<p>I've been hearing from a lot of people that although I am a California resident, I shouldn't apply to UCLA because of the state budget cuts, which will make financial aid very difficult to come by. However, I was reading a brief article on some other website, and I came across what was called the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan. I didn't really understand what it was, or if there were any income requirements, but the basic gist that I got was that it would help significantly with tuition for California residents. Does anyone know anything about this plan, or what it is, and if it would help me afford UCLA?</p>
<p>Idk why people claim this so often. Yes, your financial aid overall will be lessened mostly from state budget but the federal grants and loans will have little to no effect. Plus its a public school not nearly as much the money my parents pay for my brother to go Cornell (with financial aid) !</p>
<p>it really comes to what your household income is and how good of a student you are. for example, someone i know comes from a low-income family and ranked top of their class, and ended up going to Stanford because it was cheaper. often times that’s not the case.</p>
<p>you really don’t know what your financial aid package will be until you get admitted and get the actual package so don’t dismiss any school just because it will be too expensive.</p>
<p>From what I can tell (I’m on Blue and Gold) this is how it works: for families with less than the income cutoff ($40k or $60k, I don’t remember at the moment), they max out your Federal Subsidized Stafford, Unsubsidized Stafford, Perkins loan eligibility, and Federal Pell Grant eligibility, and work study, and then give you the rest in grants and scholarships (different combinations, “university grant,” Calgrant (not anymore, unless they reinstate it in future years), and “Scholarship Recognition Awards,” etc.).</p>
<p>So, (although they may cancel Blue and Gold in the future) this is basically how it works: you pay nothing out of pocket, you take out the max in federal loans, and they make up the difference with grants and scholarships. What they call the grants and scholarships will depend on your eligibility (GPA, etc.), but that doesn’t matter to the amount you end up getting.</p>