<p>I just received my official financial aid award letter today and it said that I am a recipient of the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, but how come I’m still required to take out loans? Doesn’t it cover ALL my fees? And why wasn’t this award money reflected on my letter?</p>
<p>It does cover your fees. It just does not cover the whole COA.</p>
<p>The fees vary UC to UC just slightly. However, as an example, here is UCSC’s since this is the one I am most familiar with:</p>
<p>On Campus:
Fees (estimated): $12,732 <—Blue&Gold covers this.
Food and Housing: $14,172
Books and Supplies: $1,404
Transportation: $870
Personal Expenses: $1,524
TOTAL: $30,702</p>
<p>[UC</a> Santa Cruz - Financial Aid - Welcome!](<a href=“http://www2.ucsc.edu/fin-aid/ugradbudget1011.shtml]UC”>http://www2.ucsc.edu/fin-aid/ugradbudget1011.shtml)</p>
<p>Blue&Gold only covers the UC fees. This is the “tuition” that in-state residents pay. Everything else of that $30k COA is up to the student. None of the UCs promise to meet need without loans.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[UC</a> Blue and Gold Opportunity - How Much Does UC Cost?](<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/blueandgold/cost.html]UC”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/blueandgold/cost.html)</p>
<p>As to why it is not listed on your award letter, I do not know. I never received a physical notification of my financial aid in the mail, only the digital version in my portal. Have you checked your portal for your UC to see if it is listed correctly there?</p>
<p>Yes, I did. But I understand now! Thanks sooo much for helping! I hope other people see this forum, so that all their questions are clarified! Again, Thank you! :))</p>
<p>What is included in the fees part? What are those fees for anyways/ 0.0</p>
<p>The fee is the overall school tuition: clubs, recreational center, instruction, asb, etc. </p>
<p>The rest of the items listed such as food and housing are just estimates of how much they think you would spend. I personally think those estimates are over the top!</p>
<p>Fee breakdown for UCSC as an example:
Undergraduate Student Fees<em>: Annual
University Registration Fee: $900.00
Educational Fee: $9402.00
Campus Programs Fee: $6.00
College Student Government Fee: $30.00
Student Programs Fee: $153.00
Campus Sustainability Program Fee: $18.00
Engaging Education Program Fee: $12.60
Community and Resource Empowerment Fee: $15.00
Student Voice and Empowerment Fee: $2.25
Student Media Council Fee: $9.60
Theater Arts Fee: $6.00
Student Facilities Fee: $90.00
Student Life Facilities Fee: $90.00
Seismic Safety Fee: $120.00
Transportation Fee: $334.98
OPERS Fitness Facilities Fee: $45.00
Free/Anonymous HIV Testing Fee: $2.25
Campuswide Student Government Fee: $21.00
Campus Childcare Fee: $24.00
Intramural and Sports Club Team Activities Fee: 6.75
Recreation Programs Fee: $12.00
Seymour Marine Discovery Center Fee: $0.75
Renewable Energy Fee: $9.00
Learning Support Services Fee: $19.92
Intercollegiate Athletics Sports Team Fee: $15.00
Physical Education Program Fee: $13.50
Sustaining the Student Media Voice Fee: $12.42
</em>Student Health Center Expansion Fee: $81.00
<strong>Student Health Center Green Building Fee: $10.40
Support GIIP Fee: $3.99
Increase Library Hours of Operation Fee: $19.50
Sustainable Food, Health, and Wellness Fee: $11.25
Sustainability Office Fee: $8.25
USHIP Health Insurance (waivable)</strong>*: $1353.00
Total California Resident: $12858.41</p>
<p>***This fee is waivable if the student already has private insurance. Contact the Health Center for information on waiving this fee.</p>
<p>[UCSC</a> Registration Fees](<a href=“http://reg.ucsc.edu/Fees/fees.html]UCSC”>UC Santa Cruz Registration Fees)</p>
<p>Fee breakdown pages for the other UCs:
UCD: <a href=“http://budget.ucdavis.edu/studentfees/current/2010-2011-student-fees/2010-11%20Undergrad%20Res.pdf[/url]”>http://budget.ucdavis.edu/studentfees/current/2010-2011-student-fees/2010-11%20Undergrad%20Res.pdf</a>
UCSB: [UCSB</a> Catalog: Undergraduate Student Fee Chart for 2009-2010](<a href=“http://www.registrar.ucsb.edu/feechart.htm]UCSB”>404 - Page Not Found) [NOTE: this is for 2009-2010 as of this posting]
