Financial Aid?

<p>@PetraElise‌ I have and there are no awards available for me. It just says my expected family contribution which is $60 and my need which is $34,104…</p>

<p>On my daughter’s, that info was on a different page than the FA break down. Try exploring the menu options, maybe it’s there and you just haven’t found it yet.</p>

<p>No, it just says “Access to aid information for this year is not yet available”…</p>

<p><em>sigh</em> Well, I suppose it >should< be up tomorrow…</p>

<p>That is messed up! If it isn’t posted by tomorrow, I would call. Their housing costs are a bit higher than most of the other UC’s, so we were surprised at the loan amounts in D’s package-- you definitely need to know what they’re offering before deciding and it’s getting a little late in the month to still be waiting.</p>

<p>Will do! Thanks!</p>

<p>And pay attention to the COA compared to the Aid Year Total. I was so busy comparing the core elements to the other school D is considering, and the fact that in spite of a scholarship at UCSC her FA includes more loans than UCSD, that I didn’t notice that the COA is just over $2000 more than the Aid Year Total. So after the additional loans, there is still a $2000 gap. Nice. And the room and board fee given was for the 5 day meal plan – so no food on the weekend. Very surprised that UCSC is proving to be thousands more than UCSD.</p>

<p>I’m in the same situation as Curly. However, I was required to send in documents so that’s why it may have been delayed. I guess I’ll have to phone them :)</p>

<p>Is there any alternative to the parent loan option? My parents can’t take out loans because my dad is the only one who works and he recently got demoted which led us to taking out loans to keep our house…I’ve been trying my best to get scholarships and stuff but as of right now my parents say they can’t afford it…</p>

<p>Not that I know of through FA. Depending how much of a loan they are suggesting, possibly it could be eliminated if you can work this summer? And was there a gap between the FA summary and the COA summary? Ours was $2000 short of the COA. We plan to sign D up for a triple rather than a double room, which will reduce the cost a couple thousand – but are adding in the 7 day meal plan, not the 5 day one. (D’s COA room and board cost estimate was for a double room with 5 day meal plan-- which I was able to figure out by going to their website and comparing the housing plan costs with the annual Cost shown on her COA summary for Room & Board.) D will work this summer to earn money for her personal expenses during the year, reducing the amount needed in loans. And we (parents) will cover her transportation costs as they come up, so won’t be including that in what we need loan amounts to cover. </p>

<p>I don’t want her taking loans for anything that isn’t directly paid to the school. Any part of the cost that is determined by personal choice (travel, entertainment, clothing, toiletries) I am not factoring into what we need in loans. </p>