<p>By how much will my gift aid be reduced if I choose to live in apt instead of the campus dorm?</p>
<p>Right now, my gift aid is $21k if I choose to live in dorms. Any current or past UCB students' response would be great :)! Thanks a bunch ^_^!</p>
<p>I’m curious too. Everyone says you save money choosing an apartment over dorms, but at what point does the rent fee cost more than living in the dorms (on avg. of course)? After all, dorms gives more financial aid and includes utilities, supplies, etc.</p>
<p>Yea :(! What I’m mainly worried about is that they might reduce my financial aid significantly if I decide to move out. Right now, I’m budgeting to live in apt my 2nd year with the current gift aid. If they do decide to reduce my gift aid, then it’ll be another different story 
!</p>
<p>Figure out how much Berkeley awards you in terms of what percent of your CoA it covers. Then apply that percentage to the off-campus budget. I’m sure it won’t be an exact number but it should give you an idea.</p>
<p>[UC</a> Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office: Undergraduates Cost of Attendance](<a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/undergraduates/cost.htm]UC”>http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/undergraduates/cost.htm)</p>
<p>@arduou, but will UCB reduce their gift aid since they know that living outside of campus is cheaper than within campus :(?</p>
<p>Okay, disclaimer, I am not a finaid expert but I think my reasoning is logical. If I’m totally off the track, please correct me because I want to know this too.</p>
<p>They will reduce the aid but I don’t think they’ll reduce the percentage of aid given if your financial situation stays the same.</p>
<p>From the CoA on the website, they allot you $610 a month for housing and utilities + $214 a month for food if you live off campus. Assuming that Berkeley gift-aid (no loans/work study) covers around 70% of that if your EFC is zero, you’ll get about $7000 in aid for housing/food which gives you ~$580 a month to spend on all that.</p>
<p>The majority of people I know live on the South side and share rooms, etc. and usually pay around $400/mo for rent/utilities. So you’ll have to cover about $200+ in living costs through loans/work.</p>
<p>The amount of money you have to pay (through out of pockets, loans, work, etc.) should be around the same as if you were living on campus because Berkeley doesn’t meet your need 100%.</p>
<p>Hope that made sense.</p>