laurenr

luvtoolearn, I hope you don't mind me asking, but since you made more than 45K were you offered any kind of financial aid besides loans (i.e. free money). I made over 35K and between the different schools I've been to - I've never been offered anything. I'm quite sick of because although I can pay my bills in this expensive city, I'm just going to rack up student loans. I’ve already got one hefty loan from a private school so it disappoints me that I have to do the loan thing for the full amount or I’m at a dead end. Anyway, I was just wondering.

fijeeboi

I just got the verification letter!!! I live 2 hours away from Berkeley, man I hope this is a good sign. I thought I would put stats cuz people might be curious.

UC GPA 3.85
major: History
IGETC and pre-reqs done by spring
4 years active duty military

fijeeboi

Where is everyone? Who else got a letter?

thatgirltoo

I haven't received a letter from Cal, but I haven't received any letters from any schools asking to verify income/residency/etc. I'm late 30s, make a very good income, independent, resident of CA. Maybe my age negates the need for an independent-status verification?

GPA 3.96
Major: Geography (a non-impacted major but in the impacted/competitive L&S Social Sciences, so I don't know how that affects me)
IGETC and important pre-reqs done
Mostly work experience and some volunteering as ECs
First generation student
Possibly weak essay, I wrote it last minute as I thought I was going to Mills Spring 2008 instead

laurenr

I was a little worried at first. I still accept the fact that I may not get in, but who knows why they send it to some people and not to others. It is a whole other department and they do things on their own terms to get their work done. Maybe they check things off alphabetically (by last name) or in order of acceptance...who knows. There is about a week and a half to go and in some sick way, I kind of enjoy the fact that I haven't been ruled out and can still question or complain about things...

luvtoolearn

laurner...Almost all of my f/a was grants (uc grant, cal grant, pell grant & parent grant) I think I had 1100 in loans & that's it, everything else was free money. The reason I got so much grants is because my husband is also a student so the FAFSA calculated a lower EFC because of that. Also Berkeley has a program for students who have children called a parent grant, since I do I get an extra 6,000 per year for school. I'm not sure if the other UC's have that program but it really helps. I live in family student housing which also helps because we pay the rent but the UC covers the utilities,cable & internet.

thatgirltoo... I am also in my late thirties, you may be right though about the letters going out based on last name or perhaps its by the student ID #, which you don't know what it is yet. Either way, they have to have some kind of a system as there is so many students so I wouldn't worry.

kal7

Luvtoolearn, if you don't mind, would you share how they ask you to verify income? Do you submit a summary of your earnings, submit pay stubs, write down what's on the tax return?

I'm also a nontraditional age student and it's good to know that there are at least a few of us here. I've been wondering what it would be like at Cal if I did get in.

kal7

If I get in, I'll probably be moving to family housing too. I hope it's not bad!

KGZotU

I think I can answer your question, Kal, I've had to do a few myself.

Actually, here's a link to UCSD's:

http://faoforms.ucsd.edu/forms/8iver.pdf

All of the ones I've had to do are basically the same.

--Joe

kal7

Thanks KGZotU, really appreciate it. That's a relief because I'm horrible about keeping track of forms of any kind, especially old financial stuff.

Now if I could just get one of those letters this Monday!

thatgirltoo

kal7: I'm also glad to see so many non-traditional students here, I was worried about that, a bit. Actually, now I'm really hoping for Berkeley and I'm re-thinking SDSU as my safety because the few times I've dealt with anyone at SDSU in person (admin people) they have treated me as though I'm a parent of the student, and then when they learn that I'm the student they kind of say "ohhh...graduate??" It has been a thorn in my side, to be honest, and I don't think I look that old! Most people who meet me think I'm late 20s or early 30s. Anyway...I haven't had that "problem" at Cal. When I visited the co-ops during Cal Day, it seemed like a lot of the people living in them were more mature, even those in their early 20s or so, than a lot of their peers at other schools. One of the co-op student reps assured me that they have all ages living in them and that most of the students don't mind or even think about the fact that some of us are old enough to be their parents (a weird thought, but age has never before been a factor for me in who I associate with).

Man, though, I'm starting to get super antsy about this whole thing.

kal7

thatgirltoo, this is good to hear. I haven't had this problem at UCLA but wondered about Cal. I'm not sure why but the cc crowd here seems "young" to me for some reason, maybe just a perception.

I wish I could have gone to Cal Day to see for myself! I love the bay area but I've never spent much time around Berkeley's campus.

fijeeboi

I would like a general consensus check here. Are we assuming that if you get the verification letter, that means you are in?

kal7

fijeeboi, I think so at least.

KGZotU

I think so. Financial aid office saying, "It's a good sign," sounds like a discrete way of saying yes. Aside from that, I'm not familiar with schools asking for verification from students who haven't been admitted.