Fitting a Laptop into FA Budget

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>Has anybody done this before? How did you do it? So, FA is disbursed a week before school starts...</p>

<pre><code>Spring Annual Totals

</code></pre>

<p>Housing Type Residence Hall<br>
Tuition and Fees</p>

<p>$6,417.00 $6,417.00<br>
Personal Expenses
$694.00 $694.00
Transportation
$297.00 $297.00
Health Insurance</p>

<p>$813.00 $813.00
Housing
$7,030.00 $7,030.00<br>
Food
$465.00 $465.00
Books & Supplies
$601.00 $601.00
Subtotals $16,317.00 $16,317.00<br>
Other Costs
Grand Totals $16,317.00 $16,317.00 </p>

<p>Is it possible to live frugally and buy Amazon.com:</a> ASUS U46SV-DH51 14-Inch Thin and Light Laptop (Silver): Computers & Accessories the week that refunds are sent? Are there any plausible and better options?</p>

<p>I'm taking 16 units, so I don't know if Tuition and Fees will be higher or lower, but I should be lower than budgeted for Food, Books and Supplies, and Transportation... I also have a little money of my own...</p>

<p>I'll basically have $900-$1,500(<-if I can find a second job) before I leave for Berkeley, but I'd like to get...</p>

<p>A Guitar
A Jacket
A Pair of Boots
A Laptop</p>

<p>So, I'm planning to...</p>

<p>Guitar (work money)
Jacket (work money)
Pair of Boots (work money)
Laptop (FA refund money the week before school starts)</p>

<p>Is this possible, etc?</p>

2

<p>You can do a budget appeal to get more financial aid in your package, since laptop purchases are counted towards the budget and must be manually added. You can do it once every three years.</p>

<p>What the financial aid counselor told me for documentation was that they do not need a receipt for the actual purchase. She suggested going on any laptop website where you can customize or build a laptop and just print out the cost estimate. Since you can get up to $2500 added to your budget for a laptop (but only once every three years), you might want to get a little liberal with your cost “estimate” nudge nudge</p>

<p>Here are the links for Budget Appeal
[UC</a> Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office: Undergraduates » Budget Appeals](<a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/undergraduates/budgetappeal.htm]UC”>http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/undergraduates/budgetappeal.htm)
<a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/undergraduates/forms/BudgetAppealUGD1-1112Complete.pdf[/url]”>http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/undergraduates/forms/BudgetAppealUGD1-1112Complete.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Live below your means buddy. Skip the guitar, get the jacket/boots/laptop. </p>

<p>Or don’t. Whatever.</p>

4

<p>

</a></p>

<p>Thanks, this seem to be a good start… I’ll call them on Monday and get more information about this… I’m guessing that it’ll be a loan… will the loan be subsidized? I’d prefer to fit the cost of the laptop in the refund…</p>

5

<p>It all depends on your financial aid profile i.e. your EFC.</p>

6

<p>EFC 0 (Income of ~15-20k/yr?)</p>

<p>Total UC Berkeley Costs $16,317.00
My Gift Aid $11,504.00
My Net Cost $4,813.00
Parents Share $0.00
Students Loan And Work $4,000.00
Total Resources to Meet My Net Costs $4,000.00</p>

<p>Total Resources to Meet My UC Berkeley Costs $15,504.00 (Missing $813.00 Because of the Health Insurance Adjustment)</p>

<p>I wonder how much my refund will be… I’ll be taking 16 units and living in the Residence Halls… I already have the required textbook for one of my four courses… so… I’ll only have to buy three textbooks with my refund and the rest can be budgeted towards whatever I need I think… laptop/food/clothes… We’ll see…</p>

<p>Thanks for the help!</p>

7

<p>Wait, why are you expecting a refund? Refunds are only given if you overpay on fees e.g. getting a scholarship amount that exceeds your costs or paying for health insurance after you took it off.</p>

<p>Also, the ‘Total Resources to Meet My Net Costs’ is the maximum POSSIBLE amount of aid you can have. You can choose to take out all of it, or none of it. </p>

<p>In addition, the ‘My Net Costs’ often misrepresent the actual Costs to you. It only shows an expectation of what it is going to cost to you. I was under the impression that the Costs are what we had to pay the University for. Totally wrong. This year, for example, my Costs were listed as $8000, but I only have to pay $4000 for the year (by paying for it in cash, obtained through work-study or not, or by taking out loans).</p>

<p>If you want a laptop, you COULD take out a Loan (which I presume will be Subsidized due to your EFC) and get it with that. You don’t need to do a Budget Appeal to do that because the amount of aid available to you will be in surplus, unless you actually need more money.</p>

8

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<p>That’s how it works; the FA is first used to pay-off my CARS balance/system wide fees, then the rest is refunded through an EFT.</p>

<p>The cost of Housing is correct, and if the cost of Tuition and Fees is also correct, then I might be able to afford a laptop by cutting in Personal Expenses, Transportation, Food, and Books & Supplies which total 2,057… my textbooks will cost ~350… so 1,707… ~900 for a laptop would leave 807 for the semester… iunno…</p>

9

<p>Understand that ‘Total Resources to Meet My Net Costs’ differs from ‘My Gift Aid’.</p>

<p>Total Resources to Meet My Net Costs + My Gift Aid = Total Resources to Meet My UC Berkeley Costs</p>

<p>Those resources to meet your Net Costs are in the form of Subsidized Loans and Work-Study. Those will not be factored in as part of the financial aid qualified for a refund, since you have the CHOICE of using them or not. </p>

<p>Think of Financial Aid and Fees like this. What you ABSOLUTELY HAVE to pay are the Tuition and Housing fees. This comes out to around $13,500. Your Gift Aid, which applies directly to this is $11,500. </p>

<p>13,500 (fees) - 11,500 (Gift Aid) = 2,000</p>

<p>You still have $2,000 that you have to pay for. You have $4,000 in Subsidized Loans and Work-Study available that you can choose to use or not to help pay for that and any other costs incurred during the semester.</p>

<p>We both have the same EFC, the same costs, the same gift aid, and I have never received a refund like that. I received a refund this semester only because I received a scholarship (which counts as Gift Aid) that exceeded my Costs for this semester, so I was given the remainder via electronic transfer to my account.</p>