<p>Like everybody else who was in Davis last year, I noticed a while back that registration fees increased this year(budget cuts across universities, etc).</p>
<p>I have to pay a little over $5000 in fees this year($4600 in tuition and 400 for ship insurance), but what I’m really confused is how much financial aid I’m getting(am getting subsidized loans and grants).</p>
<p>Last year, I got about $600 leftover in money from pell grant and subsidized loan for every quarter, but this year I noticed I got -$3000 leftover ($8000 financial aid per quarter this school year, total).</p>
<p>Can someone tell me what</p>
<p>University Fee Grant<br>
University Grant in Aid Prog<br>
UCD Campus Fees UG </p>
<p>came from? Anyone else got this?</p>
<p>I have them on top of my pell grant. I’m mostly confused with “university fee grant” and UCD Campus fee UG" which I thought at first, sounded like the university was charging me… But instead, they are actually contributing a few hundred dollars to my financial aid. </p>
<p>And this “University Grant in Aid Prog” that didn’t show up last school year, showed up this year, and gave me almost $4000 in financial aid.</p>
<p>Anyway, again, I have almost -$3000 in my balance, which includes the subsidized loan. I’m also wondering if its a good idea to cancel my subsidized loan (common sense tells me yes) for the 3 quarters of school this year too?</p>
<p>Please help, thanks!</p>
<p>By terms, I meant defining what and where these came from.</p>
<p>"University Fee Grant
University Grant in Aid Prog
UCD Campus Fees UG "</p>
<p>But, I don’t think I need to wonder anymore really.</p>
<p>If I were you, I’d give up that subsidized loan. Less money to pay back later!</p>
<p>I received the “University Fee Grant” on top of my Cal Grant B. I also noticed that I’m getting more financial aid this year with the tuition increase.</p>
<p>Financial aid works with your EFC, or “estimated financial contribution.” Even if tuition goes up, your EFC stays the same (unless your own financial situation drastically changed). So, if your EFC was $5000, and tuition fees go up, your financial aid has to make up for the increase (not you). So, that’s probably why you received a new type of grant this year.</p>
<p>Yeah, I told my parents and my brother that too. My dad helps me pay the rent, and he will help me pay off the tuition fees after I graduate this year. If I take off the subsidized loan, I’ll pay less in the end. But they argue that, it’s good for emergencies to keep it.</p>
<p>The only good thing about having that extra $1800 is not having to rely and ask my dad to help pay off my rent until end of Dec, which I can do with all that money, and have some left over. But obviously I’ll have to pay it back and with interest after I graduate.</p>
<p>Subsidized loans have an up-front cost of 1% as an origination fee, taken out of your loan disbursement. Other than that, they cost you absolutely nothing until six months after you leave school. If you want to have some cushion in the bank in case you suddenly have unexpected expenses to deal with, and you have enough self-control not to spend it on non-necessary things just because it’s there, then I would say it’s perfectly fine to hold onto the loan. It will give you more options; say you want to do some cool internship over the summer but transportation will be expensive. If you don’t have the loan money, maybe you don’t have that option. Meanwhile, you probably have enough time before the loan starts accruing interest to earn back the 1% origination fee in a high yield savings account, even at today’s rates, if you don’t end up using any of the money after all. Once you decide you know what, I never actually needed this money, I don’t need it now, and I won’t end up needing it later (say you graduate and find quick work), just pay it back and boom, you added a bit to your credit history and because you got some interested to make up for the origination fee, you did it for free.</p>
<p>This really can only work perfectly as long as you have a good handle on your expenses. The flip side of that is, if you have a poor handle on your expenses, you may end up needing the extra money down the road anyway! All that being said, if you’re not comfortable having that loan money sitting around, it will be hard to manage it responsibly, so it’s best to make sure whatever you decide that you can be comfortable with that decision. You could also take a middle option by lowing your loan amount but not cancelling it completely.</p>