00:00:00
Financial Aid Live Chat
Good evening. My name is Rebecca Sanchez. I'm the director of financial aid and scholarships. Welcome. I'm going to give about one more minute before I start this presentation and give everybody a chance to get into the webinar and and then we'll go ahead and get started after that.
Shraddha
06:01:31 PM
Hello! Before we start, could I know if this presentation will be available to us after today?
Crystal Madaule
06:01:53 PM
Yes a recording will be made available online
OK, let's go ahead and get started. And again, my name is Rebecca Sanchez. I'm the director of financial aid and scholarships at University of California, Irvine. First, let me congratulate you students, to being admitted to use AI. That's a huge accomplishment. And if anyone hasn't told you, we are just so proud of you and we hope that you choose UCI as your school of choice when you come to the fall. And I hope I get a chance to meet some of you every once in a while. I get to meet the families and students, and that's always a real pleasure.
For me, I do want to let you know that we do have live chat going. If you guys do have questions before we start actually during the process, go ahead and put them in the chat. I have some staff on the.
Shraddha
06:02:26 PM
Thank you!
On the live chat from my office, being able to answer your questions and at the end I'll go ahead and open it up for some general questions that hopefully I can answer. We won't be able to answer any specific questions about your individual financial aid offer since it is based off of your specific information you put on the FAFSA. So if you have any very personal questions or something super specific, just your financial aid offer, we encourage you either to make an appointment with our office or you can always call us our office.
Hours are 3:50 Monday through Friday and this is a pre event to celebrate. Celebrate is gonna be on campus on April 22nd if you haven't already registered, we hope that you do. So admissions is going to provide an amazing day for all of you. We will be doing this same presentation twice during the financial aid portion of celebrate on campus. So if you do want to attend that, that's fine, but it is the very same presentation and I think.
And we should be able to provide that to you. So go ahead and get started and let me share with you a little bit about what financial aid is and kind of help you understand your financial aid offer.
OK. Now that you received your financial aid offer, hopefully you've all received your financial aid offer. If you haven't already, please contact our office because everybody has been awarded at this point who has an eligible FAFSA. But what we're going to talk about today is understanding the cost of attendance. Your cost of attendance is made-up of few things, tuition and fees, those are a direct charge to you and you will receive a bill from the Financial Services Office in the August about that, but you also have some indirect costs and educational expenses.
You will incur throughout the year and we give you a financial aid budget for those and allow you to receive financial aid for some of those indirect costs. And those are your books and supplies, room and board, personal expenses and transportation.
Gerald
06:04:28 PM
Is there contact information to schedule appointments with the Financial Aid Office?
The 202324 cost of attendance is based on your living arrangements that you make. There's three different budgets that we have. Commuter is if you plan on living at home with your family and that budget is 30,946 on campus is is going to be if you plan on living in the dorms that budget is $40,202.00 and off campus is if you plan to get an off campus apartment that budget is 38,845.
Utkarsh
06:05:12 PM
is there any scholarship forinternational stuudents
The major causes are obviously tuition and fees and room and board. You do have some control over the other costs like books and supplies, transportation, personal expenses. We encourage you to be cautious and budget accordingly to try to keep your costs down while you're in attendance.
This is a little bit to help you understand your cause of attendance. Otherwise it's called your net cost. Your net cost is the cost of attendance that I just went over on the previous slide, minus any grants and scholarships that we offer you and that is your net cost to attend.
Rosario Schlinger
06:05:38 PM
Hi Utkarsh, You can visit the international student website to see if they have any scholarships. you may also visit our scholarships@uci.edu email to ask those questions directly to our scholarships unit
Rebecca Ixchel Perez
06:05:40 PM
Yes. You can schedule a 15 minute in-person or phone appointment here through our Q-less appointment Kiosk: https://www.ofas.uci.edu/contact-us/index.php.
Sebastian
06:05:51 PM
Are the costs an estimation or are they set numbers already?
Utkarsh
06:06:02 PM
is there any scholarship forinternational stuudents
Here's some tips on reducing some of those costs. You can save on housing costs by doubling up and sharing a room. We do awful double s, we have triples, and we actually have quads. If you can believe it, anytime that you double up or you share a room with someone, that room and board decreases the cost of your own board. Also, we encourage you to use use books. You can rent books in some cases you can borrow books. You can often go to Amazon.com.
Monica
06:06:34 PM
I was wondering when I will be able to get my financial package if I did not get it yet?
Put in the code of the book and they don't give you all the used costs. And so that's a great way to save some money. Choose the right meal plan, the Financial Aid office, we are going to give you a budget for three meals a day, seven days a week. However, there are other meal plans. You don't have to choose that one. So choose the right meal plan. That's good for you. Some of you may not eat breakfast, some of you might want to eat lunch on your own. So that's kind of some ways to kind of save there, considering wave out of UCI's health.
