<p>Hey I read an old post from Ms. sun on College Comfidential and it said that UC's are required to provide you with your official financial aid package prior to
When you SIR.
However, from
All the info I've gotten they say you get it after you SIR, so I was wondering does anyone have any concrete proof to support either side 100%?</p>
<p>Because if they don't give it to
You til after that's ridiculous and I'd have to SIR to two schools just to be able to see the official offer and decide from there, but doing that would take a spot from another student who deserves it. :/</p>
<p>Friends who currently attend UCs right now say that the unofficial amount isn’t really different at all from the official amount of aid they give you and that the unofficial aid thing possibly changing is more of a disclaimer than anything. </p>
<p>@smltk1505h - Because I’m under 24 and considered indepedent and a ward of the court before age 18 they have to do a verification and after that is complete they said I’m likely to be awarded more aid to assist me with my cost of attendance most likely in the form of a UC grant.</p>
<p>So that’s why for me the official version matters and is likely to be different, also by then you’ll know 100% if you’re actually getting a Cal Grant instead of just guessing.</p>
<p>The problem with financial aid is that the good majority of it is subject to funding. It is difficult for schools to give concrete aid offers to all accepted students when not all admitted students will attend the school. Each school has limited funding, so if they had to provide every prospective student with a concrete offer before they SIR, they could be reserving FA funds for students who will not attend the school. Also, some funding is subject to verification (residency, income, GPA, etc). The UC’s are not the ones who administer the verification process, so they have to wait on the state to complete that. And finally, some aid is subject to how many qualified people apply. Take the new Middle Class Scholarship. I qualify for this, but I will not know if I will receive it or how much I will get until most likely August. </p>
<p>With that being said, your aid will more than likely be the same or go up (if the info you provided on your app and fasfa are accurate) from your unofficial offer. I believe your unofficial aid offer is based on everything you included on your application, and you will get more aid if not as many people verify their status or are found to not qualify for the aid the applied for.</p>