UC Berkeley Off Campus Housing Financial Aid

[hello0]

Hi all,

I’m currently living on campus for this term (Fall 2018). However, I’m thinking about living off campus for spring. I’ve already checked on calcentral and it says that for off-campus, the aid per semester is ~ 7000. My question is that do all students receive this amount regardless of how much they pay for rent? For instance, if someone finds housing off campus that is cheaper than the money that’s offered by the financial aid department, will they receive less than $7000?

Thanks!

[ucbalumnus]

https://financialaid.berkeley.edu/cost-attendance-adjustment says:

@University of California

Cost of Attendance Adjustment

Your financial aid eligibility is based on a standard cost of attendance, or student budget. We may be able to increase your budget—and your financial aid eligibility—if you incur expenses during the academic year that are higher than your standard financial aid budget. This is called a Cost of Attendance (COA) Adjustment.

I.e. it looks like the standard budget is used, unless you can convince them on an individual basis that your actual expenses are higher (within reason; that web page lists maximums that may go up to). Also, “adjustments typically result in increases to loan or work-study eligibility.”