I am confused to how this works so please be patient with me…I receive aid now @ CC and basically I got my classes and the fees were covered automatically.
Spring 2015 is my final semester and I already completed my Fafsa for the upcoming Fall
How does financial aid work exactly at a UC?
Will I have to pay out of pocket for housing and my classes before receiving my aid?
I was reading and it said the aid I get varies on the amount of units I’m enrolled in but what happens if I do not have enough $$? The point of applying for aid is to help me pay for it right?
Will I receive my aid on time to pay for the fees for housing and classes? or is there a system similar to my college where the fees will be taken care of automatically?
No, if you are on campus. You will have a student account. In that account are charges for tuition, fees, room, board. Then you have financial aid awards. Grants and loans get applied to the charges. If there is a balance to pay, you owe the rest. If there is excess, it will be available to you for your other expenses.
Yes some people need some upfront ‘seed’ money for books, before your excess refund is released. The point is that you do get the money at some point and that is better than not getting any money. You should get a job over the summer so you have some saved. And when you get the refund, put it aside so you will have it for expenses at the beginning of next semester. If you get work/study then you will get a paycheck over the semester as you work.
If you are living off campus then you will need money to rent a place before you get your housing money. If you are depending on aid for that, contact your financial aid office to find out what the timing is for receiving funds. Usually they don’t give you money before school starts because you could just not show up.
Check with the school to see when the bill is due and when the FA is disbursed. At my daughter’s school the bill is due before the FA is disbursed. We need to request that the bill be deferred each semester. The school has a simple click “here” to request a deferred bill. However, anything not covered by FA must be paid on time.
As for the excess, every school has a different policy on when you get the excess. Our school refunds it immediately. Some schools take weeks,
@Hiitsnaomi
Not sure if all the UC’s share the same system (I would assume they do), but here’s how it went down for me.
(NOTE: My UC follows the quarter system. If yours does as well, I should think they will operate similarly. If not, then what I say may be inaccurate)
-Housing: They require that you pay a housing deposit. However, you can, in some cases, choose to redirect that charge into your student account, so financial aid covers it if you don’t have enough money.
-Classes: Didn’t have to pay for classes upfront, they were charged to student account. I assume you’ll be able to do the same, if you go to your orientation you will probably sign up for classes anyhow (and they can explain the process).
-Books: This is the most troublesome part (to me, anyways). Like @BrownParent mentioned, the excess refund in your student account (if any) gets released to you at some point before starting the quarter/semester. For me, it is mailed a week before the quarter begins as a check. However, if you have your student checking account, you can sign up for direct deposit refunding, so you can get your refund exactly a week before the quarter starts and order books.
The problem with this is that you may want to start saving up some money before the start of instructions, since your refund typically serves as just that- a refund for all the money that you must spend to buy your books. However, when instructions start, you usually have a “grace period” when classes start where you can get the book while the teachers wait around.
Hope this helps. Like I said though, this applies to my UC but may not apply to yours.