UCSD: [Registration</a> Fees](<a href=“http://registrar.ucsd.edu/Fees/Fees.aspx?Term=SP10&Type=UG]Registration”>http://registrar.ucsd.edu/Fees/Fees.aspx?Term=SP10&Type=UG) [NOTE: this is for Spring 2010 only. This is only one quarter’s worth of fees, but shows the breakdown]
UCB: [Registration</a> Fees - Office Of The Registrar](<a href=“http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Registration/feesched.html]Registration”>http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Registration/feesched.html) [NOTE: listed as per semester]
UCLA: [UCLA</a> Fees: Graduate and Undergraduate Annual](<a href=“http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/fees/gradfee.htm]UCLA”>http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/fees/gradfee.htm)
UCM: [Fees</a> | Office of the Registrar](<a href=“http://registrar.ucmerced.edu/policies/fees]Fees”>Fees | Office of the Registrar) [NOTE: listed as per semester]
UCR: [UCR</a> Schedule of Fees and Tuition](<a href=“Select a Term”>Select a Term) [NOTE: listed as per quarter]</p>
<p>Wow $1353 for the USHIP insurance at UCSC?</p>
<p>It was $227 per quarter so $681 total, for last year at UCI…</p>
<p>and how come no UCI up there ^, :[</p>
<p>Oh, whoops! Sorry about that XD. I’m at summer session and it’s finals time right now. The research for two 8-10page papers is frying my brain. At some point I lost my mind and decided taking a total of 20 units over the summer (10 units per session) would be a good idea.</p>
<p>UCI: [UCI</a> University Registrar - Undergraduate Student Fees 2010-11](<a href=“http://www.reg.uci.edu/fees/2010-2011/undergrad.html]UCI”>UCI University Registrar - Undergraduate Student Fees 2010-11)</p>
<p>UCSC’s USHIP actually seems cheap to me. But I was paying for private health insurance at almost $200 a month (and that was the cheapest I could get) before I transferred to UCSC. Not sure why ours costs so much compared to some of the other UCs. Might just be location. Or they think we’re more of a health risk here. Who knows, I’ve never asked XD</p>
<p>Wow, I thought my kid’s school went nuts with fees.</p>
<p>
S’s school charges almost that much per semester.</p>
<p>This is my favorite:</p>
<p>
Glad we don’t have to worry about that out east…</p>
<p>so i’m still confused…when i looked at my portal, it did say that I qualified for the blue and gold plan…then when i look at my registration fees, i will have to pay like $2,000. </p>
<p>I also noticed this message about the blue and gold plan: “The additional funds you need to cover your system-wide fees will be added to your award after the start of fall quarter.” </p>
<p>… does this mean i would still have to pay the registration fees…and in a way, i will get reimbursed?</p>
<p>Wow, I thought my kid’s school went nuts with fees.</p>
<p>UC’s don’t charge tuition to instate students…they only charge “fees” (really, it’s tuition). So, your child’s school probably charges tuition AND fees.</p>
<p>^^^ Yes, there is “tuition”, which is $1714/year.</p>
<p>The “fees” are over $20,000/year.</p>
<p>The biggest fee is the “Curriculum Fee”, which is $7919/year. Tastes like tuition to me. :)</p>
<p>Then there’s the Student Activities Fee, the Service Fee, the Student Health Fee, The Undergraduate Engineering Fee, the Honors College Fee, the Mass PIRG fee, The Child Care fee, the OIT Residential Services fee, and room and board.</p>
<p>angeleyesoasis: If you pay the balance in advance then yes, you will receive a refund after the money applies to your account. I regularly pay off whatever balance I have every billing cycle after financial aid is applied to the main balance and then the direct deposit I get from my Cal Grant B “living allowance” replenishes what I paid out of pocket after the quarter starts.</p>
<p>However, something to ask in this case would be if the anticipated amount of financial aid monies will be something taken into consideration. Blue and Gold is quite a bit different from Cal Grant B’s living allowance portion. The latter is automatically sent to me even if I have a balance in my student portal.</p>
