<p>Don't really know that much about the EFC thing, but lets say my EFC is between $1500-$2000(is this EFC considered low?). If I'm trying to attend a UC how much will they probably give me in aid. Also is it possible to afford it without applying to any private scholarships? Thanks</p>
<p>My son applied to several UCs last year and the FA packages were pretty similar.</p>
<p>Let's say that the COA (Cost of attendance) was $25K and our EFC was $2K... the FA packages had this breakdown: $5k in loans, approx $3K in workstudy and $15K in grants/scholarships.</p>
<p>If you are an out of state student, the loan portion will be higher.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Our experience with UC's was similar to FresnoMom's-- but I'd say that the breakdown she provided was similar to the most generous we were offered, and there was considerable variation between the composition of the packages offered by the three different UC's we received financial aid packaged from. All, in our experience, met 100% of need.</p>
<p>Also, we found that there is a merit component to the need-based package, as they will reduce loans and replace them with in-house merit-based scholarship money if the student's GPA is high enough. When our son's grades dropped below 3.5 unweighted the last quarter of his first year, the financial aid package for the sophomore year included less scholarship money and more loans. Mid-year when his grades moved above 3.5, the school send out a revised financial aid package with more scholarship money and smaller loans.</p>