Rosario Schlinger
06:06:54 PM
Hi Monica- if you have not received a financial aid offer, the review of your file may not have been completed and missing submission of requested documents in your 23/24 uci.studentforms.com portal
Time by fall quarter. So as a student of UCI you are mandated to have student health insurance. If you are not already covered under your parents insurance, then you have to get UCI health insurance. So unless you waive out of UCI health plan, they will charge you for student health insurance. Their deadline is in early September. That is a very, very hard line that the Student Health Center has on that one. So if you miss waving out by that deadline.
Venecia Flores
06:07:16 PM
Hi Sebastian, it is an estimate depending on housing, and other expenses. The one thing that doesn't change is tuition.
Ashley
06:07:25 PM
My financial aid award letter provides the total cost if living at home. What do I need to do to get a revised award letter since I would like to live in the dorm? And how fast would I get a revised letter?
They will automatically charge, charge you for fall quarter and then you have to try to wave out for winter. So make sure you go to the UCI's Health Center, go to their website, make sure that you're browsing there. Make sure that if you are planning on waving out to make sure to get all of that paperwork and showing that you're on your parents plan.
Rosario Schlinger
06:07:47 PM
Hi Ashley- you can change your housing status through the MyAid portal under "Report my Changes"
Aryan
06:07:56 PM
What's the difference between Parent PLUS loans and student loans? I see both on my financial aid offer.
Another great way to save is leaving your car at home. We are kind of a residential campus. We have a lot of easier eateries like available across the bridge from UCI. There's bus lines. So if you want to save on the cost of parking fees and gas and insurance, then, you know, perhaps leave the car at home, set a budget and stick to it. So I do tell college students on all the time that when you were in college.
Rebecca Ixchel Perez
06:08:09 PM
Hi Aryan,
You should live like a college student, which means that you're not eating out every single day, that you're making sure that your entertainment budget is kept low. Just really make sure that you are living like a college student and not necessarily living, you know, the high life. You want to make sure you're stretching those dollars so that your financial aid lasted the entire quarter.
Lea
06:08:31 PM
Is there a health fee we could avoid if we already have healthcare?
Alma
06:08:33 PM
what is work-study?
Take advantage of discounts exclusively for college students. There's lots of discounts on movie tickets and even streaming services like Apple Music. There's a student membership, so make sure that you take advantage of all the discounts that are available to you.
Rosario Schlinger
06:08:47 PM
Hi Lea- you would visit the student health center website at shs.uci.edu to apply to waive out of health insurance
Rebecca Ixchel Perez
06:09:13 PM
The Parent PLUS Loan is a loan offered to your parents on your behalf and only they can borrow the loan. Student loans would be taken out by you. Students can be offered subsidized or unsubsidized loans. Subsidized loans are loans that do not accumulate interest as you are attending school. They do not begin to accumulate interest until 6 months after you graduate and/or stop attending school. Unsubsidized loans accumulate interest as soon as they are disbursed. With any federal student loan, you do not have to begin repayment until 6 months after you graduate and/or stop attending school.
OK, understanding your age, there's three different types of financial aid that we have offered you on your financial aid notification. Gift Aid, which is grants or scholarships that do not need to repay, work study. Not all of you receive that, but many of you did receive an offer of work study, which is money earned by the student as payment for a job on or off campus, and student loans borrowed money to be paid back, usually with interest. A lot of students don't think that student loans are considered financial aid, but let me tell you these are.
Federal student loans, they are guaranteed, so you do not have to be credited to prove to receive these student loans. You do not have to make any payments while you're in school. I'll go over those very quickly, but I do want to make sure that people understand that these student loans are about a lot better than you would do that if you went to a private bank and apply for one.
Meagan
06:09:42 PM
how do middle-income scholarships work?
Rosario Schlinger
06:09:58 PM
Hi Meagan- The Middle Class Scholarship (MCS) program is designed for undergraduate students with family incomes and assets (each) up to $201,000. Scholarship amounts are based on a sliding scale according to your family’s income and the other kinds of support you receive. Learn more at csac.ca.gov
OK, let's talk about your grants. There's federal grants, the Pell Grant, the maximum is 7395, the Supplemental Educational Opportunity grant. If you are eligible for these grants, it would have been based off the income and assets that you provided on the FAFSA. We also have state grants, the Cal Grant, A&B. The Cal Grant covers the total cost of your tuition and fees.
Josh
06:10:08 PM
How do I apply for a job on-campus for UCI?
Parmida
06:10:32 PM
how do i sign up for work aid?
Versus 13,752 if you're receiving account bank account Grant B, the stipend is 1648, which you'll receive the first year only and then after that the subsequent years you'll get the 1648 plus the 13752. We also have the middle class scholarship that's based on the income and assets that you provided on the FAFSA. If you qualify, we have the offered it on the initial financial aid offers because we have to wait until all of the other scholarships.
Have been applied first. Typically we start awarding this in October. However, if it appears initially that you do qualify, it would have been on your notification of your financial aid offer that you do perhaps qualify for this scholarship.
