<p>I cant help but notice some of the acceptance threads on here mention the student’s income status, and a few years back people even mentioned UC Davis had a points system for admissions and you could get extra points for being low income</p>
<p>How does this even work? How do the schools even know? Is it based on the information the student submits on the fafsa? Are they encouraged to mention in essays that they’re low income? </p>
<p>When I filled out the UC common app YEARS ago I don’t remember seeing anything about family income, etc</p>
<p>California has had some very significant budget cuts. Anyone applying to UC and Cal State schools has to be aware that California is not financially stable and “low income” students have to rely on the federal government for any grants and loans. Cal Grants are limited to California residents. If you are from out-of-state, you will be paying full fees, unless your stats are so incredible that they would have to offer you something but it wont be a full ride.</p>
<p>“UC has a need-blind admissions policy for CALIFORNIA residents. This means that once a student is admitted based on their academic abilities, the financial aid office then evaluates how much financial assistance they qualify for.”
In the “Blue and Gold Plan, a student must be a California resident, submit a Free Application for Federal Aid (FAFSA) by March 2, be in their first four years as a UC undergraduate (or two years if they are a transfer student) and demonstrate financial need as determined for federal need-based programs, said Robert Davis, assistant director of the UC Davis financial aid office in an e-mail interview.”</p>
<p>If you are low income, that information goes on the FAFSA. The FAFSA then gets sent to the individual UC’s. YEARS AGO, we weren’t in this much of a financial mess and there were some monies. Now, everyone is paying something. </p>
<p>I just read on another thread about a girl who just got her ebill stating that she owes $1722. She declined her loans in April and now has no money to pay her bill. Loans are part of the financial aid package. If you decline them, the money has to come from somewhere. I would be careful about how you include your low income status on an essay. I would think they get thousands of applications indicating low income levels.</p>
<p>To be clear, it’s not specifically relevant to me (I’m in college, not a prospective freshman applicant), I was just curious 
but thanks for your detailed response</p>
<p>I am a california resident anyway. The reason I made this thread was I used to think that income was only asked on the fafsa (like you said), but now I’m reading that some kids are even asked about it on the common app itself, which confused me. I’ve basically read that some low income students got a slight boost at certain UC campuses because on their application they expressed interest in joining some type of EOP program which apparently gives special consideration/aid to those from low income families? (not sure, I may be wrong) It shouldn’t be too significant but it’s kind of similar to how the app will ask about your parents’ education and if you’re first generation going to college it might give you a slight boost</p>