Low Income Programs/Aid/Scholarships for UCs

Gumbymom
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 15:48:41 +0000

@et2020: Did you run the Net Price calculators for the CSU’s that you applied? Compare those costs with the NPC’s for the UC’s. Your chances are much greater at the CSU’s than the UC’s so please have a backup plan (I think you mentioned PCC?)

You really need to get a handle on costs so you can make some informed decisions once the acceptances start posting. If you can commute to your local CSU, then between the Pell Grant and Cal Grant, all costs should be covered including books and personal expenses. If you plan to live on-campus at the CSU’s, then there will be a gap since the Cal Grant for CSU’s assumes you will commute so you would need to come up with the difference to pay for room/board with work study/student loans/summer earnings and parent contributions.

The UC’s tend to be more generous with financial aid so with the example I posted, your costs could be covered if living on-campus but you are expected to earn money through work study and take out the Federal Student loans.

If you are looking at Physical Therapy school, you will want to keep costs/loans at a minimum since PT school is expensive.