The university grants that we offer is the UCI grant and the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan.
Rebecca Ixchel Perez
06:11:11 PM
Hello Josh-You can apply to jobs through Handshake. Additional information as well as a link to Handshake can be found here: https://www.ofas.uci.edu/paying-for-uci/work-study/index.php.
Crystal Madaule
06:11:15 PM
Parmida, if you were offered federal work study, you can apply for jobs online via Handshake. https://uci.joinhandshake.com/login
The blue and Gold Opportunity plan covers all of 2324 systemwide fees for California residents whose families earn less than 80,000 a year and the student qualified for financial aid. Again, this is another scholarship that we don't award until October, but if it appears you do qualify, we would have put a note on your financial aid offer that says it appears you do qualify. We do have to wait until you receive the total amount.
Venecia Flores
06:11:43 PM
Hi Alma, work study is when you find a job on campus and it is funded by the federal aid. You can use your work study through out the year.
Of other scholarships and grants before we are able to award this. However, if you do receive a Cal grant, you're not going to receive the blue and gold because you can't receive two tuition scholarships. So if you have the Cal grant, that covers the total cost of your tuition. So that would have fulfilled the blue and gold promise.
Nora
06:11:55 PM
what does it mean when a grant is unconfirmed
Work study work study is money that students may earn by a part time job. This is going to allow you to gain some work experience and pay for part of your educational expenses as you earn your board. So the difference is where the rest of your financial aid is going to disperse to pay for your student bill. Work study, you earn as a paycheck on a biweekly basis, so you're going to get a paycheck and it's not actually going to post to your student account.
Ry
06:12:20 PM
Can a parent plus loan be transferred to a student
Parmida
06:12:24 PM
Hi! I was wondering how Fin Aid appeals work.
Students, you may earn up to 20 hours per week. One classes are in session, and you can earn up to 40 hours per week during vacation periods.
Rosario Schlinger
06:12:36 PM
Hi Parmida- Your initial 2023-2024 financial aid offer will be based on tax year 2021 financial information. If you submit and are approved for an appeal due to a family special circumstance or financial change, this would occur sometime in the fall quarter after the start of the academic year begins. That is something you will need to keep that in mind. If you wish to continue with the appeal, you will be requested to provide supporting documentation of your or your family’s situation with your appeal. Please be ready to upload that information once it is available. If we need additional information when reviewing your appeal, we will contact you directly at that time.
Haley
06:12:53 PM
Can UCI Grants be used for housing instead of tuition?
All right. Your student loans that I talked about a little bit before. There's a couple different loans that are out there. We have our direct subsidized student loan and our direct unsubsidized student loan. We also have a parent plus loan. The state loan is for AB 540 eligible students only. These are our students who filled out the California dream application. And then we also have a university loan that we offer.
Rebecca Ixchel Perez
06:12:56 PM
Hi Nora- If your Cal Grant is unconfirmed it is because we are waiting until the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) sends the official roster later in the summer. It will remain as “offered/unconfirmed” on your award until that time. For now, please be sure to go into https://www.csac.ca.gov/ and make sure UCI is listed as the first school or we will not be able to confirm your Cal Grant at a later date.
Crystal Madaule
06:13:17 PM
Ry, parent loans cannot be transferred to the student. They are loans borrowed by the parent, on behalf of the student.
A little bit more detail on your federal student loans, the subsidized you're not going to be occurring any interest while you're in school, so this is the best loan that you can have. If you're offers student and you're trying to wonder if should I accept my loans, you should always accept the subsidized loan first because there's no interest occurring. Recruit interest does start occurring once you go into repayment, which is usually six months after you graduate or if you cease to be at least half time. Currently the interest rate is 4.99% and the number.
Odin
06:13:43 PM
Where do I find my financial package or scholarhips information Thank you
Evan
06:13:44 PM
Is the FAFSA required for scholarships?
Donation fee of 1.057 the unsubsidized loan. That is one that does accrue interest. So interest is going to start accruing as soon as they make the first disbursement. So you will be having an interest rate of 4.99 that starts after your first disbursement and it also has the same origination fee.
Venecia Flores
06:13:53 PM
Hi Haley- Your financial aid will apply to whatever charges you have on your zot account. Any remainder aid will be sent to you via direct deposit or check.
Rosario Schlinger
06:14:16 PM
Hi Evan- many scholarships require a FAFSA Application
The parent plus loans parents, you guys can borrow up to the cost of attendance minus any other financial aid, so it doesn't have a limit like the direct subsidized and unsubsidized. This one is a little bit different though. Whereas the the Student Loans you don't have to be credited to prove it's guaranteed, the parent plus loan you must be credited to proved. If you have adverse credit, there's still a possibility that you can receive the loan, but you will have to obtain an endorser who doesn't have adverse credit.
Currently the interest rate is 7.4% and you can start applying for those loans after July 1.
