<p>A lot of people are talking about how Stanford is generous with financial aid. For me, that's a lot of bull. </p>
<p>My parents make 80k before taxes. We have no real assets and are still paying off our mortgage yet Stanford expects us to pay 30k a year. </p>
<p>My FAFSA report says my EFC is about 16k.</p>
<p>In addition, because I don't live in California, I'm apparently not allowed to apply for the Cal Grant.</p>
<p>Yeah, they weren't generous at all with our initial offer. I'll see what we get with the final offer though</p>
<p>This is starting to worry me now, anyone with (gross adjusted) income around 30-45k care to share your situation?</p>
<p>naezen, how many people are in your family?</p>
<p>my family makes a bit more than 45k, and my parents were expected to contribute 14k before the new aid initiative</p>
<p>but that was the estimate, and didnt factor in the tuition rise either...
o well, just hope all goes well</p>
<p>Obviously you can't apply for the cal grant if you dont live in california. also its not like the cal grant just gets tacked onto stanford's aid. it's taken into account, and stanford makes up the rest. just wait until your finalized aid, and then if there really is a problem, try contacting the financial aid office.</p>
<p>You're right. You're not a Californian, so you don't get a Cal Grant. The grants are money the state sets aside for California students to attend California colleges. If a Californian student wants to attend college in <em>your</em> state, they don't get a Cal Grant, either. </p>
<p>More and more states are creating programs to give money for in-state students to attend in-state schools. If you don't qualify for particular aid, you'll just end up getting it as grants from Stanford, if your EFC is high enough. </p>
<p>It's not that California students are somehow getting money you won't get, because in the case of a California with the exact same EFC and profile your family has, Stanford would just reduce their non-Calgrant aid to compensate. Got it? A Californian student with the same EFC and situation as non-Californian doesn't get more aid at Stanford. They just get a different package, with reduced Stanford grants, etc. </p>
<p>At least, that's my current understanding. </p>
<p>As for me, well, we've got an EFC of 4.</p>
<p>I might be able to qualify for the Cal Grant next year because I would have lived in Cali for a year. That might qualify me as a resident. </p>
<p>There are 5 people in my family. There will be no overlapping though. Which sucks. </p>
<p>I hate those grants that are for students of a particular state going to a college of that state. It should be for students attending a college in a state, or a student coming from a particular state, not both. Ugh.</p>
<p>^ yeah I've always thought that was annoying!</p>
<p>like trinsf explained, the grants wont help or hurt you...
if you live in cali and get into stanford, they will factor the calgrant into the fin aid package and just give you less grants from the university itself
if you dont live in cali you will just get more grants from the university</p>
<p>I got no money in my CSS estimate yet my EFC according to fafsa is 22k....</p>
<p>You realize that the money that pays for Calgrant (the program) comes from the millions of Californians' taxes right, Naezen? The money doesn't just pop out of nowhere so it'd be more than a little unfair if all your tax money was going to people who don't live instate and thus don't contribute any.</p>