Scholarships Live Chat for Undocumented Students

I welcome everybody. I'm just gonna give one minute for people to log on and then we'll get started.

Alright, I think we'll get started. Um, my name is Kuni condo. I'm one of the managers in the scholarship unit. And we'll be presenting today about financial aid and scholarships a little bit and then we'll also have the Dream Center presenting a little bit later, so.

Was to introduce our office. I work with these scholarships unit at UCI and I do have our associate director Fabian Ferrusi also here with us and he'll be helping to answer some questions later. And we also have a chat box. So the chat box is moderated so that if you ask some questions then our moderators will pass those forward as as they come in. So we don't get a lot of repeats. So just the format.

Sorry about that. Hope everyone could still hear me.

So I just want to say welcome, congratulations to being admitted and I'm going to go through the financial aid and scholarship slides first. So what is financial aid? So financial aid, our funds provided to students to help pay for educational expenses, they can be a combination of grants, scholarship loans.

Since this particular presentation is aimed towards students that may be undocumented or 8540.

Be focusing on the California DREAM Act application. So what is cada? The California DREAM Act application allows us to gather demographic and financial data about the student and the family to determine if you have need and then if you are eligible for financial aid. So this information is usually due on March 2nd. So if you're eligible to apply for Canada, I hope you that you have applied by March.

2nd.

Additional information about AB 540 can be found on the UCOP website or the University of California website I'm sorry and the California DREAM Act application.

Website as well which is dream.cseccaliforniaorca.gov.

So how does financial aid determine?

Need. Need is determined by a combination of cost of attendance minus 50. So cost of attendance is everything that's from like your tuition, your fees, room and board, books, expenses for getting back and forth to campus.

Expected family contribution is the amount families can reasonably be expected to contribute towards the students education and that would be determined from the CATA.

And then finally need is what we call is the cost of attendance minus the expected family contribution and that's how the financial aid office determines need and this is used a lot for scholarships that are need based. If a student has need that they would be eligible for those scholarships as well.

Well, we'll talk a little bit about some terminology. So grants are money that doesn't have to be paid back, such as the Cal Grant blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, middle class scholarship and UCI grant loans. Loans are funds that would students or parents borrow to help pay for college expenses and those would be pay back and the terms of return are determined by the loan, so be sure to check with them.

Scholarships, money does that, that does not have to be paid back. And these awards are based on merit, financial need, they can be based on leadership, community service.

There are a number of scholarships based on all sorts of interests that you might have, so keep an eye out for all those scholarships and anything like that you can think of. There's probably a scholarship for it.

Use.

I'm just going to talk a little bit about our distinguished scholarship, distinguished scholarships. I'm sorry, uh, these are scholarships such as the regions scholarship, the Chancellor's Excellence Scholarship and the director of scholarships. These are based upon academic excellence, accomplishments, leadership and as as well as financial need for some of them. And these scholarships, there's no application required for them. These are based upon the UC comment.

App that you already completed and filled out. So if you did receive one of these scholarships, I congratulations. We're really looking forward to seeing you in the future.

And just to point out, some of the scholarship offers are still going out and the latest that they'll come out will be 425 for freshman and then May 23rd for transfers.

Some of that, some, and I'm sorry, I'm also going to talk about the scholarship universe platform. So scholarship universe is our scholarship application platform. So this is where incoming students would apply for.

Campuswide or department scholarships for the next academic year. So you you would apply in May for scholarships for.

The 2324 academic year and you can visit theuci.scholarshipuniverse.com. And the way it works is that you answer a bunch of general questions or scholarship specific questions about yourself, and the system will match you to the scholarships that you qualify for. We've done a lot to try to reduce the number of essays, so most of the applications do have short answer questions. So it's.

You can answer your questions directly to the point. And then the system also allows you to access thousands of bedded external scholarship opportunities. So we're really happy to have this system. It's brand new for the last year, so this is our second year using it. And it does allow you to easily find scholarships that you're eligible for without going through a bunch of lists. So it's really helpful.

Again, the application period for incoming students will be in May.

You'll start applying at the very beginning, throughout the month of May, and then once you're here, you'll be.

Applying during the January period for continuing students. So this year you'll apply in May if and next year you'll apply January for 2425 academic year. And during a review we focus on academic achievement, financial need, leadership experience, community service and overcoming adversity. So those are just some of the areas that we really look at during our review process. So make sure that you complete that information and tell us all about those.

Experiences.

Some additional resources so most while most of the scholarships are on our scholarship universe system, there are a few scholarships that are not on our system due to.

