<p>Does "Work Study Eligibility" (type of award: work) mean this is money you have get acquire a job for? Its been "accepted" by the university I guess, so that is considered a loan? Thanks.</p>
<p>I think it’s a job the university gives you (I think in your field?) and you get paid for it. They give you money for the job and it’s your choice whether or not to spend it on tuition or your own personal expenses.</p>
<p>“Work Study Eligibility” means this: you are now eligible to APPLY FOR the many number of jobs on campus. Job listings are posted at: [Welcome</a> to Berkeley Work-Study Program](<a href=“http://workstudy.berkeley.edu/JobSearch.aspx]Welcome”>Welcome to Berkeley Work-Study Program)</p>
<p>Here is the process:</p>
<ol>
<li>Accept the work study amount, or convert into loans</li>
<li>Find a job through the link above, and apply</li>
<li>Work…your EMPLOYER gives you a paycheck</li>
<li>You give paycheck to school. Goes to –> work study amount</li>
<li>Done. repeat for each semester</li>
</ol>
<p>Or, if you have money from scholarships left over, you can fulfill your work study amount using an outside scholarship so you do not have to work.</p>
<p>@bobaboy: the school DOES NOT give you money for the job.</p>
<p>green-aw-lives, do you have to use the money you earn from that job for school? Can you just keep it for nightlife and your social life?</p>
<p>You can do whatever you want with your paycheck, but then how will you fulfill your work study portion of your financial aid package? Silly. :)</p>
<p>The money you earn from work study goes directly –> school. That is why they call it work study. (which is not taxed)</p>
<p>Any other money from a job is considered job money. (which is taxed)</p>
<p>When i read my financial aid package they told me that my parent and student contributions were 0, while when I added up all my grants and loans i was missing 1300?? so i’m a bit confused =(</p>
<p>
Yeah, I’d like to know too. I’m missing like 1400.</p>
<p>@pharmaybe—did you get a lot of financial aid too? They gave me almost everything except for work study and a 4600 worth of loan but the rest is paid for in grants</p>
<p>@Lala: Do this…</p>
<ol>
<li>Under bearfacts>financial aid>award summary (2009-2010) should list your complete financial aid package. Go there.</li>
<li>Locate two columns: “amount offered” and “amount accepted”</li>
<li>compare the total at the end. Are they the same?</li>
<li>if “amount accepted” is less than the amount offered, then that means you just have not accepted a certain award. (it is probably a 1300$ loan or work study option that you have pending)</li>
</ol>
<p>hope that helps.</p>
<p>
Actually this is all incorrect. WS money does not go direct to the school. It is paid to the student in the form of a paycheck. As the school’s COA includes allowances for miscellaneous expenses and travel the WS earnings can often be used by the student for these personal expenses.</p>
<p>Also WS earnings are taxable income. The main benefits of WS earnings compared to non WS earnings is that you do not pay FICA contributions on them (but they are taxable for federal and state tax purposes), and they are not held against you in the EFC calculation the following year. (If you earn enough money to file a return the WS earnings will be included in your AGI you report on FAFSA, but are deducted from your income by the formula before your EFC is calculated).</p>
<p>whoops. my first post also said they give you a paycheck. 
my bad!</p>
<p>thanks swimcatsmom.</p>
<p>
Yeah, I pretty much have the same thing as you do.</p>
<p>@green-aw-lives
Budget Amount: $24,524.00
Student Contribution: $0.00
Parent Contribution: $0.00</p>
<p>Amount offered: $23,048.00</p>
<p>my amount offered is 1300 less than the total amount that it costs for berkeley. do you think they made a mistake??</p>
<p>the missing $1300 is probably for SHIP (university health insurance) which is around $650 each semester. They take that into account later in case some people decide to waive it.</p>
<p>Also if it says estimated Cal Grant to be 750 and it is not accepted yet does that mean it will later be accepted when you are finally approved by whatever is in charge of that</p>
<p>I really don’t understand the Financial Aid page at all. It has everything offered at what looks to be the full costs to attend, but accepted is less than half of the cost. DOes that mean I have financial aid for the total cost or that it is offered like that for everybody and what you accept is it? I’m just not sure because the only accepted things are General and Work categories</p>
<p>Cal Grant will be disbursed later when school starts. You need to be enrolled at least half time, if I remember correctly to receive the aid.</p>
<p>If you receive work-study, I would recommend converting your loans to work-study (maximum of $4000 WS) and work as early as possible between 10-15 hours. By the end of your spring semester, you will have earned $4000 or close. Work-study is great because it is a easy job and usually very flexible. And the money goes to you, and you can spend it on whatever you want.</p>
<p>As for the question regarding how much they offer you and how much the student budget is: I don’t think there is anything missing. Maybe they want you to pay? But in my experience, I was in the same boat (offered was less than the student budget even though I had student and parent contribution of $0) and my expenses at the end of the academic year wasn’t even close to the student budget. It was a couple thousand less.</p>
<p>@masterhammy - Your financial aid package is going to show all the grants, loans, work-study, and scholarships that you are offered. What is accepted is going to be your grants and scholarships. You will have to accept the loans if you want them. And your grants and scholarships may not be accepted right now but will be once school rolls around.</p>
<p>i have a question:</p>
<p>i cant access my financial aid page because it says that i was selected to be verified for financial records</p>
<p>does anybody else have this same message and does anyone know if im just suppose to wait for them to send me something or am i supposed to do something now?</p>
<p>Going into the College of Engineering, will it be beneficial to enter Work Study? Will the amount of work be overwhelming with a job?</p>