As @Charliesch says, the financial aid package for OOS students can be substantial - if you qualify. It works out that you are expected to pay roughly the equivalent to the EFC calculated by FAFSA, and everything else up to the COA is covered by aid of some sort.
We found it overall to be one of the best packages of any school my son was accepted to. But yes, it does include loans - an amount which over your 4 years totals the cost of 1 year of in-state tuition (they maximize the loan utilization during your first 3 years), and it does also include an unattainable amount ($4K) of aid designated as work-study. That means you are expected to find a work-study job yourself (not guaranteed) and earn $4000 (net) that can be applied to your expenses during the school year. If you don’t find a job, or don’t make that amount, they do NOT make up the difference in other aid. For the record, with most on-grounds jobs that $4K works out to about 24+ hrs of work per week over the year. Our expectation for our son was that he make about $2000 (net) by averaging around 12 hrs per week, and then we simply found ways to reduce COA by the missing $2K (reduced meal plan, used books, less travel, etc.). It’s not perfect, but it works for him.
PS - as everyone has mentioned, there are no Merit scholarships for incoming 1st year students. There are a handful of scholarships available to 2nd and 3rd year students, but know that if you are receiving Financial Aid, your aid will be reduced dollar for dollar by the amount of any scholarship (internal or external) you receive - this is not known by most people. The first thing they reduce however is your loan amount, so while it doesn’t lower your annual EFC you have to pay, it does lower your debt amount at graduation.
For most OOS students, I do not believe that the typical outside third-party scholarships will end up reducing the amount of AccessUVa aid you receive. However, if you receive a grant from your state, it will reduce AccessUVa funding. (Note - some states provide little or no grants to students who attend an out of state college. Check for your own state’s rules).
My son had good full time summer jobs and never had to do the work study.
The U. should not expect $4k of work study per school year, which now applies to OOS students. Under federal rules, you cannot do the work study during the summer or the December break. It generally is advisable to avoid trying to work too many hours during your first semester.
For many OOS students, UVa aid increases in the last year because you approach UVa’s loan cap.
Actually, yes, it does. My son receives a small outside scholarship from a national charitable organization - which UVa then deducts from his UVa financial aid amount.
I would like to object to many offensive comments that hazel orb has written. She seems to think Virginia students who are not from the pretentious, wealthy, white “Nova” area are somehow intellectually deficient. I’m a first year student not from that area, and in fact didn’t go to a challenging high school at all.
I would say UVA is easier than my high school. I barely studied my first semester and got all As. Meanwhile, all of the students from Nova are always complaining about how much work they have to do. I find hazel orb’s comments very classist and offensive. Just because we’re not from an affluent area doesn’t mean we can’t be intelligent. Magnet schools aren’t a sign of intelligence (and in fact there are many “good” schools not in the Nova area in virginia").
Otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend attending UVA. The classes are easy and boring, the students are pretentious. If you fit that mold, sure apply, but if not… stay away.
If your high school wasn’t challenging, and you find UVa easier than your high school, then you are either exceptionally bright - or you are in an exceptionally easy course of study. I would venture to guess it’s probably a bit of both. Your comments would not however be mirrored by students in many of the extremely rigorous majors at UVa. So it goes with the diverse curriculum and student body at any public university.
Regardless of how you feel about hazel’s nova comments, it sounds (from this and your other post today) as if you have some other personal grievances with the university that won’t be solved here. But to generalize that all of the student body is pretentious is just silly and very far from reality. It is disheartening to see any student who feels out of place at their chosen university. I wish you the best of luck and hope your collegiate experience at UVa improves.