<p>I just showed the ePAL for the upcoming freshman year at UCLA to my mom. Well her faced changed to a grimacing look. The good news is that we maxed out a good amount of financial aid, but we still have about ~10k in total net costs. We are in the process of figuring out how to pay it with a family income of ~17k. I will probably have to work and borrow loans. It's not impossible, but the look on my mom's face kind of scared me...</p>
<p>Well I was looking forward to attending UCLA, but the costs kind of "pooped the party."</p>
<p>Any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated!</p>
<p>You have a total net income of 17k and UCLA nor the federal government isn’t completely covering your education? As far as I know, you are guaranteed 100% FREE tuition by the Blue and Gold Plan (which accounts for tuition (so like 11k) for those with incomes under ~75k). You should also be in line for a bunch of the federal stuff, like the Pell Grant and such.</p>
<p>Frankly, something doesn’t seem to be adding up… are you from out of state? Also, net costs are highly inflated. I live off campus and thus my “net costs” are roughly 28k according to UCLA’s math. However, after tuition, I spend maybe another 4k for the year. So, in essence, I really only spend 15k when UCLA believes I should spend upwards of 28k.</p>
<p>One option that some have used is going to CC & then transferring to UC for last 2 years. This allows for getting credits at very low cost & if you follow the articulation agreement, all should be accepted when you transfer. You can post on the Financial Aid forum for more help.</p>
<p>@binks09 Wow! Thank you for bringing up the B+G Opportunity plan! After reviewing my ePAL again, I actually do qualify for the plan. I must have missed it. So does that really mean all 100% tuition is covered? If so, why isn’t calculated in or reflected in my ePAL yet?
Yeah, I need some clarification on how the plan works.</p>
<p>I read further on the plan and it said the plan would fully cover system wide fees. What do those fees comprise of?</p>
<p>The Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, under my knowledge, is automatically assessed in your ePAL. It only covers tuition–not housing, not food, not books. That means at most it’ll cover your registration fees and stuff like that, roughly 10k I believe. It’s probably already reflected in your ePAL as a CalGrant for CA residents, or a university grant. But nowhere on your ePAL would it say “Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan–$12,000.”</p>
<p>It really gets the hope up of students, but it doesn’t mean full-ride in any way.</p>
<p>I’m in the same situation as you. My ePAL says I will have to pay $10,000. I called in and asked about the B&G Plan, the person I talked to said I won’t get it since I already got the Pell Grant. Weird, but yeah. I’m really low income also.</p>
<p>Do you guys not understand that your total cost is tuition+ dorming. only add those things. Get a triple residence hall, and the max amount you will most likely pay is around 24-25k. Research your budget for once; its called a “budget” for a reason, not the total cost of college.</p>
<p>I thought this too, but i heard they’re distinct.</p>
<p>I found this out because i went to the financial aid office to talk to see if i’d still get funding via blue and gold next year for tuition. i was considering staying an extra year) an extra third year and transfers only qualify for two years of B&G. They told me that it would only kick in if my tuition wasn’t completely covered by the university grant (which it was) and unlike B&G, there was no similar restriction on the B&G. (just a minimum of 2.0 i believe.)</p>
<p>But the actual form implies that it works for tuition, so again, i’m not sure.</p>
<p>Every quarter, you’re charged on your Bruin account for tuition and housing. If you qualify for the Blue and Gold plan, for a couple days or so, it will say you owe X amount of dollars ($4000 ish) for registration fees, and then usually the last day it’s due or so, it will automatically switch to $0 (they pay it for you). If you receive additional aid (such as Pell Grant or some UC grant) your balance will be negative. The negative value indicates a refund check of that same amount. Technically, you can use that refund money for whatever, but obviously since they don’t pay for your housing/books, it goes to that. As such, I’ve only payed a little less than $3,000 out of pocket for the whole year.</p>
<p>It says it’s “$31K” or whatever for tuition and living expenses, but I guarantee you that you will not be spending that much. Including aid and all, it’s roughly $23K-$24K as kaizera15 stated.</p>
<p>Looking at the budget, only the first item, University Fees, is fixed. Everything else really depends on how you live.</p>
<p>As kaizera15 pointed out, get the cheapest housing/meal plan and Room & Board should be a couple thousand dollars less. Definitely can be under budget a lot for Books & Supplies. Don’t travel home as much and there would be little Transportation cost. So on … and your COA by living very cheap can be several thousand dollars less than the UCLA estimate. There are plenty of students that live cheap.</p>
<p>Get a part time job during the school year and a summer job which can contribute several thousand dollars.</p>