<p>How much does Berkeley hand out in financial aid? Their site doesn't say much (at all). Do people pay most of the 20,000 something dollars a year or is there some kind of (non-loan) assistances from the school? My family's income is a little under 50,000 and can't really shell out twenty grand a year...</p>
<p>With that income, you're eligible for Cal Grant A, which is worth more than $6.5K.</p>
<p>Hey... Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>not enough financial aid</p>
<p>Because Berkeley's been accepting more and more students (I think the school is over 35k now), it has to spread its financial aid thinner, especially since nearly a third of its undergraduates (~8,000 students) are Pell Grantees, meaning they are low-income students. So, for example, the base loan in the UC financial aid is $4,160, but Berkeley will give much more in loans, even for low-income students. On the whole, Berkeley's financial aid is great--better than probably any public, and competitive with top privates--but it can't quite match many privates' financial aid.</p>
<p>Stanford, for example, has eliminated tuition for families making up to $100k; that means that a family making that would have to pay only $15,000, whereas at Berkeley, financial aid stops at $100k, so the family would have to pay $25,000. Rarely is a private school (where the annual cost of attendance is over $50k) actually cheaper than a state school.</p>
<p>With the initiatives of HYPS (eliminating loans, giving more grants, etc.), Berkeley--along with other colleges--needs to step up to the plate and increase its own financial aid. But with the recent budget cuts and a hard-headed legislature, that's going to be a difficult task.</p>
<p>You would not be asked to shell out the full price for Berkeley. You'd probably get good financial aid.</p>