All right. This is how you you can go ahead and move forward. Thank you.
Alright, so this is kind of like if you want to view your financial aid, you're going to go to our website, whichisofas.uci.edu in the top right hand corner, you're going to click my aid.
Parmida
06:14:54 PM
does the bill come all at once? Like is there going to be a 40,000 dollar bill coming to houses in august?
Sofia
06:15:18 PM
If you sent in your fasfa late can you still get financial aid.?
And then you once you click my 8, you're going to make sure you click follow 23 through summer 24. And then when you go in there if you look to the right, there's kind of a picture that shows an example financial aid offer. Some of the financial aid has already been accepted for you and it doesn't, you don't need to make any changes or you don't need to do anything. The Federal Pell grants and scholarships, we're assuming we that you're going to want those. So we go ahead and accept those on your behalf.
Rosario Schlinger
06:15:46 PM
Hi Parmida, fees are due quarterly. Housing due dates will be provided to you when you sign your lease agreement.
Rebecca Ixchel Perez
06:15:51 PM
Hello Odin- You can access your financial aid package on your My Aid Portal. Keep in mind that we are still awarding incoming students. A link to your My Aid Portal can be found on our website ofas.uci.edu. Our website will also have a scholarships tab where you can find more information regarding our Scholarship Universe.
What you want to do though, down where it talks about the direct subsidized and direct unsub, those are options to use. So we do not force students to borrow. You know, I know there's a lot of controversy about students feeling pressured into borrowing. This is a family decision. So when you guys have a chance to look at your cost of education and the expenses, this is where you guys are going to decide, is a student loan right for you? If it is, then go ahead and change the decline to accept it. You do not have to accept the full amount of the loan.
So if you look at the direct subsidize 4500, let's say, you only want 3000 of that. And then to the right of that, you're going to request the lesser amount and you're going to press 3000, OK. So you're going to go ahead and make those changes in there. There's a few more pages where you want to make sure that you accept the terms and conditions and then you should be able to submit.
Diego
06:16:38 PM
Hi, we can still request housing if we didn't say so on the FAFSA application?
There are other things that you can do on your my a portal. Make sure again that you're on fall 23 through summer 24 because there's 2223 up there as well. So you want to make sure you're on the right academic here. If you guys have some changes that you need to make, you want to go ahead and let's say let's go ahead and do my To Do List. First you're my To Do List. If you have been selected for federal verification, then you need to do that and it'll tell you what your mind To Do List.
Is let's go ahead and go to the next screen.
Mitali
06:17:02 PM
Hi! I saw on the website that all undergrad admits get their financial package offer in the first week of April but I still haven't gotten mine. Is there something I have to do first? (I have submitted all the forms asked on the studentforms portal)
Rosario Schlinger
06:17:05 PM
Hi Diego- you can change your housing status through the MyAid portal under "Report my Changes". Also please contact the Housing Dept for further instruction.
Venecia Flores
06:17:08 PM
Hi Sofia - You can still receive federal aid (pell grant, loans) if you fill out you fafsa late, late fafsa applicants are not eligible for institutional aid for example UCI grant.
Let's see my 8 status. So when you selected for verification, it'll have any documents that you need to do there. It'll let you know what your status is. This student here looks like they have still need to turn in their FAFSA. So down here at the very bottom you can see we have requested the fast. So we always notify you every year, like it's time to go ahead and fill out your annual FAFSA. So go ahead and just make sure that you're doing that. Our school code obviously is on there as well if you need it.
OK again, so when we're talking about your verification, you're going to upload your required documents into our financial aid site. So if you are first time student, which all of you will be, you're going to need to create a new account. So just make sure that when you go on there you say create account, you're going to create a username and password and then once you're in there if there's documents that you need to upload then you can upload those and there's other documents that are dynamic that you can fill in and submit.
Crystal
06:17:58 PM
Do I get my financial aid offer by adding uci to my fast schools?
Rosario Schlinger
06:18:06 PM
Hi Crystal- if you have not received a financial aid offer, the review of your file may not have been completed and missing submission of requested documents in your 23/24 uci.studentforms.com portal
If you also need to report any changes, you're going to go back into your portal, report your changes. This lets us know if something has changed. If you put on your FAFSA that you were originally going to be living at home and then you decided, you know what, I really want to live in the dorms. I want to change my housing status from living at home to on campus. You're not going to go back into your FAFSA at this point. You're going to go into report my changes and let us know that you're changing your housing status.
Lizeth
06:18:49 PM
Is the net cost given for the year 2023-2024 the same for all four years? Or does it change depending on FAFSA?
That's also where you're going to list any scholarships that you might be receiving from outside organizations, you're going to make sure to put those in there. Once you receive that, it takes us to maybe about 5 to 10 business days to process these, just depending on how many were receiving and what time of the year that we're receiving them. And once we have those, we'll make a revision to your financial aid offer, change your housing status or will add any outside scholarships that you're letting us know. And then we'll go ahead and send you a change on that.