Program requirements or restrictions. So some of those scholarships may be found within your school or department. So it's good to just ask those departments if there's any additional scholarships that might be available to you if you aren't able to apply to a lot of departmental or school scholarships on the platform. Again, external scholarships just to.

Explain what that is. Those are scholarships that come from community organizations or foundations outside of UCI and those are actually processed by our fiscal unit in our financial aid office. So while we are the scholarships unit, those actually get processed through our our fiscal unit. So if you have any questions regarding disbursement of external scholarships, please contact fiscal@uci.edu.

And.

Just to explain, there's also other scholarship search engines that you can use besides scholarship universe, such as scholarships.com. During the application process for incoming students, we do actually turn off the external scholarships on scholarship universe because it interferes a little bit with the algorithm that matches you to the scholarships on campus, so definitely recommend checking those out as well.

OK, so we have a few frequently asked questions that I'll go through and of course I just as I just mentioned, the application period for incoming students is in May. So once May comes around you'll go to UCI dot scholarships.

Sorry, ca.scholarshipuniverse.com and be able to apply to the scholarships for the upcoming 2324 academic year.

Are there scholarships that can apply for if I missed the last deadline? So perhaps there are scholarships within the school department that may not have been on scholarship universal once again, and then it's all external scholarships as well.

How does scholarships affect my financial aid package? So typically a scholarship will replace or reduce your need based loans or work study if you have those and then if not it may just be applied. So it really depends on person to person what how financial aid will be affected. So if you do have questions please feel free to ask us.

How are scholarships? The dispersed scholarships are dispersed. They're divided in three, so they're just dispersed per quarter. So for example, if you had a $3000 scholarship, they would be disbursed $1000 in fall, $1000 in winter, and then $1000 in spring.

Do I need to have a specific residency status to receive a campus wide or school specific scholarship? No. We have scholarships available for any residency status, so be sure to apply. There's lots of scholarship opportunities within our campus, so don't miss out.

If I get a UCI scholarship and then transfer to another institution, can I take it with me? Unfortunately, UCI scholarships are not transferable to other universities. However, if you do have an external scholarship that's coming to UC and then you do transfer, that would be up to the organization that gave you that external scholarship, so you want to check with them.

OK.

What happens to my scholarship if I withdraw? So for UCI, we do require full-time enrollment and that's a minimum of 12 units per quarter. But we do understand there are circumstances that beyond your control that may contribute to you having to withdraw or take a leave. So you may submit an appeal for consideration, but we can't guarantee that the scholarship will be available.

Do I have to submit a vascular cada to receive a scholarship? No, you don't have to actually submit a FAFSA acada to be considered for scholarships. However, to be considered for those need based scholarships, it is required because we need to show that you have need in order to be eligible for the scholarship. So.

Are there scholarships for international students? We do have a few.

Scholarships for international students. Another resource that we often point to international students too is www.ifa.org and that's just the resource for students that maybe based internationally. So.

And then finally, we have a list of contacts for inquiries that you might have regarding these areas. So for financial aid, blue and gold, middle class scholarships, Calgary and Canada loans, special circumstance appeals, those would be handled through the Financial Aid office.

And that would be a finaid@uci.edu I believe. You can also go in person and call them. So you can visit our website at ofas OF s.uci.edu.

Questions about residency fees, enrollment or withdrawals. Those would be handled through the registrar.

Payments paying your your fees or 529 plans? That would be the central cashier.

And then of course admit decisions and statements of intent to register. You can contact admissions. Campus Wide honors would be at honors@uci.edu and of course we are at scholarships@uci.edu. Our website is OF s.uci.edu/scholarships and.

We are available to book appointments and you can find information about that on our website as well. And we're also just to plug, we are on Instagram at UCI scholarships, so we sometimes have scholarship opportunities that come up that aren't on our our scholarship platform because of the timing of when we receive the scholarship information. So a lot of times we'll post it on there.

So that students can see that it's available. So that's that kind of concludes the scholarship portion of our presentation. If you have questions, feel free to ask them in the chat box and I'm going to go through and try to answer some of the questions right now and I think Fabian is also going to.

So we ask what? What department do we send the AB 5:40 to? So the AB 540 app that David you sent to the registrar's office and their website is registrar.uci.edu.

Kevin saying I was thinking 8540 and I didn't know where to send it, so again that would be the registrar's office.

Miguel asked what if I haven't received my financial aid award because there's someone I can contact.

Financial aid award. You would probably want to contact someone in our financial aid office.

Let me see if we can pull up the number for you so that you can call them. That's probably the easiest way to get in contact with them. Or you can also e-mail them at midnight at eci.edu.

Is Cal Grant and the DREAM Act different?