<p>The thing you’ll need to be concerned about is late fees, class drops, and housing cancellations if you’re signed up to live on campus. I did have a late fee for housing applied because of the rather… botched up concept of how funds are dispersed. I was able to get it waived (and did not even see in my portal I had one until I went to talk to the financial aid office about another issue), but it was a pain and was made out to be as if it was my fault although I paid off what my portal said I owed.</p>
<p>Call on Monday to your UC’s FA Office and ask what you are supposed to do in your situation. I receive Cal Grant and UCSC funding, but no Blue&Gold because the former two more than meet my fees. I would also recommend speaking with the admissions and/or billing office to explore what your options are. I’m a little confused myself why your Blue&Gold isn’t scheduled to disperse to cover any remaining fees until after the quarter has begun. At the very least, your UC should have used their own funds to cover the remaining balance.</p>
<p>*Yes, there is “tuition”, which is $1714/year.</p>
<p>The “fees” are over $20,000/year.*</p>
<p>Is this Mass? or where? </p>
<p>Is the tuition controlled by the legislature, so all schools can do is increase fees?</p>
<p>^^^ Right on both counts.</p>
<p>And our legislature is quite proud that tuition hasn’t been raised in like 15 years.</p>
<p>Fees on the other hand…</p>
<p>…i thought the gold and opportunity plan was another extra money that i would have received.</p>
<p>so, in reality the gold and opportunity plan is part of what u receive from cal grants and ucsd grants combined?</p>
<p>I could be wrong, but I don’t think you get another award that is called Blue and Gold. I think that Blue and Gold is more of a policy that your tuition/fees will get covered thru a combo of aid - state and maybe institutional.</p>
<p>Actually, Blue and Gold is a source of funding and not a policy. It just is not termed “Blue and Gold” on the financial aid award letters from what I have personally experienced. On my original award letter that did not include Cal Grant (it was applied later in a revised award), I had a significant amount of “UCSC Grant” and something called “UC Fee Assistance.” When Cal Grant was applied, the latter went away as my fees were met without it. The description on the item (which I unfortunately forgot to screencap for a record) read as if it were Blue and Gold funds.</p>
<p>Blue and Gold does require the student to have applied for Cal Grant, however the income ceilings for the two are entirely different. Institutional funding is also a separate entity with its own requirements that vary from UC to UC.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Thanks for clarifying. I have seen several kids’ FA packages with full tuition funding, but none have said, “blue and gold.” Instead, like you’ve said, they say things like UC Fee Assistance.</p>
<p>I would think it would be less confusing if the FA packages did say “Blue and gold,” so that kids wouldn’t think they got overlooked.</p>
<p>I wish. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s deliberately done this way just to be confusing. I have zero idea why, but it certainly comes across as a purposeful action. I cannot for the life of me figure out what benefit this differing terminology would give, though. Then again, we are one of those states that charges “no in-state tuition” to in-state residents, but in-state residents are charged significant fees ;). We’ve sort of set a precedent for ourselves to play with wording.</p>
<p>On the other hand, one could maybe look at it as something to be more clear about what the money is for? My UCSC Grant money overlaps into some of my housing costs after it finishes covering my fees (most of which is covered by Cal Grant) which it would not be able to do if it was Blue and Gold funds. Blue and Gold is only for UC fees so perhaps that’s why it’s deemed as such when given? To distinguish that it’s only for fees, I mean.</p>
<p>California is very generous with its state and institutional grant money for in-state residents (considering our economic climate, this is very surprising this has so far been able to be maintained), but there are so many small details about them that make them all very confusing :(</p>