How to get the most financial aid

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

<p>I am an out of state student (US citizenship holder living in HK). I know that UCs seek to gain revenue from OOS and international students, and therefore do not grant much money. My family earns 110k per year, but I do need the financial aid because my parents need to start saving for when they retire; they currently have almost no savings for that. </p>

<p>UC Berkeley has been a dream of mine for some time, so although sympathetic for the situation my parents are in, I was also downed when my parents opposed the idea of me applying there. However, I was able to get the yes from them to apply (I am a rising senior in high school), as we never know how the end tuition fee result will be compared to the other schools I am applying to (I am applying to private schools like University of Notre Dame, which would probably give much more money, but the tuition is more expensive, so ultimately tuition fees may be similar). </p>

<p>I would like to know, perhaps from current or past OOS students, how to get the most financial aid possible. Would I be getting 5k from the Pell Grant? How about other grants? What kind of scholarships are easy to get? How is the student-work prospect at Berkeley? </p>

<p>If you need to know some details about my stats:</p>

<p>SAT I: 660 CR, 710 M, 790 R (2160)
SAT II: Not taken yet
GPA: British system international school; we don't calculate this or class rank. However, I would be in the top 10%-ish
Extracurriculars: Very relevant to the major I am applying for; I also swim like 6 times a week and somehow it ties in with my nutrition major aspect as well. I wouldn't say my extracurriculars are huge relatively, but they definitely are not too common and inadequate. Also, I have pursued these extracurriculars out of personal interest, so I have lots to write about them if I need to.</p>

<p>I am hoping to study nutrition and economics at Berkeley. The fact that there are not many top tier schools that offer nutrition (yes, I am also applying to Cornell -_-) make studying at Berkeley even more desirable for me. On an ending note, does tuition depend on what majors you take?</p>

<p>Thank you so much to everyone who replies, it would help so much even if you answer just one of the many questions I have asked in this post. </p>

<p>Sorry if I have come across as desperate; I would just love to attend UCB. </p>

2

<p>First, you need to calculate your estimated family contribution EFC: <a href=“Expected Family Contribution (EFC) – BigFuture | College Board”>https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/paying-your-share/expected-family-contribution-calculator&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This can give us an accurate picture in terms of what you might get for need based aid, because other factors such as money in general cash and saving accounts can affect your aid. To get a full pell grant your family needs to make less than 25,000 I believe.</p>

3

<p>With a $110,000 family income, you are unlikely to get any need based aid unless your family has more than one child in college. You are likely only eligible for a direct student loan ($5,500 for a freshman).</p>

<p>Plug your financial data into the net price calculator. It will give you a fairly close estimate of what aid you can expect. Here’s a link:</p>

<p><a href=“https://saservices.berkeley.edu/calculator/”>https://saservices.berkeley.edu/calculator/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Thanks so much @LVKris‌ and @Jweinst1‌. I do know that with a close to 110k income that we are not going to qualify for much or any need based aid. </p>

<p>Are there any scholarships that anyone knows which I can apply for? </p>

5

<p><a href=“http://www.berkeley.edu/apply/aid.shtml”>http://www.berkeley.edu/apply/aid.shtml&lt;/a&gt;
There’s a section on scholarships in thi slink. It’s very likely that you may have to take some loans in order to pay for tuition if your parents can’t help you with all of it. Merit scholarships are pretty difficult to get at times, and it’s pretty time consuming to apply for scholarships. ROTC scholarships might be another option (it’s also in the list), but it involves joining the army, and I don’t know much about the qualifications. </p>

6

<p>Thank @totalcaprice‌! I did hear from a friend from UC Berk that he works a job that pays him decently. How is the student-working prospect at Berkeley? </p>

7

<p>to answer your earlier question about tuition, tuition does not depend on major, it’s the same and it doesn’t matter how many units you take. Lol, someone graduated in my class with a triple major, so I guess he got his money’s worth…</p>

<p>student working prospects are pretty good. There are a lot of campus jobs you can do. A lot of students work at the library or as a security monitor (they can study and work sometimes…) In my opinion, I don’t think the pay is enough so you could pay for school, but it would definitely help supplement your rent and food expenses. I think the pay for campus jobs is around 11.00/hr, and depending and what positions, it could be up to 15.00/hr. You could also work at the dining commons (though I wouldn’t do it) wiping tables, and serving food. You get paid, and you get a free meal out of it each shift. </p>

