<p>Can someone explain it this whole financial aid business to me, please? My dad doesn't have time to look at this stuff so I've been doing this all on my own. ):</p>
<p>Is the estimated cost of attendance for UCLA grossly exaggerated?</p>
<p>My EFC is 0, so I expected not to have to pay anything. But when I look at my preliminary financial aid (ePAL) for UCLA, I still have a net cost of $8,600 that I would have to pay (apparently via work-study and loans).</p>
<p>I guess this took me by surprise because I hear about people who end up having extra money or whatever and spend it buying frivolous stuff. I just want enough to pay for tuition, housing, and other fees because my dad makes very little. I really don't want to take out a loan because I don't want to pile on the debt I know I'll accumulate from grad school.</p>
<p>Also, I don't understand how we figure out if we're eligible for Plan G of housing payments. The way it's explained on the UCLA website makes no sense to me.</p>
<p>Most schools expect the student to contribute some of the cost, either through loans or working or savings. Most schools who meet 100% of need include loans. </p>
<p>The estimated cost of attendance is around $33,000, although I have read on CC that it is an overestimated, and I have already noticed large discrepancies in estimates (housing is more around $12k but it estimates it to be $15k). Is that true?</p>
<p>I have been offered around $23,000 in grants and scholarships.</p>
<p>I think I was mostly surprised because I know people who talk about how they always have leftover money (I know them to be low income too so they get the max amount of financial aid) and I have heard my cousins talk about how some people have enough to spend it on silly things like iPads and whatnot. I don’t need extra money to spend on that stuff; I would rather buy that with my own money than cheat the government of its money. I just want enough to pay for my fees without having to take out a loan.</p>
<p>What is the breakdown of the cost of attendance? You are going to be billed only for tuition, fees, room & board. If that is less than 23K + your loans, you will get a “refund” which you will have available to use for books and miscellaneous expenses. If, for example, you get a triple room and a cheaper meal plan (if available) you may have more money “left over” to spend. But keep in mind that if you have money “left over” after paying for your books and travel etc. you should consider using it to pay back your loans, not buying ipads etc. Assuming you have work-study in your award also, if you find yourself a work-study job, you will then have income that you can use for your incidental expenses as they arise.</p>
<p>@mathmomvt, thanks for the answers! They’re much appreciated. (:</p>
<p>As I said earlier, I was not planning to use the left over money for iPads or whatever. I really just want enough money to cover the cost of tuition, fees, room & board, and books so that I don’t have to take out loans.</p>
<p>And, if I calculate it the way you told me to (with tuition and the cheapest room and meal plan instead of their estimate), I have just enough to pay for tuition, fees, room & board, and maybe a little for books.</p>
<p>Sounds like you may need to take at least some of the loan to make sure you have enough for books and incidentals. Probably 3500 of your loan is “subsidized” meaning it incurs no interest until after you graduate. So you could take that loan and if you don’t end up needing the money, pay it back, only losing a small loan fee. You can also decide not to take the loan now, and then change your mind and still be eligible for the loan if you need it later, but it’s not going to be an instantaneous thing to get your hands on the money, so try to plan ahead.</p>
<p>You also need to save up some cash from summer work or whatever between now and the start of school because you probably don’t get your financial aid “refund” soon enough to use it to buy textbooks for first semester, to cover the cost of your transportation to school, or anything you need to purchase before you start (such as twin XL sheets). </p>
<p>The UCLA COA includes health insurance. Do you need that or are you already covered by your parents’ plan?</p>
<p>It may not make sense to take the cheapest meal plan (11 meals per week) – you need to eat more than that! You may find that 14 meals is a good deal though, if you can buy food to have breakfast in your room for less than the difference between the 14 and 19 meal plans. My son (at a different school) did that freshman year and was able to get instant oatmeal or cold cereal and milk pretty cheaply on campus (or via amazon.com, believe it or not, for the cereal) and saved money over buying the unlimited meal plan which was his next option. But do remember to work in the cost of getting yourself breakfast food into your budget. Don’t plan on skipping meals as a cost-saving measure – you need to eat for brain fuel :)</p>