Yes, SoCal grant.

Well.

The Cal Grant is is funds.

That our grants, but the DREAM Act application would enable you, if you're eligible, to possibly get the call grant.

Fabian, is that?

Did you want to ask you that?

Yeah, that that that is correct. Can Grant is usually has its own eligibility criteria but as long as you have submitted it.

Becca, uh, you should. You should be considered for the Cal Grant as well, and in most cases, I believe students qualify to get the Cal grant as well.

And I'm just adding.

Our financial aid contact information to the chat.

So you can get in touch with them regarding if you haven't received your financial aid package.

Where can we access this presentation after it's finished?

We will try to post it on our scholarships website.

Uhoffice.uci.edu/scholarships. I'm not exactly sure where yet, but we'll try to post it there. You can also e-mail us at scholarships@uci.edu so we can make sure that you are able to access the presentation.

When do we have to send the AB 540?

They've been do you know when they have to send the AB 540 affidavit by?

I honestly don't know the answer to that question.

OK, that might be a question for the registrar. You might want to contact them, they would be able to help you with that.

Any other questions? We have a little bit of time before.

Just checking.

OK.

OK.

Where in the registrar website do we send our AB 540?

I, you know, I'm not really sure about the answer to your question, Kevin, because that's part of the registrar, so.

I would definitely recommend.

Checking the registrar's website, or emailing or calling them like, we'll see if I can get that phone number for you.

And the registrar's website. I'm sorry, I think I misspoke earlier. It's Reg reg.uci.edu.

And I will.

Good information in the chat.

Maybe would you like to answer what is the blue and gold plan?

And yes.

Blue and gold is scholarship even though it is called a scholarship, is really not. A scholarship is actually a grant that is given by the UC system. Blue and gold is similar in terms of amounts and eligibility criteria is similar to what the Cal Grant is. So those students that may not be able to receive the Cal Grant because those because of those specific eligibility criteria might receive the blue and gold and if they do not receive.

Blue and gold they could get UCI grants. So a student cannot get both Cal Grant and blue and gold as well as UCI grant. It's always one of them because each one of these three is just covering the system wide fee. So here you either get Cal Grant or blue and gold or UCI grad. And in terms of blue and gold it's not exactly the same time frame when the financial aid package are rolled over and they are the information has been sent to the students it usually.

Takes a little bit longer time for the ofas to put the information about your blue and gold there. So blue and gold is usually going to show up on your financial aid package or on your my 8 portal a little bit later if you have received it so far. So you are in the first batches of people getting it. But in general it is a little bit later. So it is a grant from the UC system and it does pay for the system wide fee similar to what Cal Grant does.

So I think we also have Doctor Chen from the Dream Center here, and I believe she might be able to help with the AB 540 question if she would like to.

Hop on real quick.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes.

Yes, ohh hi everyone. I'm going to try with the AB 540 waiver. I'm so glad all of you are have that on your To Do List that it's on your radar.

So there's really no deadline. So you see, I accepts AB 540.

Forms on a rolling basis.

However, I would say you want to get this in.

By the summer, because it does sometimes take several weeks for the registrars office to process your AB 540 waiver. So.

You know in general you want to have your AB 540 established by early September so as is I would say aim for mid-july at the latest to submit your your 8540 waiver, but.

If you're a high school student, you do have to have your transcript showing you graduated from a California high school. So if you're, you know, currently still in school and you don't have doesn't show your graduation on your transcript yet, you have to wait until your it shows that on your transcript before you submit. If you're at a Community College and you have all of your transcripts ready, you know high school diploma on your transcript as well, then you might be able to.

Start the process a little bit earlier, but you do want to make sure all the credits that you need from the Community College are from high school are reflected on your transcript before you turn that in. So I would aim for early summer to get that in, and if you have an opportunity, please e-mail the Registrar's office directly. I would also recommend coming into the office. There's a.

Yeah, I I would contact them to see if you can submit it over e-mail or in person.

Hope that helps.

Thank you.

OK. Brian, do you know when financial aid packages for transfers come out, would that be in mid-May?

And that would be around mid-May, yes.

OK.

And right now we are actually doing all the testing and simulation. So once it gets to the product, production is going to be close to the middle of May.

And the next question from Daphne is does the Cal grant pay for housing as well or just classes?

Um, so I could explain just a little bit about how that disbursement happens when you get your financial aid package is a combination of say grants and loans, right? And the charge grant is really designated for like for the tuition and fees. So in General, Pell Grant and Cal Grant are going to be dispersed first and if you live on campus, then you're most of the time like more than 90% of the time your housing is going to be paid through your student.

