFC of 3000 if the parents only earn $13k. That is below the limit for assets to count. </p>
<p>Using the dependent calculator at <a href=“Net Price Calculator | Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships | UCI”>https://www.ofas.uci.edu/content/Calculator.aspx?nav=17</a> , UCI estimates a net price of $8,400 to $9,400 of self-help (federal direct loan + work earnings expectation) to an on-campus student with married parents earning $13,000 per year with no assets or student income. EFC is listed at $0.</p>
<p>Is there anything unusual about your family situation, such as parental assets? Are you sure that the $3,000 is listed as EFC, and not student work earnings or work study?</p>
<p>You need to make an appointment with your financial aid officer and find out what options you have available to you and to make sure you have all the aid to which you are entitled. What year are you at the school? DId you lose any aid due to low GPA, class withdrawals, failing courses? What kind of aid did you get in earlier years? </p>
<p>The parental contribution is listed on the financial aid package that the university gave me. It is not the EFC. My EFC was zero. </p>
<p>The parental contribution is the EFC…it is simply another name for it. There might be some details getting misconstrued. Mom2 asked above for you to post your aid package, along with other requests from other posters. If you could give more information, we could help more. </p>
<p>@ucbalumnus , yes the parental contribution on my aid during my first year was listed as $3000 and for my second year it was listed as $6000. My fafsa gave an EFC of zero. I did receive work study and loans but at the bottom of my financial aid it said parental contribution was $3000- $6000</p>
<p>First year, or, first semester?</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids, sorry for the lack of information. I am instate and I graduated from a california high school. I am fourth year but I am talking about the first three years of college. All three years, UCI gave me a parental contribution at the bottom of the financial aid page. The first year it was $3000 and the second year it was $6000. However, my EFC from my fafsa said zero for all the years. My parents did own a business but they only earned $13000 a year. I will try to post the financial aid screenshot.</p>
<p>You need to talk to your fin aid counselor. A little late being in your 4th year. What I have seen with other schools , though not UCs, or Cals States as I am not at all familar with the Califormian colleges, is that just because your FAFSA EFC is zero, it does not mean that your expected contribution is zero. That your FAFSA EFC is zero just means you get full PELL Grant. I don’t know a single school that guarantees to meet full need as defined by the FAFSA EFC. Need is defined as COA (Cost of Attendance as reported to the common data sets ) minus the FAFSA EFC according to the federal government. How any individual school defines it is a whole other story. </p>
<p>Even Harvard does not always meet need as defined by FAFSA EFC. Students with a zero FAFSA EFC often do have to pay something. So it is with a number of schools. </p>
<p>You are entitled to full PELL and whatever the state of California guarantees you (and I have no idea what that is). With some costs still left you can borrow up to $3500 as a freshman subsidized for direct loans and #2K unsubsidized, amounts that increase each year. But other than those guarantees, it’s up to the school. </p>
<p>Does UC Irvine specifically say anywhere that it guarantees to meet full need as defined by FAFSA EFC? A number of schools that do guarantee to meet full need define need in different ways.</p>
<p>I just took a quick look at the common data sets for UC Irvine. Given that it only meets full need for 31% if its students but does meet about 87% of average need, it looks like you are typical in the way the school works. </p>
<p>I am very interested to see what grants this student was given. She should have been given at least $15k in grants each year…likely more…plus loans and work study. </p>
<p>Depends on the business the parents have.<br>
California generally gives good aid to students who qualify, but they don’t guarantee to cover the student’s portion of expenses. If he/she didn’t qualify for the Cal Grants or the Blue and Gold plan, then the student didn’t fill out the forms correctly and/or the business has more assets that can be considered liquid for UC fees.</p>
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<p>Now that I reread this, I see the issue. Blue and Gold promises to cover the general tuition at a UC (about $14k). Often 0 EFC kids get a bit more in grants.</p>
<p>The complaint here is that she hardly got enough grants to cover housing. Well, the Calif taxpayers aren’t going to cover all of housing with free money. That’s why 0 EFC UC aid pkgs usually look something like:</p>
<p>Pell Grant about $5,700
Cal Grant about $14,000
Direct loans: $5500
Perkins: 1500
Work Study: $2000</p>
<p>The above covers most of college costs. The rest is supposed to come from family and the student.</p>
<p>I’m wondering…this student is a senior, so how were they paying for the uncovered costs during the last 3 years???</p>
<p>Your FAFSA EFC really has not bearing on the aid offered to you at UCI. The college does NOT meet full need for all accepted students. The vast majority of need based aid is given via the Calgrant. So…your $0 EFC means very little. </p>
<p>I think this might vary by UC. The more resources a specific UC has, the more $$ you’ll get. The package Berkeley offered me met my FAFSA EFC down to the last cent, for example (after self-help of course). No merit was involved.</p>
<p>UC Davis also meets need as defined by FAFSA. It does not even have a work study component just subsidized loan, parent contribution, pell grant, and student contribution. The Cal grant website said we were eligible for a cal grant but neither of my kids were awarded one. The website does say they were not guaranteed. Maybe because we didn’t qualify for their first two years.</p>
<p>@Lilliana330, did you find that your package had a <em>significantly</em> larger (than the $2,000 quoted by Mom2collegekids) work-study portion? BTW, UCLA also seems to meet EFC (including loans & $2,000 work-study).</p>