<p>Okay so, my EFC is about 23,000. I didn't qualify for any Cal Grants, Pell Grants or anything, so I only got $672 in gift aid. The net cost for me attending UCLA is $29,030. But there's no way we can possibly pay for all that. Now my question is. Can I just get a loan/workstudy for everything I can't pay? Because I heard from somebody that you can only get a set amount of loans and the rest you have to pay off another way. If that's true, I'm screwed. I'm really confused about the whole financial process so if anyone can help me out, that'd be great. Thanks!</p>
<p>The main federal student loan is the Stafford. The maximum Stafford for a freshman is $5500. WS would depend on your school’s policy for awarding it. WS is need based and schools have very limited WS funds. They set their own criteria for who they award it to. Often it is to students with the highest need. So you may or may not get WS, depending on their policy. The maximums for WS vary by school. At my daughter’s school the max WS is $3400 and it only goes to the neediest students.</p>
<p>Other than the Stafford loan your parents would have to find another source of funding. There are federal parent loans called PLUS loans. Or there are private loans (either in the parent name or they would have to cosign for you if it was in your name).</p>
<p>Aww man … I guess I didn’t qualify for work-study because it doesn’t tell me anything about it … $29,030 in loans is too much though … what do i doooooooooo?</p>
<p>in addition to federal stafford loans, there are also federal perkins loans, and federal parent PLUS loans</p>
<p>private scholarships? become a gates millennium scholar? lots of local scholarships? </p>
<p>you can’t entirely rely on finaid, esp. if you happen to be in that middle-class range. you can always try for undergraduate scholarships, provided you maintain a 3.5GPA or higher.</p>
<p>
Gates requires Pell eligibility. This year the max EFC for Pell eligibility is 4617.</p>
<p>Schools have very limited Perkins funding. Some schools do,not offer them at all. Like WS they depend on your school’s policies.</p>
<p>$29k+ a year is much to much in loans. Do you have any more affordable options?</p>
<p>Well I did apply for a couple scholarships … But I don’t think I’d get enough to make that much of an impact on my financial situation … if I get any at all. </p>
<p>Man, I’m screwed.</p>
<p>Hey. How do we find out much money we get?</p>
<p>I clicked on “View your Financial Aid/Scholarship Award Information” and then the clicked on “View your Financial Aid/Scholarship Award Information” again and got to the “MYFAO” page and clicked “Continue”. Then they said “Sorry, there are no Notices available for you to view for the period selected. Please select another Academic Year”. Does that mean I don’t get any Aid?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Sorry for the double post, nevermind. I guess I didn’t have my parents’ “Electronic Signature” for my FAFSA. If I fix that, do you think I will get some Aid money? Thanks :)</p>
<p>Take a student loan from a bank. But seriously, there is a reason your EFC is 23,000. I really don’t want to be an ass, but if you seriously cannot pay for any of that there is something seriously wrong, especially with your parents and their financial responsibiltiies.</p>
<p>Binks09: We made an investment on a house right before the housing industry crashed. I can only put net assets as 0 on the FAFSA, even if it is a negative number. That didn’t help much. And there’s other reasons too, but I have to do my best with what I have.</p>
<p>Whether we’re supposed to be able to pay all that or not, the bottom line is we can’t. I’m not complaining about how high my EFC is. I’m just trying to find a way so I can go to college without getting $50,000 in loans.</p>
<p>Arkacy, I’m not for sure, but wouldn’t it be too late to fix your FAFSA? Because if you didn’t get the electronic signature that would mean that you didn’t submit it properly right? But the deadline for FAFSA was Mar. 2nd so I don’t know if you’ll be able to get aid … I’d call them.</p>
<p>hey just out of curiousity …what was your family’s average income and how much you are getting for aid or having to pay out of pocket. thanks</p>
<p>Our income is around $110,000 or something like that. I got $672 in gift aid and I have to find a way to pay $29,030.</p>
<p>^^^ Like I said, your parents were fiscally irreponsible.
I hope that didn’t put all of their eggs in one basket into the house you mentioned, but really? real-estate is one of the most risky investments there is. It takes a real pro (like Donald Trump) to really understand it and make the correct moves.</p>
<p>I realize that. But I didn’t make this thread to complain. I’m trying to get help from people who know their stuff. I really don’t want to be an ass, but you aren’t helping me.</p>
<p>Hey dxcdivad,</p>
<p>You probably won’t need to pay that full 29,000 amount; a large bulk of that money is assuming you are willing to spend about 12000 or more on living expenses, 2000 on books for the whole year (ha!), and about 1500 on “allowance money” (aka screwing around by buying alcohol, unnecessary junk, etc). You’ll receive a letter in the summer about this money breakdown when/if you decide to accept UCLA’s offer.</p>
<p>I am assuming you’re in-state, and that you probably want to live in the dorms/plazas/etc. However, you can save a lot of $$ by living in the coops (this housing facility about 1-2 blocks away from school). It is run by students, but it has regular meals, computer/TV access, and it’s cheap because it’s about 1500 dollars per quarter (probably less). Lots of international students who come to UCLA for 1-2 quarters live there. The bad thing is that you have to do 4 hours of chores per week (all students divide up some housework to offset the cheap rent/food payments), but you get your choice of chores (so no toilet scrubbing if you don’t want to do it). Also, the conditions are a bit older than the dorms (in comparison to Sproal Hall, the coop should look pretty grim). However, it is really not a bad place to live and since a large chunk of that 29000 comes from living and food expenses, I suggest that you seriously consider the coop. For the rest of the money, you may have to rely on loans/scholarships.</p>
<p>Dang I’ll definitely look into the coops. I didn’t even know they existed haha. Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>I don’t think you can go to this university without taking out a large loan, especially this first year. Maybe if you do reallllly great the first year (and continue to do great) you could get scholarship money for the last 3. You could also work and cut down your loan amount. But unless a miracle happens, I’m sorry, you’re going to have to incur the considerable debt.</p>
<p>Consider a community college for two years to save money. Then transfer over. If you use that time to get involved in organizations and such, perhaps you will qualify for more scholarship money. At the least, you would save loads of money for those first two years. You could also work and put money away for when you transfer.</p>
<p>Also, you could wait a few years until you’re an independent before you get back into school. At that point, only your own income would count.</p>
<p>Yeah I’m definitely working to cut down the amount of my loans … If everything turns out as planned, I’d have about $14,000 in loans for the first year, unless I get scholarships. That’s still relatively high for loans isn’t it?</p>