How does financial aid work at UCR? My son has been offered varying amounts of (presumably merit-based) financial aid at private and OOS schools despite our not really showing need on the FAFSA, which brought those higer=priced schools into budget. Of course as many of us know, the EFC is not always what parents can actually pay. Anyway, I’m wondering, do the UC’s, UCR specifically, offer any aid when the EFC is high and when the student’s stats aren’t Regents/Chancellor level? I’m impatient waiting on the “award” letter, because UCR cost of attendance is over our budget.
What is your EFC? If you do not qualify for Pell grants and/or Cal grants, the FA from the UCR will probably be just the Stafford loans, unless your son was given the Chancellors or Highlander Scholarship.
I was hoping you’d show up, @Gumbymom . 
I almost tagged you. Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of. Frick. Nah, we won’t qualify for any of that. Was hoping there was maybe something else. So, the cost of a UC for us - as good as they are - will be the same as or more for us than most of the OOS schools that the boy got into. 
Was hoping our in-state schools would be competitive (read: less than) with the OOS’s, but I guess only the CSU’s are.
Sorry to hear. That is why many CA students end up going out of state for college. Unless you qualify for the Cal Grant/Pell Grant then the costs are pretty high for the UC’s. Are you below the income range for the Blue and Gold scholarship? You still might get something, but usually only covers tuition/fees. Housing costs can still be an issue.
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UC’s Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan will ensure that you will not have to pay UC’s systemwide tuition and fees out of your own pocket if you are a California resident whose total family income is less than $80,000 a year and you qualify for financial.
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If possible, I would contact the financial aid office at UCR if you need to make a decision within the next week or so.
Yeah, no Blue and Gold for us. I’d put a sad face there, but, well, I guess there are reasons not to be sad. So, now we decide between CSU’s, OOS, or going over budget…which we were determined not to do. I’ll be posting in an ongoing thread I have going about that issue. Crossing fingers that there’s a new scholarship they just invented for our family.
Many of the CSU’s are comparable to, or better then, UCs and OOS schools, depending on major and campus. It is sad that the UC system has become so ridiculously expensive. The price of those shiny new labs (and rec centers).