Account at UCI if you're off campus or a commuter, of course, any credit on your financial aid package is just going to be sent to your bank account depending on how you set it up, either through check or direct deposit. So usually these grants are going to start paying for the tuition and mandatory fees. If there is anything left and you live on campus is going toward your room and board.

But if you're not living on campus, in that case, based on the setup that you have in our system, either a check will be sent to you for the credit, the remainder of the fund, or it will be direct deposited in order for you to use it for your rent and for.

Purchase of food and any other items that you want. So the system is based on whether you are on campus or not. If you are on campus, it is taking care of your room on board too and any additional fund that is coming after paying tuition and mandatory fees is going to pay for that, but otherwise it will just directly come to you for you to use it.

So Valerie asked what resources on campus do you have for undocumented students such as internships or jobs? So I think the Dream Center will have a present, will be presenting, will be, well, they will be presenting in a minute. So I'm going to let them talk to you a little bit more about the resources. But before we do, I think we just have like maybe 2 more minutes for any scholarships or financial aid related questions that we can help you.

So if you have questions, please put them in the chat box and we'll try to answer them quickly.

How do you get the blue and gold?

So the blue and gold is based on the data that comes from the cada.

And you would be considered automatically for it based on that information.

That sound right? Maybe.

Yes, only for Cal Grant. There are certain things that needs to be done in order to receive it. There is a form that needs to be filled in on the website as well as information that high school or the Community College provides to the state. But when it comes to blue and gold, if you're not receiving the Calgarian, you're going to be considered for the blue and gold. It is actually John automatically.

Is just on review of your card.

Is getting a scholarship competitive?

Um, getting a scholarship is competitive, especially at UCI. However, I would highly encourage you to apply because a lot of times you know, students believe that. You know there's a lot of people applying. But that's not always the case. Sometimes there's just a few scholarships, so.

Your odds may be pretty good depending on which scholarship you're applying for and what the eligibility criteria are. So you know I'd highly encourage you to still apply. Oftentimes there's scholarships that come in during the year that you might be eligible for, and if we have that information, then we can reach out to you to say, hey, the scholarship is now available based on the information that you filled out before.

You would qualify, so I definitely encourage you to answer as many of those matching questions in our system as possible, because that will help you to match your scholarships.

Can we get the Cal grant and blue and gold at the same time?

The answer the answer is no. You either receive child grant or blue and gold. You may get some you see I grant together with Cal Grant or blue and gold. But you cannot get call grant and blue, blue and gold at the same time.

OK, great. And you know, I want to be respectful of the Dream Center time, so if you have any additional questions, please e-mail us as scholarships ici.edu or financial aid questions FN a.uci.edu and I will be passing it off to the Dream Center.

Thank you.

Um.

Hi everyone.

1.

Hi.

So oh.

Um, so I'm Daniela. I work at the Dream Center for Outreach and.

Um, today we're here to talk a little bit about some of the scholarships that we provide and a little bit about our resources. And yeah, so I'm, as I said before, Daniela, I'm a second year biological science major and yamir.

Yeah, my name is Amir. I am 1/4.

There's like a science joint and I also work in outreach with Daniela and we work in the supervision of Doctor Chan at the Dream Center. And so, yeah, we're here to provide some of the resources and some of the scholarships that we have as a Dream Center that we have on scholarship universe that are available for undocumented students.

1.

Um, so just a little bit more about us. So our mission at the Dream Center is to stand with and serve those impacted by immigration policies through advancing systematic change, destructing abrasive policies, and fostering community. We work towards personal growth, collective healing and visible change. So dream stands for diversity, resilience, empowerment, advocacy, and mentorship.

And so getting into some of the financial aid aspects.

So we have a couple of scholarships that the Dream Center itself offers. They can all be found in scholarship universe, which I know Connie mentioned earlier. One of them is going to be the Community empowerment scholarship. So for the Community empowerment scholarship, typically 15 to 30 students are selected a year who demonstrated strong commitment to serving the undocumented community. FCI students will apply to the scholarship universe.

As I said before, and the award is $3000 to use throughout the school year. So I myself am actually a recipient of this scholarship and it gets split up into different parts. So each quarter you get a little bit of that $3000.

You mean could you talk about the Immigrant Resilience Fellowship, please?

Yeah, of course. So the Immigrant Resilience fellowship, that one's done through a partnership with one of the other.

Centers. I'm sore, the Center for Student Outreach and retention. And for that one, about 12 students are selected a year to participate in a peer mentorship program, which is focused on academic success. Students in this scholarship program attend workshops and attend peer mentoring sessions, and then students are able to apply for this scholarship through scholarship universe. And those who are selected will be able to receive $3000 in scholarship, which will be divided evenly through your 3/4. And then yeah, so for me it's been really helpful because I've been able to.

