OOS son has been admitted and Cal Poly is his first choice. We all feel that financial package is just somewhat too far of a stretch beyond a stretch for our current situation. If they can’t move, we really think we can’t do it. Does Cal Poly take any appeals or budge at all? Will try to call tomorrow–is it pointless? Saw a string from 2008 that they don’t do appeals except in the most exceptional circumstances, but that was 10 years ago. Any difference now?
OOS students are only eligible for merit aid and loans in California. There really is very little chance.
New to this so thanks. So…if there’s a small merit aid scholarship in the first package, there’s little change to increase that even slightly?
SLO is a public university funded by California taxpayers and the State. The state is limited in dollars for education and its priority is to fund taxpaying residents.
There is no “financial aid” for non-residents. Sorry.
California public universities are woefully underfunded and in dire need of OOS tuition. I hope your son has received good merit aid at another school he likes. Even if he chooses not to attend, it’s still an honor to be accepted. Great school!
Son is an OOS at Cal Poly and we get a $1000 OOS merit scholarship (Green and gold or something like that). That is essentially the extent of all he could get - so I would be surprised if you could get any more than that. It is at the high end of affordability for us and he could have saved 5-10k on one of his other offers. CSU is also about to put up OOS tuition costs I believe ( I think it is $20 a unit or something like that).
As previous posters mentioned they need the OOS $
Wibbly, this is exactly my son’s circumstance. Will give it a go but obviously try to have realistic expectations given what everyone has said here.
People who say there’s no needs based financial aid for OOS students are simply wrong. If you are eligible for a Pell, you will get a Pell. The problem is, the Pell Grant is just a little under $6000 and you won’t get any more than that. If your EFC is so low that your student qualifies for a Pell, an EFC of roughly $5000, where does the rest come from? So, it isn’t that Cal Poly doesn’t give need based aid to OOS students. They do. It’s just that they don’t give enough. Unfortunately, don’t expect appeal to be fruitful.
I thought Pell is given by federal government, not school, correct @eyemgh?
The State of California has limited funds for education. They are not going to fund OOS students who have need because the whole state has an over-abundance of need-based residents.
Pell grants are need-based but these funds come from the federal government, based on your FAFSA EFC. These funds don’t come from the State of California for OOS students. The California schools dispense these federal funds and loans through their FA office to OOS students; so if you qualify for need-based, that’s what you get.
In-state residents get CalGrants (need-based), the MCS and the Blue and Gold (state funds). OOS students are eligible for merit funding but these typically run about $1K to $5K and don’t make a dent in the fees.
It is a federal program, but so are other grants, many loans, and work study. They, along with all other forms of aid, including merit aid, are vetted and administered through the financial aid department. It is federal aid granted by the institution.
This is also true for instate applicants. Not much of what they get is from Cal Poly per se, either. They just have access to a pool of CA funded opportunities not available to OOS students.
All California schools are very stingy with merit aid for OOS students. UCs give nothing at all and they cost generally double compared to most similar schools. My daughter received generous merit aid from strong schools outside of California, but virtually nothing from any of the schools in California she was admitted to. Cal Poly is roughly half the cost of attending any UC, and somewhat similar in cost with other comparable engineering schools, such as RPI, WPI, Purdue, etc. I think it is a combination of the weather and the funding woes in California that attracts lots of kids to these schools so they can afford to have such high prices unfortunately.
Again, UCs also DO give aid to OOS students, anything they are federally eligible for. That may be Pell, work study or any of the other federally funded programs administered through the respective school.
I was only referring to merit aid. Yes, all UC and other schools will provide all need aid that comes from the Feds, but that is not really their money 
Yeah, I was only talking merit personally. For our college searches we can get the same federal loans from all of them and our efc is too high for anything else.