<p>Hello:</p>
<p>Attend UoP Preview Day recently, and all of us (D and parents) were impressed.</p>
<p>However, it is a very expensive school. If the overall cost is $50K and the average financial aid is $15-20K, that still leaves over 30K for a family to cover.</p>
<p>As a result, the school really looks out of reach for those of us lower-middle income. We really are not interested in having D graduate with a burdensome loan (over 20K total). </p>
<p>Does this mean that most students are from wealthy families, or that most families are just taking out excessive loans to finance the student's education?</p>
<p>UoP has generous financial aid. My son receives scholarships and grants that cover almost all of the tuition. He receives the Regents scholarship (10K) which is dependent upon GPA and SAT/ACT scores. In addition they match the Cal grant and throw in an additional stipend. So right there we’re at $30K. You might qualify for Stafford loans, Pell grants and work study. Many majors have generous paid internships. And UoP guarantees 4 yr graduation. The scholarships only need a GPA of 3.0 to maintain and Pacific has a generous grading curve. My son loves Pacific, as do his friends. They have to close the dorms and kick the students out at break time because it’s so mellow and laid back that most students stay days past term end.
My advice: apply, then look at the financial aid package before you accept at any school.</p>
<p>Our concern is if we don’t qualify for Cal Grant. In the past our income was in range, but assets slightly high. So it sounds like the only way to make it work is to get the CalGrant and then get it matched, correct?</p>
<p>Based on my middle S, U of P financial aid was not great-- less than his other schools. We are not from CA though. So it was about 12k merit, 40k loans</p>
<p>My youngest S appled as well (this year) and is accepted with 10k merit. It will be a while before we hear the total but I am not expecting any more than his brother got</p>
<p>To answer your question from the other thread-- the older brother went to UPS (in Tacoma)</p>
<p>UOP’s net price calculator shows it coming in around $11k short of EFC for us. We’ll see what it really is come April, but I’m not expecting much. One thing I will say is that their NPC seems both accurate and honest. Unlike many others the generated report includes EFC (w/in a couple of hundred dollars of the amount FAFSA just calculated for us). The report displays our EFC in the upper right and our estimated self help at the bottom, making the $11k gap quite clear. I may not be pleased with the amount of aid, but I appreciate the clarity and frankness.</p>
<p>I would agree that their NPC is very thorough. I keep wishing that the 30K gap would disappear but it is there in black and white!</p>
<p>Anyone receive a financial aid package making it doable? Love to hear of people are choosing to attend.</p>
<p>Right now we’re deciding between UC Riverside and UOP. UOP is giving S a 10k Regents scholarship, 2.5k Chancellors and a loan , so total is ~ 18k.It brings total cost to ~41-43k / year for us, so 4 year total ~ 164- 172k. We’re not going to take the loan because we have ~ 100k saved in a 529 plan, and want to avoid loans as much as we can.We’re still putting in $$$ into his 529, and will continue when he decides on a college, so we’ll have more like ~ 120k total saved by the time he’s a Junior.We’ll have to deplete the 529 before we start getting loans. We’re not rich by any means - we’ve never made more than 80k in a year, but we’ve saved in the 529 since he was born, so most of the value is just growth from principal. Time and compounding really works.</p>
<p>However, S is in Computer Science, where they are required to do a 7 month paid Co-op that they say averages ~ 3k/ month, plus they pay only 1/2 of tuition while on Co-op. That helps somewhat,so the total cost drops to ~145k or so , so once everything is factored in, UOP comes out to ~ 6k more per year. In addition, they have the 4 year guarantee, which is pretty much what it says, so hopefully S can get out and start making $$$ on his own sooner.
Its a close call right now, and we’ll have to see if UOP comes up with more money. We’ll play the waiting game - I know of some students who got additional money in mid April as a last ditch effort by the Admissions office to try to sway any last minute decision makers.
We’ll probably make the decision April 30 to see what, if anything, rolls in in the way of further financial aid.</p>
<p>Well it looks like you are deciding between two good schools! Congrats on having a good next egg to make the decision more feasible</p>
<p>Idahomom or Dudeyes: did either of you make the decision to attend there?</p>
<p>For us the gap was just too big to make it work</p>
<p>We went with UCR - we can’t justify the extra ~$6,000 / year , plus UCR sent us their FA package last week and added on an extra $4k Highlander scholarship , so the deal is sealed now.
We’ve had family (cousins) that went to UOP for Pharm and they loved it, but for us the $$$ didn’t work out for us.</p>
<p>Dudeyes: congrats on UCR. My S went there for his freshman year. ( he is now taking time off to re-evaluate his major.). </p>
<p>Overall he liked the school. Lived on Pentland and liked the environment there</p>