Create so many connections and been able to that peer mentorship has really helped me. Kind of like adapt as a transfer student to UCI.

Yeah. So one of the scholarships that we actually don't have up here that we also offer is called the Dream Enrichment Scholarship. It's typically about 15 to 30 students a year. So students were awarded this scholarship.

They use it for out of the classroom experiences such as attending a conference, studying at UC DC or UC Center Sacramento and CDC is a program within the UC's where you can go to DC and do some different types of work there, like legislative work. I know they have like different programs within every major I believe or there's just some programs available, but you could also use this scholarship.

Specifically for a study abroad programs for those students who are eligible for advanced parole through Laka. So students who apply for this scholarship usually apply after they've been selected for the out of the classroom experience through scholarship. You know, where universe and awards vary based on travel costs and other registration fees. So to expand a little bit about the scholarship, basically umm.

There's like different opportunities, but it's it's used for just out of classroom experiences. So as I mentioned, some of the examples are UC DC, UC Sacramento, advanced parole and also like study abroad which goes under the umbrella of advanced parole, but yeah, that ones basically.

That was basically used when it's already been when the person's already been selected.

Um, yeah, so sorry. So another um, the scholarship that Daniela was talking about, I know she's having trouble with her audio. I'm not sure if you guys are able to hear her. But the scholarship that she was talking about was basically the dream Enrichment Scholarship which would typically select about 15 to 1230 students a year. And this is awarded to students who participate in out of the classroom experiences such as attended conference study at UC DC or UC Center Sacramento or they are studying or study abroad programs for those students who are eligible for advanced parole.

Um, students could apply for the scholarship after they've been selected for these out of the classroom experiences through scholarship universe and then they award amount varies and it is also based on like travel costs and other registration fees. Basically that will come out of a out of like the total of that of the money that has to be paid. And then another, I know there was a question earlier about any internships or anything related that we have on campus for undocumented students, one of the things that we do at the Dream Center.

We do have the Dream Project Fellowship which is a year long fellowship which is geared towards undocumented students to prepare them for.

Acquire professional development and personal growth. So some of the things that we do with this fellowship, we work with different sites on campus. We this year we have around 80 students who are participating in the program and through this fellowship they are awarded $4500 which is divided equally in 3/4. Some of the requirements that we have that your is like students have to commit spending 10 hours a week at your project site each quarter. Now they are required to attend professional seminars for the entire school.

Here and you are required to attend a rising together thriving together conference, which is coming up soon in May and then I'll talk more about that later. And then we also some of the benefits is that there's no work authorization that's required. You get to network and you experience mentorship with your advisors and communities, professional development experience. And we are warning about a total of $700,000 in scholarships this year. So through this fellowship, we have different sites on campus that you can work at. For example, Daniela and I are both working.

The Dream Center as Outreach fellows.

Through the project, through the Dream Project Fellowship, where we are able to get that experience about things that we want to do later, some other things that we do have on campus are that we work with are the dream scholars, and the dream scholars is a collaborative program between student success initiatives and the Dream Center for undocumented students at UCI. So some of the requirements is that you're an undocumented student or an undergraduate student enrolled at UCI, you attend some program workshops, and you meet with peer mentors.

As well as the leader of the program. And then benefits, of course are we have peer mentors, one-on-one one-on-one advising sessions with the advisor book, Chromebooks and Iclicker loans. And then there's a community of undocumented students for everyone to connect with. And we also have the Lark Scholarship, which is for tutoring and then they also provide free printing.

And then as well at the Dream Center, we are also able to provide immigrant legal services. The UC Immigrant Legal Services Center provides free legal on campus assistance directly to undocumented and immigrant students as well as their immediate family. Some of the services that they provide are initial DACA appointments and renewals, renewal workshops. They also provide workshops throughout the quarters of just of how to basically for undocumented students and updating each other on like new laws or anything that's coming up.

Consultations, biometrics and advanced parole. They actually work together with the Dream Center to take a lot of students to Mexico for a trip through advanced parole and then the dream. The Dream Center will also help cover the fees for initial applicants and renewals.

And then sorry, so some of the housing options that we have specifically for the for undocumented students, we have Fireball House, which isn't a Rio Vista, which is a it's a housing complex that's made of different themed houses. But we do have the undocumented housing which is directly linked to the Dream Center. It is more affordable than any other housing options at UCI and we provide Community building events, socials, dinner nights. We host like game nights, we do movie nights.