<p>I’m debating between the 11 or 14 (with carry over privilege) because, as my mother puts it, I eat like a little bird. I generally eat small breakfasts of cereal or fruit with milk so I don’t really need to get a meal from the dining halls for that; I only need food for lunch and dinner. Since it’s freshman year, I do plan on going home every weekend, so I didn’t see the point of buying more than 11 or 14.</p>
<p>And thanks for the extra advice on pre-refund freshman year. I think I may be able to get enough money for miscellaneous dorm items and maybe some books from gift money from my relatives over the years + birthday and graduation this year. But I’ll keep what you said in mind when I consider if I should take out a small loan or not.</p>
<p>I’d suggest that you don’t plan on going home every weekend. You will do better socially and make more friends if you stick around and do social stuff on campus, at least some of the time (assuming that others do stick around – I don’t know campus culture at UCLA but I would guess that many do). I assume it would cost you something to get home even if your family lives reasonably near to the school, so that may offset the extra meals.</p>
<p>My D got accepted. That’s good, but there is no FA, which is quite disappointed. No work study. $32K is a large amount for a single income family living in BayArea. Where can I find the information about meal plan, and other COA information? I hope the cost is over-estimated. Try to save every penny to see if UCLA is reachable. Thanks.</p>
<p>Congratulations. You have received an offer from UCLA, a great school, that will enable you to attend if you take the direct loan and get a job. That is excellent.</p>
<p>Most people do NOT have left over money from grants. Especially not if they live and eat at the school. And even then the money that is left over is from loans or work study, not grant money. Typical full need met packages tend to have self help in them. </p>
<p>What happens sometimes is that upperclassmen may find cheaper housing and buy their own food and “beat” the COA numbers, so they get extra money in their pockets. Still, often that extra money is often from loans.</p>
<p>One has to be careful about that. My friend’s daughter had lots of extra money borrowing up to COA and spent it on all kinds of wonderful experiences and things as she kept her living expenses low, but that still was borrowed money and she graduated $90K in debt, now more than double that as she has not been able to pay on it due to lack of work.</p>
<p>Study the meal plans carefully. Some meal plans “expire” at the end of the week so you have to eat them or lose them or (if the plan allows it) use up the value at one of the campus shops for snacks. If the meals are convertible to cash that way, do the math to see what the conversion rate is. At Happykid’s U, each meal is worth only about $5 in snacks, but costs more like $8.</p>
<p>Other meal plans “roll over” and the meals can be eaten in later weeks, or even later semesters.</p>
<p>*My EFC is 0, so I expected not to have to pay anything. But when I look at my preliminary financial aid (ePAL) for UCLA, I still have a net cost of $8,600 that I would have to pay (apparently via work-study and loans).</p>
<p>I guess this took me by surprise because I hear about people who end up having extra money or whatever and spend it buying frivolous stuff. I just want enough to pay for tuition, housing, and other fees because my dad makes very little. I really don’t want to take out a loan because I don’t want to pile on the debt I know I’ll accumulate from grad school.*</p>
<p>People who usually have “extra money” left over to buy silly stuff are often using their LOAN money.</p>
<p>I’m curious as to why you think that you shouldn’t have to pay for SOME of your $130k+ education??? What kind of money do you think taxpayers owe YOU? And why???</p>
<p>Your EFC 0 does not mean that you pay nothing </p>
<p>It’s very reasonable to expect you to take out some loans to pay back since your education should net you a good paying job. Most of your education is being paid for by Calif taxpayers. You should have to shoulder SOME of the burden! </p>
<p>Plus, you should be expected to work in the summer and during the school year to cover things like personal expenses. Why should taxpayers pay for your shampoo, toothpaste and pizza out with friends???</p>
<p>*My D got accepted. That’s good, but there is no FA, which is quite disappointed. No work study. $32K is a large amount for a single income family living in BayArea. Where can I find the information about meal plan, and other COA information? I hope the cost is over-estimated. Try to save every penny to see if UCLA is reachable. Thanks.
*</p>
<p>A parent shouldn’t have to pay that much. R&B is expensive in that area (I have a few relatives who attend, or have recently attended UCLA), so you probably won’t see savings there.</p>
<p>BUT…you should tell your D that SHE is responsible for:</p>
<p>$5500 student loan
$3000 that she can earn over the summer to go towards some costs.
$2000 during the school year to go towards “personal expenses”. </p>
<p>That should reduce your costs by about $10k.</p>