Odin
06:18:54 PM
Hello, I am curious about where you can find scholarship information. Thank you.
OK. So you are going to want to know like how much is a cost to go there? So the difference is that does not get sent from the financial aid office that actually gets sent from the Financial Services Office. This is their portal that you guys will log in and you'll be able to look at your Azat account and you'll be able to look at your zot bill. So those bills go out mid August and then your fees are due September 15th. So the way it's going to happen is you're going to make sure.
Alan
06:19:44 PM
If I were to become legally emancipated, would my Parent Plus Loan be converted to a subsidized/unsubsidized student loan?
Venecia Flores
06:19:51 PM
Hi Lizeth - the cost stays the same for tuition, the aid given various every year based on the FAFSA application. Students need to complete the application yearly.
During from, you know anywhere from now all the way through summer that you get all those documents into our office, get everything that you need to get to the financial aid office. My office will do the verification process if you've been selected and then we'll finally see your financial aid offer. If all of your financial aid has been accepted, then when the bills go out in mid August, it will show that your authorized aid will be applied towards your bill. It will then tell you if you have a final remaining balance.
Rebecca Ixchel Perez
06:20:19 PM
Hi Mitali- We are still awarding incoming freshmen students. As long as we have your FAFSA application and you have completed any tasks in uci.studentforms.com, you can expect your award letter by the end of this week or early next week.
Rosario Schlinger
06:20:22 PM
Hi Odin- https://ofas.uci.edu/scholarships/uci-scholarship-central/index.php
It's due on September 15th or it will let you know if there is a refund. That's O to you because again, your bill is only going to show the direct charges, which is your tuition and fees and possibly room and board. But we give you a larger budget. So you may be receiving a financial aid refund that you guys can use for your books and supplies and any other educational expenses that occur during that quarter. And you do get billed every single quarter, so you're only paying for 1/4 at a time.
Hailey
06:20:40 PM
Is the expensive paid all at once or in payments?
All right. So here's that timeline. I was kind of just talking about it in the, the, the other slide, but let's go over it one more time just so that we can make sure we're being really clear again. May to July, you're going to accept your financial aid offers. You can only accept all of your financial aid offers and once you've reviewed all of your documentation, so make sure to get that in very, very soon after July 1st, you're going to log into your student billing account, you're going to set up your direct deposit. So what this is.
Mitali
06:21:07 PM
Is there a way to request more financial aid if family circumstances change?
Rosario Schlinger
06:21:16 PM
Hi Mitali- Your initial 2023-2024 financial aid offer will be based on tax year 2021 financial information. If you submit and are approved for an appeal due to a family special circumstance or financial change, this would occur sometime in the fall quarter after the start of the academic year begins. That is something you will need to keep that in mind. If you wish to continue with the appeal, you will be requested to provide supporting documentation of your or your family’s situation with your appeal. Please be ready to upload that information once it is available. If we need additional information when reviewing your appeal, we will contact you directly at that time.
If you aren't do a financial aid refund, those refunds go to a bank account that you set up. So if you don't already have a bank account, we encourage you to open a bank account and then go ahead and set up your direct deposit with the student billing office so it goes directly into your bank account. If you don't have direct deposit, what's going to happen is that refund is going to be mailed to you and that typically kind of slows down the process about five to seven business days, whereas direct deposit is pretty much 24 hours and.
Happens very, very quickly.
Crystal Madaule
06:21:39 PM
Hi Alan, no. You were already offered the maximum amount of Direct Loans. You may be offered an additional $4,000 in unsubsidized loan if you appeal and are determined to be Independent for federal aid purposes.
Marly
06:21:54 PM
When looking at our financial aid letter, if we initially said we would dorm and decide we will be communiting from home, can that additional money from aid be kept to use towards paying for college costs?
After July 1st parents, you can start applying for that parent plus loan if that's something that you are going to be interested in. We'll make sure that the information will be emailed mid August accepting financially. Offers will be sent to your Zot account. Pay for your pay for your fees and your any other charges that you have on there. mid-september your financial aid will pay for your on campus housing. mid-september your financial aid will be dispersed to your bank account. In mid-september, parent plus loan refunds are mailed to the parent.
Toby
06:22:14 PM
Similar question to Utkarsh, are out of state students offered merit scholarships?
Rosario Schlinger
06:22:26 PM
Hi Marly- Switching from On Campus to At Home will reduce your academic budget for the year. you can find the cost of attendance on our site at https://www.ofas.uci.edu/cost/undergraduate-costs/new-students.php
So the reason that the plus loans are mailed is because the borrower is the parent and not the student. So the only refund that will go to the student is any other financial aid excluding that parent plus loan. If there's a refund because of the parent plus loan, that will be mailed again to the parent borrower. So let me talk again about mid-september, September 15th is always the feeds outline where all of your fall fees must be paid in full if it's not paid in full.