And it's always a great time. Some of the additional programs that we have on campus that we work with are fresh hub, which is food assistance programs that provide free groceries and meal swipes as well as financial assistance every quarter for groceries.

If you work with Sapphire very closely, I'm actually a board member there, which if any of you guys are.

About social justice and advocating especially for undocumented students. We work for advocating for immigrants and rights and equity. So we seek to provide those resources and support and promote a safe environment for undocumented DACA and non DACA AB 540 students. And then we also have scholars and residents at the Dream Center, which is undocumented graduate students that serve as mentors to undergrads who are interested in learning more about Graduate School and how to go on about it. And then.

So before I get to the last thing we are having our rising together, rising together, thriving together conference which will be happening in May.

It'll be happening, I believe. Sorry, give me a second.

It'll be happening May 13th, so that conference is for undocumented students, but anyone is welcome. If you guys want to follow us on Instagram, you'll find the link to register. There'll be workshops, there'll be opportunities for you to network. There'll be panels for students to connect with other students, connect with the staff at the Dream Center, Connect with other community members, other partners and other directors who work with.

Us at the Dream Project Fellowship. And then yeah, so if you guys also want to follow our Instagram for the Dream Center is at UCI Dream Center and this is our professional staff, our program coordinators and our director. We haven't added our assistant director, we just got a new one. We just got an assistant director, so you're free to contact with them if you have any further questions about how to get involved with the Dream Center. But also keeping up with us on Instagram is a great way our Dream Project fellowship.

Application will probably be announced on Instagram once it goes live and we'll start recruiting students.

Yeah. Can you guys hear me? I don't know if Mike is working or not.

I think, yeah, they think they can hear you.

OK, so I was just gonna say a little bit more about my scholarship experience in general, specifically talking about UCI. So for me as an undocumented student, I did receive a good amount of aid and I do apply to scholarships very often. So scholarship universe is one of the best resources for me specifically just because it is a very easy website to use once you get the hang of it.

So there's a lot of scholarships. And for example, I already mentioned that I got the Community scholarship, which is distributed in different amounts every quarter, but I also did receive the Chancellor scholarship, so undocumented students do get those as well. I didn't know that when I was coming in. I thought that like a lot of the scholarships that were merit based maybe were not applicable for me as well, but they are. So keep an eye out for those because they do come in.

Um, as Puni was saying, I believe by the end of this month all those will be awarded as well. But I just wanted to let you guys know that a scholarships are one of my biggest source of income. So it's very important that you apply because it does give that sense of security in money.

I do think that I've had a easier experience just because although there has been many scholarships that don't that I don't receive, the ones that I do receive are very helpful because they do cover any extra costs that I have. For example, if I have to pay anything out of pocket, like my gas money, my food, just basically my extra expenditures, that's where I get it from all the scholarships. And I know your mirror himself has also won a couple, so maybe you want to talk about.

Your scholarship experience as well.

Yeah. So for me, I think definitely applying for scholarships is the way to go for the IRS, the immigrate resilient fellowship. I interviewed with Doctor Chan and it was like a great experience.

They interviewed with other and then they just let you know like you know basically they want to know what you've been doing around your community and like how you're promoting, like how you're being resilient and stuff like that. But it's definitely helped me a lot with out of pocket expenses. I actually through scholarships, I have not spent single time out of pocket. I actually like the presenters from the scholarship offer office were mentioning we actually, I actually ended up having money leftover I commute. I don't live that far from campus.

Um, so I did end up having money leftover, which I use for personal expenses such as food and other stuff. But other than that, yeah, like applying to scholarships is definitely the way to go. There's so many scholarships for everything we have, like I mentioned, some of the ones we have available through the Dream Center, but you of course you can always apply for them as well.

Yeah. And also we're opening it up to any questions. If you guys want to post on the chat or ask questions, we're here to answer as much as we can.

And then so we do have a question on the chat about what are the requirements for the Resilience Fellowship for the application. You just fill it out through scholarship universe and then some of the requirements that I did mention were let me see if I can go back.

So it was just basically to attend the workshops with with soar and your mentor and meet with them once 1/4 and there's really not a lot of requirements that come with it. It's just more so for you to be able to have that mentorship and experience and get more involved with campus.

Sorry, someone said is the Dream Project, Fellowship and application? Yes, um, that I believe will be opened up soon, but that is not on scholarship universe. So we will just if you follow our Instagram or you check our website, you'll be able to find out that specific. I know I'm not sure exactly when, but I'm I don't know if Doctor Chen wants to chime in and tell you guys when the application opens up.

Hi everyone.