<p>Another way to make extra pocket money is through x-lab. Xlab is one of the research groups on campus that gathers data through surveys, etc for companies. I got paid $80 for doing a gambling study for 1.5 hours (this is rare though since average is around $15/hr). My friend got paid $15 for 30 minutes to eat jelly bellies… they pay in checks or gift cards. <a href=“http://xlab.berkeley.edu/”>http://xlab.berkeley.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Engineers/business/econ/CS majors tend to have summer internships and companies pay for those. I was a Econ major, and I got paid $15 for my first internship, and $20 for my second internship (junior summer). My CS friend got paid $25 for her first internship (summer after sophomore), and $35/hr for her second summer internship…however, my pre-med friend had to do a lot of her volunteering/internships for free. </p>

<p>Rent is going to be a big expense for you. If you get dorms, those are super expensive. Apartments are relatively cheaper, but not by much since NorCal rent is expensive in general. You could live in the co-ops or fraternity/sorority houses to save money, but I’m not a big fan of them since they tend to be pretty noisy and dirty. </p>

<p>To be honest, it’s unlikely that you will get much financial aid from the school, so you might want to think about this more. </p>

8

<p>Like others before me have already said, with a $110k in income, it’s not likely that you’ll qualify for financial aid, much less likely a pell grant. However, there are scholarships out there which you can make good use of.</p>

<p>Another thing: don’t get so attached to dream schools. They’re just a path you take on a journey full of amazing times. There are plenty of other great schools out there, especially private schools, where they would definitely end up giving more aid than UC Berkeley, even if only a bit more. However, being a golden bear myself, I hope to see you at Cal and even if I don’t, I’m sure you’ll have a fulfilling career.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

9

<p>With a decent/good student job, a/some scholarship/s, and loans, do you think I could pay my way through university? My parents could pay a bit (definitely for room and board, as well as school supplies, and a bit of the tuition).</p>

10

<p><a href=“disclaimer:%20i%20was%20an%20in-state%20student,%20so%20this%20is%20pretty%20rough%20estimate”>b</a>. feel free to point out any errors! **</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1090”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1090&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>tuition is roughly around $35,742, out of state would cost you $56,198 (tuition + board). It says room and board are $15,180, books and supplies are $1,226, and other expenses are $4,050. Now, this is obviously on the high end. I saved thousands on books by finding them online, buying old ones. Your rent could be lowered if you lived further away from campus, or rented a room for $600-700/month. </p>

<p>$56198 x 4 years = $224,792 for four years at Berkeley. This is a pretty high estimate, but not entirely wrong. I think I paid about $120,000 for four years as a california resident. </p>

<p>let’s say you got a library job that pays $11/hr. If you worked 20 hours a week and for 30 weeks (30 weeks is approximately how many weeks in a college year), then you would get a gross of 6600. Your take-home would be $6190.80 (due to taxes, and you can get back the $400 but you have to file your income tax return). </p>

<p>$56,198/year total, and subtract your $6190 from your library job, and there is still 50k left. Let’s say you get a scholarship of $10k (I don’t know about scholarships…I wasn’t smart enough to get one, but my friend got her whole tuition paid for). $40k left, and maybe you take out a loan of $10-20k a year. Then your parents would help pay the rest, and this could range from $20-30k. </p>

<p>Worse case scenario, you get no scholarships, and the only financial aid they give you are loans. Then, its up to you and your parents to come to an agreement of paying $50k/year. Should you take out more loans so your parents don’ t have as much of a burden? Or should your parents pay more so you don’t have loans. </p>

<p>things to note:

  1. tuition has been steadily going up the last couple of years. there was a vote, and tuition has frozen (meaning that it won’t go up…but with the economy who knows)</p>

<ol>
<li><p>you are from HK. flights to and from home will be a big expense. You may have to stay in Berkeley for long periods of time (maybe only go home once a year). Summer is a good time for you to work on campus, or get a paid internship (I don’t think nutrition pays very much…but business internships are paid well…so if you can, get those…) to make a couple more grand to pay for your expenses. I made around 4-5k my summer after sophomore year, and 8.8k my summer after junior year; however, these are for business internships. If you want to do nutrition based internships, there are health companies that may have business internships, and those pay. I don’t know about you researching or volunteering for nutrition based internships. </p></li>
<li><p>there are many ways to save. some students are worse off then you, and they ended up finding free meals on campus (club events tend to have free food), or they use the food bank. You probably aren’t going to have to do that, but that is a option, and it depends on how frugal you want to be. </p></li>
<li><p>If you take loans out, ** MAKE SURE YOU READ UP THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS ** so many idiots take out loans, and then major in something stupid, and then realize they can’t find a job, while their loan skyrockets. </p></li>
<li><p>you want to double major, and theres a balance between working and having enough time for school. I recommend you keep your econ major…<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/NutSci.stm”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/NutSci.stm&lt;/a&gt; as you can see the employment prospects for nutritional science are low…some people double major and graduate in 3 to 3.5 years. ** graduating early would save lots of money, but make sure your GPA is not bad because companies look at your GPA and extracurricular actvities**</p></li>
</ol>