Will I be eligible for Financial Aid...

<p>My dad makes around 100k a year and my mom doesn't work and I make about 10k a year part time, next year I will be attending a University of California, if I were to fill out a FAFSA, what are the chances I will get some Financial Aid?</p>

<p>Sam...really there is no way to answer your question. The finaid formula considers income AND assets of both parents (think savings accounts or any other available cash savings...not retirement accounts which MUST be authorized retirement accounts). The savings and assets are for both you and your parents. We also don't know the %age of financial aid awarded by your intended school. Remember that even with a lower EFC (expected family contribution), there is no guarantee at most schools that the remainder of you college costs will be met. How significant is YOUR savings from your income? Anything in your name will be expected to be used for college costs at a significantly higher %age level than monies in your parents' names. Someone else on this forum might be able to discuss the way the UC's meet need based finaid. I could be wrong...but I don't believe you would be eligible for the low income federal aid like Pell Grants for example. Someone more versed in this type of aid could better comment than I can. You also can run your family's figures in one of the EFC calculators and get an estimate. BUT it would only be an estimate of your EFC. This is no guarantee that your college will give you all of the additional funds. However, it looks like you are an in state resident of CA, and that alone will give you a more reasonable cost of attendance at a UC than being an out of stater.</p>

<p>Probably not a lot :-(</p>

<p>You can run your numbers with this online calculator to get a ballpark EFC.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.finaid.org/calculators/scripts/quickefc.cgi%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.finaid.org/calculators/scripts/quickefc.cgi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>(I made up some numbers for you.....i.e. your older parent is 45 years old, no assets and there are 4 in your family and came up with an EFC of $20K)</p>

<p>We found that the UCs met my son's EFC in full (and his financial aid package was approx $5K in loans, $3K in work study and everything else was grants). However, I hear this is not the case for everyone.</p>

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<p>Just a clarification?? I'm guessing that you meant to say that the UC's met your son's cost of attendance minus your EFC. And in Fresnomom's post, note that $8000 of that aid was not in the form of "free money" (grants, scholarships, etc).</p>

<p>thumper1</p>

<p>correct! sorry I wasn't clear. :-(</p>

<p>We are very grateful for his FA package.</p>

<p>Financial Assistance through the Federal Government is based on more than family income. It is also based on family size, age, number of college students in family. My suggestion: File out the FAFSA and find out what you qualify for regarding funds. You can apply on line at the FAFSA</a> - Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Better to apply and be turned down than not know.</p>