I have an EFC of 0. So far I have a 3.7 GPA, physics major (I still have this school year and the next to raise it). Mexican American Female. First time college student in family. I’ve been a member of one club for 3 semesters now, an officer for 2 of those semesters. My top choices are UCSB, UCB, and UCSD. I am willing to give UCLA, UCI and UCSC a shot.
Do these schools usually give out scholarships or grants on a need-based basis? Would I have to take out loans? What stats do I need to get full merit scholarships if necessary?
I’ve tried looking up what awards these schools give out individually, but I wanted to get a more specific grasp of the stats and requirements. The requirements online are typically very vague and/or for freshmen. How common is it to get aid, ect.
I’ve never had to take out a loan before, I get enough money to cover CCC costs with the pell grant. How much should I be expecting to pay?
Berkeley transfers with regents scholarships are pretty much non-existent unicorns so stats are anyone’s guess outside of needing a 4.0 GPA.
However, for a $0 or near $0 EFC, I’d expect around $9k of “net costs” per year. Assuming you qualify for both the Cal Grant and Pell Grant, traditionally that would break down to 5.5k of loans and another 2k of work study. They will expect you to pay the rest of the difference from either a parent PLUS loan or from “summer earnings” so it’s best to line up summer jobs ASAP.
Given your background, I’d consider applying to some “100% need” aid schools like the Claremont Colleges. They will likely be cheaper for you in the long run.
Scholarships are less common for transfer students than frosh, although the UC campuses do offer (highly competitive) Regents scholarships to transfers.
If you are a CA resident with FAFSA EFC = $0, UC net prices are likely to range from $8,000 to $10,000; check their net price calculators. They expect you to take a federal direct loan and work for a few thousand dollars per year to cover this amount. Scholarships, if any, are typically applied to this loan and work expectation.
If your family’s net income is less than 80k, you’ll qualify for Blue and Gold.
You can google it for more specifics, but its basically a promise that tuition will be covered in grants (like cal, university, etc). You’ll still be on the hook for housing/books/other costs
Yeah I checked tuition calculators and it rounded out to about $9k. California resident.
Blue and Gold… so if I qualify for that, I pretty much don’t need to take out any loans? I read what UCSB had to say about it and it sounded like a grant but I didn’t know it would cover all tuition.
What stats are required to be competitive for Regents scholarships? (Besides the unicorn UCB stats)
4.0
At least two professors who will give you good letters recommendation
At least three references
At least a few hours of some extracurricular activity outside of school per week
Always be doing something over the summer
If you do those things you will have a good chance of getting the Regents scholarship for your school, and other scholarships. Do some research and you’ll find some other scholarships as well. Private schools provide more FA than the UCs, though the higher costs generally balances things out.
P.S. Keep records of your extracurricular activities and any kind of honors or awards you receive. This will help you save time on applications.
Unfortunately, Blue and Gold comes from the same financial pool as Cal Grant: they are both needs based which is completely different from merit based aid. They offset each other so qualifying for both will not decrease your net cost.
Regardless of which needs based aid you qualify for the virtue of it being needs based means that you will at some point be cut off prior to your net cost reaching $0. Recently it’s, as @ucbalumnus pointed out, around 8k-10k annually. If all your aid is needs based, there is no way to avoid either paying out of pocket or taking out a loan. Essentially they are saying that since you qualify for more aid, they can allocate a portion of your share to someone else that “needs” it more.
Additionally, I absolutely concur with @luckie1367. All serious contenders for the transfer Regent’s have a 4.0 yet very few actually get them. If you look at older threads, you’ll see less than 1 out of 10 students with “perfect” stats actually receive the transfer Regent’s scholarship.
From what I have seen, the best way to get offered a Regents is a lot of leadership - BUT leadership, academics, and personal statements that all point to the same future goal. In other words, you plan law school, everything in the application more or less points to it: your essays, the clubs you joined, your internships, your volunteer stuff. You want to help the environment after you graduate or after graduate school? Everything points to that. Lots of leadership and a high GPA (not necessarily a 4.0), plus a strong thematic focus. No strong thematic focus = no Regents (from what I have seen, anecdotally).
