<p>Hey, rising senior here, made a chance thread awhile back. How often and to what degree are merit scholarships through UCB given out? I'm in-state, and my family's above the $200,000k bracket, but we live and San Diego in a one story house and we can barely pay our bills
(location, location, location).
Is UCB generous with its aid, or should I kick in the afterburners and start looking for money elsewhere?
Thanks for your time</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Berkeley is not particularly generous with its aid. Even the Regents scholars only get a couple thousand a year. You’re better off looking at private schools for merit money.</p>
<p>^^^^ Agree with singh2010 - Tuition just going up and up. We qualified for Blue & Gold which is about 8K and it was still too expensive. You will either have to come up with cash, take out loans, or get lots and lots of scholarships on your own.</p>
<p>~~EDIT: in San Diego
Typo rage</p>
<p>Alright, thanks for the feedback. I’ll look into selling my organs in the Asian market or something</p>
<p>From my experience working with students, most UCs are only generous with financial aid for low-income students. Typically middle and middle-upper class students end up attending without any financial aid. There are lots of scholarships out there though, so start looking and plan to apply to as many as you can.</p>
<p>I’m in the same situation. I have excellent marks and extracurriculars, but I received neither financial aid nor merit scholarships from Cal.</p>
<p>The higher education system in America is completely skewered against the middle class, especially those living in high cost of living areas. The upper class can pay for college, the lower class receives financial aid, but the middle class is left with nothing and eventually assumes the most debt.</p>
<p>Yeah Berkeley is only nice to poor people . . . even with merit based scholarships. </p>
<p>Aim for RC, but you probably won’t get anything beyond the 2.5k a year since you’re in state.</p>
<p>Student loans are available. If you really want to attend, you should be able to pay them back in no time after graduation.</p>
<p>sorry, but those than run the State and UC do not believe in merit. (They dropped participation in the NM program.) For a UC Regent’s scholarship, you’ll need mighty high test scores in addition to grades and ECs.</p>
<p>From his family income, he can probably receive only unsubsidized loans…</p>
<p>200k family income - no one can qualify for aid at that level in any school.</p>
<p>^ Well, some schools offer merit scholarships that have nothing to do with need.</p>
<p>It’s pretty easy to imagine a 200k-income family not being able to afford college without substantial savings. After taxes and insurance, that should come out to be around 120-140k (not a lot of money).</p>
<p>The OP also happens to live in an area with expensive real estate and a relatively high cost of living.</p>
<p>Considering that tuition plus board can easily creep over 50k at the most expensive schools . . . . yeah it’s pretty hard for a 200k-income family without substantial savings to afford, regardless of cost of living.</p>
<p>My parents make about 100k, we have two different mortgages to pay, and because I have a twin, my parents have to put <em>two kids</em> in college at the <em>same time</em>, which is very difficult financially because it’s all happening at the same time…
And even though I’m a Regents Scholar, I got almost no aid 
They put me in the category of Scholars where they think my parents make enough money (even though two kids are going at the same time, and we have to save for a third child too) so I only get the one-time congratulatory $2000. Period.</p>
<p>That sucks xD Cal isn’t very generous</p>
<p>The best scholarship I know of from Berkeley only gives $8k/year. To qualify, you would have to attend one of the high schools that the IAP extends out to (all are low-income) and be the top qualifier from your school =x. I’m assuming you probably don’t go to one of those schools if you’re in the $200k bracket (majority of the students at my school were in the $<30k bracket), so you would either have to go for the Regents or look for an outside scholarship.</p>
<p>financial aid is strictly based on income and very few schools provide aid for families with incomes over 100k. The main contributing factor in financial aid is determined by Expected family contribution or EFC which is derived from filling out a FAFSA.</p>
<p>As far as I know, high mortgages do not reduce your EFC. The main reducer usually is having other students in college from the same family.</p>
<p>Ideal situation:</p>
<p>Score R&C to net you $2500/year, snag some annual scholarship (Nat’l Merit, Nat’l Merit Corporate, etc.), and apply to as many of the silly scholarships (e.g. “Optimist”, “Crooked Pinky Finger”, etc.) as you can to cover first-year costs/dorm housing.</p>
<p>Once at Cal, get super involved (esp. in Hall Association/Residence Hall-sponsored organizations), work part-time, and then apply to be a Hall Staff member (RA or AA). If you land it (ask your RA for help), then your housing/food will be covered for the next three years (worth $17k annually) and you’ll only have to worry about paying for the (ever-rising… ugh) tuition, which would hopefully be manageable between the annual scholarships, any part-time pay you might bring in, and your parents.</p>
<p>Full disclosure–I’m a hall staff member, and it is hands-down the best thing I could have done for myself financially and… uh… future-beneficially (also, socially, emotionally, etc. etc. etc.). Amazing stuff for resumes, grad school apps, etc. If you’re worried about costs, at any college you end up at, definitely check out your live-in residential staff employment options. Most will offer you free housing and either free food or a decent wage.</p>
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<p>That still is a lot of money (2009 median household income in California is about $59,000, and 2009 median household income in San Diego county is about $60,000, according to <a href=“http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/unemployment/RDList2.asp?ST=CA[/url]”>http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/unemployment/RDList2.asp?ST=CA</a> ). Unfortunately, the cost of attending university is also a lot of money.</p>
<p>IAP is really stupid.</p>
<p>Money would be better spent on students that need and deserve more financial aid . . . .</p>
<p>Actually, what someone said in this thread about Berkeley’s maximum aid being $8k is false…</p>
<p>I got about $12k/year in aid (SEOG, Berkeley UG combined) because of my low income bracket and no SAVINGS in the United States.</p>
<p>I’ll admit Berkeley isn’t very generous, but if you’re income is $200k+/yr… even if you have 3 kids, it won’t look good on paper in terms of need based aid. :C</p>