Financial Aid Questions (University of California Specific)

Paying for College
1

<p>I am an independent student transferring to UC Davis this fall. I have a couple of questions regarding the financial aid that is being awarded to me.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Who has the final say on my "Cost of Attendance"? I've seen several figures, all slightly different. Is CoA the last word on how much money I can get? Or will I get more/less depending on the cost of the off-campus apartment that I am looking for but haven't found yet?</p></li>
<li><p>When my initial FAFSA went through, I got the following awards:</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Federal Direct Loan Sub-NH $5.5k
Federal Pell Grant Program-NH $4.5k
Entering UG Scholarship - NH $13.1k</p>

<p>Leaving about $3.5k for me to come up with on my own.</p>

<p>Now my Cal grant has gone through. </p>

<p>Another $12.7k from Cal grant.</p>

<p>That's a total of over $35k in aid. I know that my total award cannot exceed my CoA, but can I pick and choose what awards I want, for example, reject the federal loan and have school fully paid by combining the grants? Or will Cal grant, now that it has been determined, take the place of one of my other grants (UG Scholarship) and I'll still have to come up with that ~$3.5k on my own?</p>

<ol>
<li> Lastly, assuming I make the same amount of money in 2011 as I did in 2010 and nothing else changes, can I expect approximately the same grant numbers for my 2nd year at Davis?</li>
</ol>

2

<p>COA is determined by the school. The UCs all seem to have three different ones: on campus, off campus, and commuting (living with parents). You COA will be based on which one you choose. Based on your package, it looks like you’re commuting from home based on UCD’s COA for it.</p>

<p>Your UG Scholarship will more than likely be reduced. It is so high right now because you did not have Cal Grant applied and they were covering your systemwide fees (as the Blue&Gold guarantees since you seem to qualify) as well what appears to be some extra to cover campus fees (which are not part of the guarantee, but the UCs seem to cover it anyways). You might be still allocated some so as to continue to cover campus fees especially since you’re low enough income to get Pell.</p>

<p>With the loans, you can choose whether to take them out or not, but Cal Grant will not replace those. It will more than likely replace a portion of the UG Scholarship.</p>

<p>With budget cuts, who knows how your package will look next year. The only thing currently guaranteed by the UCs is that systemwide fees will be covered for those that qualify. They tend to be generous if you are very low income, though.</p>

3

<p>I will be living off campus, not commuting. (The 3.5k that I have to come up with on my own brought the whole thing up to about 26k which is about the CoA for off campus)</p>