Venecia Flores
06:22:38 PM
Hi Hailey - tuition is divided into 3, you pay per quarter (fall, winter and spring). Depending on where on campus you live it is quarterly (dorms) or monthly (apartments).
By 5:00 PM on September 15th, they will drop all of your courses. So this deadline is a very, very hard deadline. We always want to make sure that we're communicating with our families early, telling you to get your documents in early. We certainly don't want mid-september you to be stuck in a situation where you're just turning in documents to us or you've waited too long to apply for loans. You know, if you want to do that parent plus loan, you don't want to apply for the parent.
Less on mid-september because obviously it takes about a week or so for the parent plus loan funds to come in. So everything must be done by September 15th and you must have a 0 balance. Otherwise those classes again, it's a hard drop and it fills, you know really horrible and I just don't want anybody caught in that situation. So make sure that you are paying attention to those deadlines. If you have questions, call us, set up a virtual appointment, come in for an in person appointment.
Monica
06:23:43 PM
how do you know what job are you going to get for work study?
Ellen
06:23:56 PM
Will I be receiving the same amount of loan/grant/etc every year?
We are here to help you. We're open all summer. A lot of people think we close. We do not. It's our busy season. So the reason I'm spending a lot of time on this, I just want to make sure that we don't have any hearts broken from students that have their classes dropped due to non payment. So again, just September 15th is that date that you need to keep an eye on. OK, some things to remember, make sure you're checking your e-mail frequently. Financially does send a lot of emails. It probably feels like junk e-mail, but.
We don't communicate with you unless we need something from you or we're notifying you of something, so make sure that you're checking that e-mail frequently. Make sure to register that e-mail with your spam filter so it doesn't get caught in junk mail. Make sure you're checking your financial aid file online regularly to ensure all requirements are submitted. Complete your tasks on your mind To Do List and let us know about any changes in your finances or your circumstances. Again if you have any changes.
Rosario Schlinger
06:24:33 PM
Hi Monica- workstudy jobs are listed on Handshake https://uci.joinhandshake.com/login
Rebecca Ixchel Perez
06:24:42 PM
Hi Toby- Out-of-state students were all considered for the Directors' Scholarship just submitting a UC Application. If eligible, it will be on your award letter. Students are also encouraged to apply to outside agency scholarships as well. Our Scholarship Universe will also be open to incoming students May 1st-31st. https://www.ofas.uci.edu/scholarships/index.php
Venecia Flores
06:24:46 PM
Hi Ellen - it will change yearly depending on your FAFSA application. Students need to complete the FAFSA on a yearly basis.
Again, that's something you're going to want to communicate to us early, because if there is documentation that we need to use sometimes it can take a bit of time for you to gather that information, and then it takes us some time to go ahead and review that and to make your new revisions. So we want to make sure that you guys are getting things done early and checking things often.
Annie
06:25:02 PM
Does the Middle Class Scholarship qualify for out of state students
Again, contact us. We are here for you. I do not want you guys to feel intimidated by talking to a financial aid counselor. We love students and we are here to help you fund your education. That is our our passion and we love working with families. So anytime you have any questions just please give us a call or you can make a virtual or in person appointment. Our phone system. We do have a callback feature so it.
Odin
06:25:51 PM
Hello, I am curious about where you can find scholarship information. Thank you.
Our phone, you know, I'm gonna say starting about mid August, we start taking 8 to 900 calls a day because we are getting closer to that fee deadline, right? So sometimes our laid applicants, that's when they all reach out to us. Unfortunately, you know, we do have 40,000 students. So that callback feature, you know, don't, don't get too discouraged if it takes a couple hours, you know, when we get late summer just because of the amount of volume that we do, my advice to you is to skip that.
Rosario Schlinger
06:26:15 PM
Hi Odin- you can find more scholarship information on their website https://www.ofas.uci.edu/scholarships/uci-scholarship-central/index.php
Long wait on the callback by go ahead and getting all your financially done very, very early. That way you don't feel any of that anxiety about waiting for a callback or trying to get an appointment with us. So early is the name of the game. You can go ahead and use that QR code if you want to make an appointment that we are here to help you.
Rebecca Ixchel Perez
06:26:17 PM
Unfortunately, you must be a California resident in order to be considered for the Middle Class Scholarship.
So I know I've gone over a lot of information like very, very quickly, and I know many of you may have some questions. And so I'm going to go ahead and stay on here. And we're going to have crystal moderate. She is our senior associate director. She's going to moderate. And I'm going to try to see if I can get you guys some general answers to maybe some of the most common questions we're seeing out there.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Um, Becky, could you touch on the middle class scholarship? We're getting some questions about the timeline of the middle class scholarship.
Naomi
06:27:09 PM
for the middle class scholarship, when do we find out if we received it?
