<p>Hi all! I'd really like to go to Berkeley, but I'm OOS and I doubt I can afford it. I'd like to know how much financial aid I'd get.</p>
<p>Parents income: 0 (No joke.)
My dad used to work as a stokebroker on Wall Street but retired early due to illness. He used to make a lot of money, so we're living fairly comfortably off our savings. My mom does not work.</p>
<p>Asian Male
UW GPA: 3.70
W: 4.46</p>
<p>Freshman Year Courses with Grades:
Biology Honors: B
Chemistry Honors: B
Precalculus Honors: B
Language Arts Honors 1: A
French 2: A
World History: A</p>
<p>Sophomore Year Courses with Grades:
AP Biology: B
Physics Honors:B
Language Arts Honors 2: A
Multivariable Calculus Honors: A
US History Honors: A
French 3: A</p>
<p>Junior Year Courses with Grades:
AP Physics C: A
AP Language and Composition: A
AP US Government: A
AP French: A
AP Statistics: A
Journalism: A</p>
<p>Senior Year Midyear Report:
AP Chemistry: A
Princeton University FRE 108 (Advanced French): A
AP Literature:B
Photography: A</p>
<p>As you can see, I have a major upward trend. However, my grades for freshman and sophomore year sucked.</p>
<p>Standardized tests:
SAT Biology M: 790
SAT Physics: 770
SAT French: 800
SAT Math Level 2: 800
SAT Math Level 1: 770 (7th grade)
SAT: 2330</p>
<p>AP Biology: 5
AP US Government: 5
AP Language: 5
AP French: 4
AP Calculus BC: 5
AP Physics C Mechanics: 5
AP Physics C EM: 5
AP Statistics: 5</p>
<p>National AP Scholar junior year</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Science Olympiad: Several gold medals at states and regionals
Science Bowl: 2nd place at states junior year
National Ocean Science Bowl: 3rd place at states sophomore year, 2nd place at states junior year
USABO semifinalist junior year
USAPho semifinalist junior year
Tiered in Mandelbrot sophomore and junior year
Placed 7th in our division in PUMaC junior year
Took Princeton course in French
Wrote several articles for school newspaper
Secretary of Math Club junior and senior year
Treasurer of Science Club senior year
Competitive Chess Player: Rating is around 1440
Had lab internship at Drexel University over the summer
Taught Chess at local library
National AP Scholar</p>
<p>How much finaid am I likely to get?</p>
<p>You will only get federal FA from Berkeley. That’s ~$5.5K if you qualify at all for a Pell Grant and an additional $5.5K for a Stafford loan. The UCs like OOS students who are FULL PAY.</p>
<p>I read just a couple days ago that Berkeley just came out with some new financial aid policy to help the middle class. But I am unsure whether it applies if you are OOS.</p>
<p>But Erin’s Dad is right. The whole reason Berkeley wants out of staters is so they can pay full freight.</p>
<p>My dad used to work as a stokebroker on Wall Street but retired early due to illness. He used to make a lot of money, so we’re living fairly comfortably off our savings. My mom does not work.</p>
<p>I don’t believe FAFSA considers money from dedicated retirement accounts- is the money in a 401K or IRA?
Living fairly comfortably ( what does that mean) doesn’t generally transfer into 0 EFC.</p>
<p>You should also be looking at schools which will give you merit aid & your parents need to identify how much money they can put toward your schooling- especially if neither continue to work.</p>
<p>*I don’t believe FAFSA considers money from dedicated retirement accounts- is the money in a 401K or IRA?
*</p>
<p>Withdrawals are probably considered to be income. Also, any profits or gains from investments or dividends are income.</p>
<p>I highly doubt these people have “no income”. They may not have income from a job, but they have investment income and they do have assets.</p>
<p>If the parents are taking withdrawals from retirement accts, I don’t think they can claim 0 income. And any money that isn’t in retirement accts, will be considered.</p>
<p>Yes, Cal did announce a new aid policy, but indicated that OOS students wouldn’t get enough need-based aid to bring cost down to below the typical instate cost which is about $31k. So, at a minimum, your parents would be paying that…or MORE…depending on what their retirement income is.</p>
<p>Since you’re living comfortably on retirement income, that suggests a lot of assets to allow such generous living.</p>
<p>That said, nearly all schools may end up being full-pay for your based on your parents assets…unless you get a merit scholarship from the schools that give them.</p>
<p>You need to talk to your parents about how much they’ll spend each year on school. And you need to have them run some NPC calculators. Remind them that annual withdrawals from retirement accts is income.</p>