How many students at UCs get full rides? It seems that even low income students have to pay a couple thousand.
Just about every college that gives need-based financial aid expects students to contribute something (in terms of summer or part-time-in-the-school-year work earnings and/or a federal direct loan; sometimes, frugal living can cut costs and reduce the need for work earnings or loans). So the maximum need-based financial aid package for the lowest income and wealth student will give a net price of whatever the college’s expected student contribution is (which does vary between colleges, including different UC campuses).
Full rides without a student contribution generally involve merit scholarships. In a situation where a student gets both need-based aid and merit scholarships, colleges vary on how they apply. A common method is to apply the merit scholarship first against the expected student contribution (i.e. replacing loans and work study) and unmet need, before reducing need-based financial aid grants.
Many times you will see a student loan of 5k plus work/study plus a 2k summer earnings. It is manageable. Sometimes the summer requirement isn’t there. UC doesn’t give any true full rides that I know of except perhaps to some recruited athletes.
My mom said her friends’ children practically didn’t have to pay anything because the financial aid / FAFSA covered all their needs and it was like that for all her friends’ kids. I thought that wasnt true bc if it’s so easy to get a full ride then they’d surely run out of money. & do you know how UCs are? I don’t feel like they match my personality but I don’t wanna miss out. They seem highly desired and very crowded.
Other than athletes and some top scholar prize winners, most students even at Harvard and Stanford have a small contribution or some student loans that are part of the ‘full ride.’ UCs may not award the entire COA, but sometimes come darn close. Your mother’s friends might be saying ‘full ride’ but mean ‘full tuition’ or that the entire bill from the school is covered but all the extra expenses (travel, books, entertainment) are not covered.
You can also get to ‘full ride’ by working the numbers a little. I paid a few thousand dollars out of pocket for my daughter last year, but then she got a late grant and after taxes (a $2500 credit for me) it amounts to zero OOP. She didn’t get one big award but 2 healthy ones and 3 little ones and then the late grant and tax credit= a good deal.
You (and your mother) need to stay on it, figure out what is available, and what the deadlines are. DON’T miss them as in California it can mean the difference of $12k or more. If you can get a UC education for ‘a few thousand’ you are a lucky guy.
I am aiming for a full ride scholarship in Louisiana and have sorted everything out with them. People are saying that a UC education is the best but honestly with super crammed rooms of 400 kids, is it even worth it?
A degree from UC carries a lot of weight, at least in CA. Are you from CA? Yes lower division courses can be very large but less so once you are in your major and in your more specialized upper division classes. Also the caliber of students is very high so you will have a lot of motivated people surrounding you and that can be quite stimulating. A couple of UCs are smaller and I would not rule them out, particularly UCSC and UCR. Low income students get very good packages at UC. Anytime you can find ways to trim your costs and spend a little less is less money you have to come up with on your own or borrow. Sometimes you can do that by finding cheap off campus housing after freshman year.
Yes, I’m from NorCal. What is considered low income? I found a full ride scholarship opportunity that will be automatic if I have a 1440 CR+M for the SAT. I like it from what I see and the admissions people seem cool from my talking to them. I understand UCs carry a lot of weight – but because it’s so practical for CA residents to choose them, doesn’t it lose its specialty there? It just seems so expected. The other school with the full ride is in lousiana and isn’t as high ranked (LA Tech).
Technically UCR isn’t super highly ranked. Does it lose its weight there also?
What will be your major? Don’t expect other states public universities to compare to CA public universities. No it doesn’t work that if it is practical ‘it lose it specialty’. If a college has a specialty then it is even more advantageous to go there. Or do you mean it isn’t as special if everyone goes there? No it doesn’t work like that either, employers are much more comfortable hiring from local uni’s they are familiar with.
If you care about rankings, UCR is ranked 113 and LA Tech 201. So what are you talking about 'losing its weight, that wouldn’t make any sense compared to a uni much lower down does it? UCR is a fine uni and they have some departments that are especially strong. And ‘technically’ there are no official rankings.
I don’t have any problem with people going where they want or looking for good financial packages. But don’t just make up a lot of bogus stuff. Aren’t you several hundred points away from that score anyway? To see what a UC might cost you run the Net Price Calculator.
Ever heard the expression ‘familiarity breeds contempt’? That is an apt description of how a lot of students treat their own instate college if they think it is not perceived highly enough. They will go out of state for a much ‘worse’ college because they know less about it. But the locals may hold that in the same contempt and would love instead to be at your instate.
I am several hundred points away but I am retaking it. Plus with my score, I doubt I’d get into the UCs I want. Familiarity does breed contempt, and that’s why I’m unsure where I should go.
At the current moment, my ambition is to study chemistry and become a high school chemistry teacher. Because it’s not super high paying,I don’t want my parents to have to pay for anything, hence why I wanted the LA tech scholarship.
I was set on LA tech but the UCs look so interesting that idk anymore. I just want to be impractical and try something different such as going to the south in a completely diff environment with all new people.
I just don’t know.
Since you’re a Brown parent, how important has your child’s school rep been to his/her job search? I know ranking/rep isn’t everything but it does help out with the first job. People have said it hasn’t affected them but Im not sure.
I’m going to respond as a career teacher. Keep your debt to a minimum. If you know you want to teach chemistry in CA, then choose a CA college for your undergrad work. Look for the public universities with education programs. You will likely need to major in chemistry and get your education credits as well.
Do you qualify for the Calgrant? Of so, consider a CSU to which you can commute. Or consider a UC where you can commute. Those will be your most inexpensive options, most likely.
If you mean full ride with no student contribution (loans / work earnings expectations) they exist, but are rare. Examples at Berkeley are the Drake scholarship for mechanical engineering majors, and the Regents’ scholarship for those with FAFSA EFC = $0.
Some very high stats, low income, instate students might be awarded Regents at some UCs and that Regents award combined with Pell and Cal Grants, might end up with a free ride.
If you mean direct scholarships/aid from the UC schools, then like said in the thread, it can be very rare.
On the other hand, some of the full ride students I’ve met have scholarships outside the school that pretty much made it full ride for them. So that’s another option (though these scholarships can be way more competitive).
Both of my kid’s roommates have financial aid, they get paid to go to a UC but I think I’ve often heard that maybe there is some borrowing like loan. But they do get financial aid for housing because that’s what they use to apply for off campus apartment.
Thank you!
If I do win the full ride scholarship for Louisiana, wouldn’t it be smarter to go there instead and then come back to CA?
I can’t commute to anywhere but UC Berkeley, and in the chance that I don’t get in, I’d have to commute to everywhere else.
What’s wrong with going to CC and transfer up, really Berkeley in your neighborhood is great.