Hey! I recently got accepted into UC Irvine. I am a transfer student from a community college. I have been paying community college out of my pocket for the pass 5 years so I have never used my financial aid cause I knew I wanted to save it for a university. I got my UC Irvine package finally and they said they would offer me a $6,000 Pell Grant and a $20,000 grant from UCI. My EFC is 0000. They are offering me $2,000 for work study. They said I also qualify for the blue and gold opportunity plan since I’m an independent student but I don’t know what that is. I’m debating if I should stay local and go to Cal State LA since it’s only 5 minutes away from where I live or take the risk and go dork at UCI. I am scared cause a lot of my friends had to pull out loans. And I really don’t want to pull out a loan for my undergrad but UC Irvine is a really good school for English from what I hear. I am so lost and confused and do not know what to pick. Or how financial aid works. Or if I even have enough cause the total cost is 33,000 and with my grants I have 26,000 in total so I’m still short. What should I do?
In theory, Blue and Gold only pays your tuition after deducting your Pell Grant and State Grants. That’s why in your case, you see University Grant but not match the total Cost of Attendance. The Cost of Attendance includes not only tuition but also housing, books, expenses, transportation, etc. So you must pay yourself since you cannot expect the Grant pay your food, pay your personal costs. In my opinion, Blue and Gold was so kind as to give us a high cost of attendance so that we can receive more grants for things other than tuition and fees.
If you don’t want to take loans, find a part-time job since work study of 2k usually will exhaust within 2-3 months. Also prepare a better plan to reduce the Cost of Attendance, for example, share a bedroom off-campus, walk to school, cook at home, buy old textbooks or rent only… Then you will see you can survive without loans by your excellent finance managing skill.
If you cannot do that, perhaps go to CSU will be ideal for you because the Financial Aid counted Housing and Meals, but you don’t have to pay rent.
I have been working at a part time job and have been saving up my money so I have 5k on the side but it is still not enough so I’m gonna see if I can get another job for the summer possibly a graveyard job for more money or I’m debating if I should just stay at Cal State LA cause it’s closer ??