@lilliana330 Thanks for the rundown. I can definitely work with that total cost. 
@jsies11 And if they give you workstudy as well, it can be helpful for unexpected expenses that may come along the school year or further reduce the amount you need to make during the summer.
Note: many local scholarships = for one year only, but the loan amount you can borrow increases to $6500 soph yr/$7500 jr/$7500 senior yr.
At this point, though, it’s all about budgeting your own expenses rather than worrying about paying the bill. Of course, you have to wait to see the actual financial aid award first. But UC net price calc’s = pretty reliable for modest incomes.
can you copy/paste your NPC results from a UC
Expected Family Contribution
Student Contribution: $5,100.00
Parent Contribution: +$3,651.00
Expected Family Contribution: $8,751.00
Estimated Award Letter
Grant Award: $8,994.00 - $10,994.00
Self Help Award (Work/Loan): $7,500.00 - $9,500.00
Family Help Award $11,751.00 - $13,751.00
Estimated Total Price of Attendance
Tuition and Fees+$15,036.00
Room and Board+$12,254.00
Books and Supplies+$1,509.00
Other Expenses+$2,446.00
Total Cost of Attendance$31,245.00
Grant Award:- $9,994.00
Estimated Net Cost:$21,251.00
Do i need to take loans out for the self help award or can I cover that all through work-study?
Wait…You said the net price was $9k, but this is showing a net price of $21k
I was confusing net price and EFC I guess. After grants and work study it comes out to about 9k. That’s my expected family contribution, right? So I only have to pay 9k?
Hmm something’s off…
“Family Help Award $11,751.00 - $13,751.00”
…are these parent loans?
So I googled it, and nothing seems to come up on the actual schools’ websites, which is strange. I found in some forums that it is a loan though, great. I assumed that with the name, it was some type of grant. I doubt my parents are going to take out loans for me. What do I do?
^ And they shouldn’t…those are large loans for their income. Turns out UC = not affordable for you in this case…You need to find other schools…You said you got merit aid elsewhere?
I think the $21k is what they expect your family to come up with every year. I don’t much care for the way they label everything “Awards.” No wonder families have difficulty understanding their financial aid packages. Do you have more affordable options?
Just a small FYI…the net orice calculators are sometimes not accurate for families where the parents are divorced/separated. Just be alert to that!
So were the retirement monies included in the investments, or is that piece of land still worth $200,000?
If your mom has $49,000 in income, and a $200,000 asset, your EFC will not be $9000.
That net cost includes room and board. If you qualify for the Calgrant, you will get some aid, but will still be expected to pay your EFC plus the student contribution…at least. And likely room and board too.
The NPC gave you a net price of $21,000…to be honest, that sounds more accurate than $9000 to me.
Hoping one of the Calgrant experts will chime in…too.
The reason I asked you to copy/paste is because I suspected that you misunderstood the award.
Your cost is $21k…and no, you can’t cover that with a student loan and work study.
Work study will be about $2k. Your loans will be about $5500-7000 (depending on whether you’re also given Perkins).
Work study really only goes for “pocket money” since it’s paid “as you work” in the form of paychecks… small paychecks paid every 2-4 weeks…so really just for day to day expenses.
It appears that a Plus loan for your mom is being offered, and likely she won’t accept that.
from THIS award, it appears that the NPC has calculated that the student doesn’t qualify for a Cal Grant…otherwise there would be a grant for about $13k showing.
If the school does determine that the student qualifies for a CG, then the $13k grant will appear…and that $9k grant will go away… Will NOT get both.
I thought OP said the EFC was $105k! Did I read that wrong!?
@Rdtsmith
Here is the quote:
[QUOTE=""]
My EFC came out to be around $12500 a year.
[/QUOTE]
@thumper1 with the retirement taken out the sum of my mom’s cash/savings/investments is around $60k but I have $24k in UGMA and UTMA accounts. I just found this out yesterday.
A net price of $21k is ridiculous… how do they expect my family to pay that?
So far the merit I have gotten from schools I could maybe afford is full tuition + $2500 at Bama and $10k/yr Regents at UCR.
How are your mom’s assets now only $60k? In your earlier posts you said that the grandpa property was most of the $200k in assets. That still exists.
That’s what I thought, but I sat down with my mom yesterday and redid the parent demographics section with her and the land is valued at $40k. I thought it was higher because she said that’s why my EFC was so high, and it’s a lot of acreage. I apologize for the confusion, I had next to no idea what was going on with her assets etc and probably made too many assumptions in the first post. But now that we’ve laid everything out I think I have a clearer picture of her financial situation.
I suspect they’re assessing your mom’s “$60k cash/savings/investments” at the parent 5.6% rate, which is likely where the $3651 parent contribution comes from, and your $24k UTMA/UGMA accounts at the 20% student rate, which is probably where the $5100 student contribution comes from. It also looks like they expect you to take out the $5500 federal student loan and to work as well (the “self help award”). They gapped you $11-13k, which is money they expect your family to supply (through Plus loans, or by selling the property, or whatever).
I don’t think that type of package is unusual. Some families take out those kinds of loans ($27k for the student and $40+ for mom and/or dad), but I wouldn’t do it. I’d put my energy into finding a more affordable school.
^ The gap isn’t that large…
Net price - expected student contribution = $21k - $8k = $13k
This is about $4k higher than FAFSA EFC
The issue: Although the portion of the EFC that comes from parents = low, UC’s will asses the entire FAFSA EFC, as reported in the SAR, as the parent EFC. So even though the parents portion is $3k, the school sees it as the entire $9k.
However, still unaffordable.
Wow, I’m really disappointed that a public school is so expensive for instate residents but that’s an entirely separate issue.
I think UCR might be affordable for me because of $10k Regents at least.