I hope you can hear me um for the fellowship program. The application will open on May 1st, and it will close on May 17th. 1st year students from high school and community colleges are eligible to apply. We will announce that on our social media, so make sure you're following us online on our website. You can also sign up for our newsletter so we'll also announce it.

There as well.

Yes. So another question, we have this financial aid cover ACC apartments. I will let Daniela take that away.

Yeah, so financial aid could cover AC apartments. So I do live in the ACC apartments. I live in Puerta currently, umm. And basically I have money leftover as Yamir said. So from all the scholarships that I have and just my financial aid package in general, I do receive quite a bit back. So that covers my fees for the apartments. And if your estimated family contribution is 0, it normally.

Will, but I it depends on case to case and person to person. I know for example my roommate as well her living expenses get covered from for her financial aid package as well, but the AC apartments do have their own payment methods, so that wouldn't be on your account.

Also, I don't know if you guys like know what your thought account is yet, but your zot account is basically where you see all the finances that the university gives you in 1/4. So it posts your fees and it also posts your financial aid as well, but you won't start really checking that until you begin your first quarter here. So that won't really be necessary until like September. But yeah, so it's not the same thing they have another, ACC has another.

Completely way of paying their specific apartment, but you can use the financial aid that you get at the beginning of the quarter to pay every month's rent.

Yes. Another thing, another question that we have is.

Our new incoming first year students eligible to reside in the ACC apartments or AV houses. If yes, how can I apply? I think Danielle, if you want to take it away, I don't have much experience with and living on campus, so I'm sure you.

Yeah, so first year students to my knowledge are able to live in AC apartments as well as AV. So AV is a royal Vista. We actually have an undocumented theme house and we're the only you see within undocumented theme house. It's one of the cheapest living options. And if you're a first year, I would recommend living there because as I said it, it's way cheaper than the dorms and also it's cheaper than the AC apartments.

And there's a big community at the houses, so we do have someone who puts on different presentations and socials at the house. If you guys are coming to celebrate UCI or if you guys are coming to rising together, thriving together, then you will be able to get more information on all of that as well. But yeah.

Hello, I'm just gonna jump in really quick. I know I'm seeing in the questions area that some folks on this webinar are having some audio issues.

The knowledge sharing such great information, so I just want to make sure everyone can can hear. So as Danella mentioned, there is an undocumented student housing theme housing here in Royal Vista. I highly recommend it. It's a house that we sponsor through the drain center. It's one of the most affordable options to live on campus. You also live very close to the gym which is and we have this fabulous gym that's it's really amazing.

Um, and there's about 40 or so students. And the way we split up the house is that half the House are first year students and then the other half of the House are returning students. And that way there's there's a mix, right. So you're not just meeting other first years, you're also meeting some second and third year, you know, 4th year, fifth year students. And you also have a community of students who are kind of like you trying to figure out, trying to navigate and we have.

Um, we have a fellow dedicated to the House. They live at the house and you have community fellows and basically their role is to help you get more familiar with each other or with the campus. So I really recommend it. There is no healthy meal plan attached to the house, which is why it's much more affordable. So instead of, you know, eating in our, you know, dining halls, we have a communal kitchen so you can.

That, you know, get your own groceries. We also have a basic needs center that provides groceries. So you can basically go to the the basic needs center, pick up groceries and and you know, prepare food at the house. You can also purchase a meal plan. That's absolutely an option. That way if you're like not too comfortable about cooking, you can always go to the dining halls and you can also go to the basic needs center to request meal swipes. So those are free and they get added to your.

Your ID card and you can they they come in different increments you know, depending on your financial aid. But anywhere from 7 to 50 to or more can be added to your cart. Now how do you get into this house? Right. So the Dream Center manages the the placement of students into the house and we usually send out.

The applications or the Fireball house over the summer, so make sure that you're connected with us. If you're interested, please let me know. You can send me an e-mail so I'll be like, OK, I know that you want to, you know, live in the house and we'll make sure that you have this application. The reason why we the Firehouse is a little bit low key is because we don't advertise the location, we don't really advertise that exist, mainly to protect your privacy, right? So.

That's why it is managed directly through the Dream Center.

Danella also mentioned a really good point. So on April 22nd, I hope you're all coming to UCI. On April 22nd, we have this huge event. It's called celebrate UCI. The Dream Center will have a booth, will will be tabling, a booth will have you know, we have a a staff here about 25 people on our team. So you'll be meeting, a lot of us will be out there, you know, you can you can ask a lot of questions about housing, financial aid, classes, food, you know.