Sure. So the middle class scholarship is for California residents only. It's not for our out-of-state students. I'm so sorry. Our state aid that is considered one of our state scholarships is for California residents. The timeline on that, like I said, it's not going to be on your initial financial aid offer.
Robert
06:27:29 PM
If I were to accept a work-study offer, will all money earned go towards tuition? Or can some of it be used for personal expenses?
Because we have to figure out, you know, it is based on, you know, income levels, based on, you know, what's been supplied on the FAFSA. However, all of your other financial aid has to be counted towards it before we can determine what your eligibility for the middle class scholarship is. Unfortunately, because a lot of that final final financial aid comes in usually in August when you guys are notifying us of outside scholarships that you may be having. That's why.
Rebecca Ixchel Perez
06:27:45 PM
You will be able to see your eligibility for the Middle Class Scholarship on WebGrants. https://webgrants.csac.ca.gov/
You have to wait until October until we are able to see all other financial aid applied before we can determine how much middle class scholarship you may be eligible for.
Thank you. Could you also talk a little bit about financial aid for international students?
International students do not qualify for federal financial aid on the FAFSA.
You may qualify for.
Venecia Flores
06:28:22 PM
Hi Robert - for work study you get paid as you work from your employer. That money goes to you, not the financial aid office.
Gerald
06:28:42 PM
How can we apply for the Middle Class Scholarships?
California student. I mean, you may qualify for California student aid if you are AB 540 eligible. That is the California dream application. So if you're wondering if AB 540 eligible, that sentence is determined by the Registrar's office. Typically you have to graduate from a California high school, attended their last three years. There's some other requirements that are based on that as well. Other than that, international aid is only eligible.
If you receive it, perhaps a merit scholarship. If you were selected for one of those, that would be the only financial aid that would be available.
Thank you. Could you also talk a little bit about scholarship universe and the scholarship application process?
Rosario Schlinger
06:29:19 PM
Hi Gerald- there is no Middle Class Scholarship application. All that is needed is your FAFSA application
Yes, scholarship universe. There's a number of scholarships that are on there, so some of them are for incoming freshmen. These are not scholarships that you would be applying for. These are scholarships that you would be selected by UC faculty and other administration. So it's based on information that you.
Supplied on the UC application, all of those and then also based on some are merit based, some are need based. So some of them might be taking a look at the results of the FAFSA and your UC application, but all of that is loaded into our scholarship universe and then we make those selections for incoming financial aid as once you're a student at UCI. However in January there is a general financial aid scholarship application.
That you will be completing and that will be for a number of endowed scholarships that we do have that we award our current financial aid students. So that would be for your second year and and forward.
Thank you. And we're also getting some questions about students whose financial situation has changed recently.
So.
And if they have options.
Sure. Yeah. If you do have a change of circumstance, we do account for that. Maybe you have a death in the family. Perhaps your parents have separated or divorced. Maybe there is a loss of income due to unemployment. There's a number of things that can happen in real time that's really difficult to, you know, you can't put it on the FAFSA, so you can't put those figures on the FAFSA because that's based on income that has already been reported from 2 tax years ago.
Elle
06:31:09 PM
for on campus housing, are there still any COVID restrictions in place?
So don't put anything on the FAFSA, but if you have a real life situation that's going on, special circumstances, like I said, medical expenses that are not covered, we want to hear what's going on with you. We want you to call into our office or to make an appointment so that you can speak to one of our financial aid professionals. They're going to advise you based on your specific situation on how best to move forward. But we do make sure there is an opportunity to appeal. There's something that you cannot list.
Your five senses. So that is something that we do encourage you to reach out to us.
Rosario Schlinger
06:31:34 PM
Hi Elle- please reach out to housing for more information https://housing.uci.edu/
Great. Thank you. We have some questions about the financial aid award and whether what period of time it's for? Is it for the whole school year and how many units do students need to take each term?
Riyah
06:31:58 PM
Hey about the Blue and Gold scholarship when would we know if we have received it?
Since students still need to be enrolled full time, you see all the UCS do require full-time attendance unless you have appeal to be official part time, OK, and that would also be through the Registrar's office if you are appealing to be official part time, so we assume on your financial aid award.
That you are a full time student for fall, winter, and spring. Full time is 12 units or above, so you don't have any financial aid that's based on part time enrollment unless, again, you've been approved to be official part time. So your financial aid is for the entire academic year, fall, winter, and spring there's a separate process if you want to receive financial aid for the summer. Summer is considered a trailer, so it won't be until the end of this academic year unless you're coming in as a premature.
Element in a special program. So if that so again since your financial aid is for the entire academic here however, you're only charged per quarter. So again when I was talking about September 15th, you're going to receive your bill for fall quarter only and then we apply your fall financial aid. When you accept your financial aid, you're accepting it for the year, right? So then when you get billed for winter, we will automatically send your winter financial aid.
Rebecca Ixchel Perez
06:33:07 PM
Hello Riyah- It will be on your award package in your My Aid Portal if you are eligible.