I see… wow that really sucks. So even though theoretically you may qualify for enough need aid to cover your expenses, they cap it to spread aid around more… guess I better get to work soon!
And regarding regents… it seems more of a random game than anything so I won’t try to get my hopes up, but is it possible to get a regents award if you have a 3.7 - 3.9 GPA? Can’t possibly get a 4.0 now unless I somehow manage to round out to one.
Thanks for the advice, by the way! It’s really helpful!
@lindyk8 thematic focus… aha! yeah, that sounds way more reasonable. does it matter what the focus is? or must it be traditionally super noble (med school, law)? like would a thematic focus on physics or entrepreneurship still be just as valued?
Getting a Regents scholarship is probably easier at less selective campuses like UCSC, UCR, UCM.
The amounts differ by campus, and should reduce the student loan and work expectation. For example, if the usual net price is $9,000 which is all student loan and work, then a $6,000 scholarship will bring the net price down to $3,000. But a scholarship greater than $9,000 will not be better than a scholarship of exactly $9,000, since net price will not be less than $0.
@ucbalumnus so you don’t get to keep any extra money for yourself then? though I suppose if you manage your money and bring down your net price you would still have whatever amount of scholarship money they gave you? (example: net cost is $9k. they give you $9k. but you end up living with your parents, so you don’t have to pay as much as you were expected to pay, so you get to manage that extra money as you see fit?)
@anikom15 unfortunate… i mean, great for the noble kids. but being a doctor or going to law school ain’t the only ways to “make the world a better place” and “change the world.”
UCs and CSUs list different costs of attendance for students living with parents, and students living on their own (some campuses may also distinguish between campus dorms and nearby off-campus housing). If you try the net price calculators with different housing assumptions in the selection, you can see how that affects financial aid.
Because UCs (but not CSUs) adjust financial aid based on an assumed cost difference between living on your own versus living with parents, it may not save that much money living with your parents if you will be getting the maximum (EFC = $0) financial aid package at a UC. Savings or lack thereof would be based on whether your actual living expenses living on your own or with your parents are higher or lower than the estimates that the schools use.
Well they are looking at your COA which includes tuition&fee/room&board/books/personal/transportation and trying to help you cover that so you can attend school. That is why you can’t double dip for tuition-only awards and put it in your pocket, they want to help the next person get to college. And when you are living at home with parents the cost isn’t the same as in the dorm so the COA allocations are lower and the aid is adjusted to cover that COA.
However, if you buy used books and don’t spend the allocation you pocket the rest. If you find a cheap place off campus in exchange for house sitting or something, you still get the off-campus allocation. Same with catching a ride with a friend and not using that allowance.
Now what most schools do let you do is apply outside scholarships to the loans you are expected to take.
And I do not think it is correct to say that Regents are only for premeds and prelaw. There are students who do all kinds of research and have all kinds of majors and goals. I am not familiar with Regents for transfers but at many colleges it is showing a lot of involvement in your college community.
I have a very, very low EFC and was not given enough aid by UCLA to cover my need. You will probably (like me) be awarded Blue and Gold, which will take care of your tuition and fees, and then maybe a Pell Grant and/or Cal Grant. You will probably end up with some amount of loans, but it doesn’t have to be a huge amount. I’m only taking out around $2k this first year. But keep in mind that Regents and need-based aid aren’t the only options out there. Try applying for scholarships at your CC, scholarships from outside organizations, and when you’re accepted, scholarships at the UC you’ll be attending. They may have scholarships just for incoming transfer students, but can be kind of poorly-advertised if they’re not Regents, but they’re out there! I wouldn’t direct all of your energies on Regents, especially for Cal/UCLA, where these scholarships will be very selective. It may be better to apply to a lot of other scholarships that you may have a better chance of being given.