Whatever, whatever is on your mind. And we'll be denella and yamur and I will all be there. So we'll have a booth in the morning from about 10:00 o'clock to 1:00 o'clock. And then at 1:00 o'clock we have an in person open house at the Dream Center. So if you're interested in checking out the center, please, please come to celebrate on April 22nd.

Yes, we also have any question I know I saw this one is if we have not been requested submit maybe 540 waiver once. I still submit one just for like myself I think I didn't I wasn't requested one either and I still submitted it because I was aware of my status. So it's just it's safer to or get in contact with the office of the Registrar. I know they mentioned it in the scholarship is and then Doctor Chen if you want to take this one I think there was a question about the Dream Project Fellowship can they apply even though they haven't committed.

I if you wanna take that question.

Yeah, so I know some of you are still weighing this decision. You know, through May you know you have until the application and fellowship application closes by May 17th. So hopefully by then you have a pretty good idea of where you want to go. I would say hold off on applying until you know you want to come to UCI because once you submit your application, we do, you know, put you through like an interview process you'll be interviewing.

Different sites and things and I wouldn't really want you to kind of go through that if you're you're not planning to come to UCI. So try to you know try to hold off if you're you're still debating early May but try to get your application in by May 17th. If you're really having some some decision like you know different considerations please let me know and we'll try our best to work with you. But you know I imagine you probably don't want to go through this.

Intensive interview process and get place and all that stuff if you're not sure about UCI.

And then we have another question if you wanna, if you're able to answer Doctor Chen, it says if I apply to housing in my application, can I still apply for housing at the AV apartments?

Yeah.

The EB apart, ohh the Arroyo Vista. So actually yes, that's that's actually, that's perfectly fine. You should apply for a housing. The way the process works is that you should apply for housing. And then in the summer when we started recruiting students for the Fireball House, you just applied directly with the Dream Center. If you're selected for the Fireball House, we basically move your housing application, we move it from wherever it was.

To Arroyo Vista. So yes that is perfectly fine. So please go ahead and apply for housing you know and once we have our fire bought House application, do that and then if you're selected we will put you over to a royal Vista.

With us?

Let's see.

OK. And then there's another question, sorry, we'll just answer these last two questions. If, if there's a, if there's a place on the applicant portal that could let me know if I was classified as an in state student or as an out of state student, I'm not sure. I don't remember like my process, but I'm not sure if there's a place that shows, I'm sure it should be somewhere there, but I'm not sure.

I don't know if you guys can hear me, but I do remember that when I had to submit mine for me, it showed that I had to pay like.

And enormous amount, like it showed that I had to pay like 30 K or more, which is the out of state tuition. So that's how I knew that something was wrong because if you're a California like person who's been living here for a while, then you should not have to pay more than 15K. But because we have to submit the AB 540, that's how you know. So if your tuition's telling you like, oh, you're going to owe us like 30 K or over, then you know that there's something wrong with your package and that's when you should definitely submit your AB.

540 at least from what I remember that I was like confused about and I figured out that it was a B 540 missing.

Umm.

Yeah. And then there's another question, last question that says I do not know if you guys can answer this, but does UCI offer family housing that I wouldn't be aware of? I don't know if Daniela ones too.

Yeah, so you see, I does offer a family housing, but I think it is.

It depends because I think that they have an entire process, but there is housing for family for example. Like if you're a mom or have something like that, like if your situation is something like that, then there is housing on campus. But I'm not too sure about it. I just know that it is available.

Yes. So family housing there is, there's definitely family housing and you do have a few options. You just have to go to the housing website to take a look at that and that includes, you know, if you have a spouse or children.

That will qualify you to apply for family housing.

These are really great questions. So yeah, please let us know. I think, I don't know if we're at time, but.

Maybe a time check?

Seattle.

Yeah, it's actually 7 right now. So we are at time. But as we were saying before, there is other great opportunities that are coming up. For example, celebrate UCI and rising together, thriving together. If you guys could join us for either one of those or both of those, that would be great. You can find more information.

I did type in the UCI Dream Center Instagram and then I also linked our website in the chat, so hopefully you guys are able to see that.

Great. I wanna just thank you know the Dream Center for joining us today during our presentation and we hope to see many of you or all of you at UCI celebrate on April 22nd. And does the dream Dream Center just wanna mention their contact information one more time?

Alright.

Uh, yes. So you guys can find us on Instagram at UCI Dream Center, or on our website where you can make an appointment to chat with any of the Pro staff that we have. It'll be a dream.uci.edu.

Thank you guys.

Great. And our office is uh.

UCI Scholarships on Instagram and then ofas.uci.edu/scholarships. Thank you again for coming and thank you to our presenters. We hope to see you all soon.