Analilia
06:33:16 PM
What month does school start?
To pay for your bill saying for spring, we will go ahead and do that for you as well. What you do need to be mindful is if you do have a remaining balance after all of your financial aid is applied, you need to make sure you're meeting that deadline each quarter to make that final payment to make sure that your classes don't get dropped. So September 15th is for fall only, but we go ahead, award you for the full year and go ahead and advance those funds to your billing each quarter.
Wonderful if students have made changes to their housing plans for the coming up fall term, will their financial aid award change if they notify us that their housing plans have changed?
Venecia Flores
06:33:52 PM
Hi Analilia - school begins September 28th
Yeah.
Yes, again, so I went over that a couple slides ago. It's down where you're reporting your change in scholarships. You're going to go into your my portal, make sure you're selected on 2324 academic year and it says.
Stephanie
06:34:33 PM
is there a way to set up a meeting with UCI's financial aid office to discuss what the COA would be for a student?
Report changes. So if you do change your housing status, you do need to report that on report changes, it'll take us between 5:00 to 10:00 business days to update your financial aid offer from one of the budgets to the other. So remember I showed you 3 budgets at the beginning, living at home, on campus or off campus. So depending on that change, it will change your financial aid budget and will revise your financial aid to reflect that and send you out a new financial aid offer.
Thank you.
Samee
06:34:55 PM
If I recieved an instituional grant that was more than UCI grant from another UC do you match it?
Rosario Schlinger
06:35:05 PM
Hi Stephanie- Appointments: Visit the QLess Kiosk to schedule a 15 minute appointment with a financial aid representative.https://www.ofas.uci.edu/contact-us/index.php
Um, I think those are the largest themes that I'm seeing here in the, in the, in the chat. And I do want to reiterate that there will be a recording made of this presentation and it will be available online. I know several of you are asking if you can watch this again later. Absolutely. The presentation has been recorded and we will post a link online and that will be accessible through our website.
And then this presentation will also be offered in Spanish next Tuesday, April 18th, so it will be done again in Spanish next Tuesday.
Venecia Flores
06:35:20 PM
Hi Samee - We do not match financial aid here at UCI.
Michael
06:35:20 PM
If I move to CA as a permanent resident will I be able to apply for CA scholarships for the second year? And how can I prove residency? I already have a CA address.
OK. I do see one question that I'd like to address. I see it in the chat room and wants to know if they received a UC grant from another UC and do we match that. So we do not, we do not match other campuses offers. Every you see is a little bit different. We're mostly the same, but we're going to be a little bit different on our user grants and that's just based on the allocations that we've received from the Office of the President, so the financial aid offered that you receive.
That you see, I may be a little bit different than maybe receive at UCLA or UC Berkeley. Santa Barbara, again, we don't match them. Each campus does have its own specific offers. So yeah, the grant is the same, but it's a little bit different depending on where you go. But there there's also differences in the cost. So your health insurance charge on campus here is going to be a little bit different than if it were in Santa Barbara. I know Santa Barbara, their insurance is a little bit.
Higher because you have to travel, travel further. It's like the nearest hospital, whereas we have a lot of hospitals that are nearby. So we can keep our insurance costs a little bit lower. So that's where you're going to see kind of some of those nuances between the UC campuses. I know it seems confusing because we're all UC, but we do have some campus specific things and that's why you're going to see some differences a little bit in the amounts. That's a great question.
Again, I hope this was helpful to you. I know it's just a lot to unload on you. I do want to encourage you to go to our website that provides a lot of this information for you. But again, if if you know my website doesn't have the the questions, it doesn't have the answer to those questions. There is a chat bot on there that that might also have that for you. But please don't be afraid to call us, don't be afraid to visit us. This is the time of year where we really enjoy.
Kylie
06:37:25 PM
Hello, I haven't received any financial aid notifications or changes even though I've submitted my FAFSA and
UCI is listed.
Rosario Schlinger
06:37:44 PM
Hi Kylie- if you have not received a financial aid offer, the review of your file may not have been completed and missing submission of requested documents in your 23/24 uci.studentforms.com portal
Getting to know our families. So I hope you all have a great day. It's been beautiful weather. It's so nice that it's not raining anymore. I went for a walk this afternoon, so go out there and enjoy the rest of the week and we hope to see you on April 22nd during our celebrate event on campus. It's going to be amazing. So you haven't already registered. Go ahead and do so. And again, it was a pleasure and I just hope you all do great things in your life. And congratulations on being accepted to you, UCI.
Have a great night.
Rebecca Ixchel Perez
06:38:36 PM
Hi Michael-The Registrar's Office is the department that reviews CA Residency requests. https://www.reg.uci.edu/navigation/residency.html
Valerie
06:38:40 PM
where can one purchase books? And is it possible to budget room and board depending on which dorm you choose?
Sebastian
06:39:53 PM
Hello. Could I ask what transportation fees are?
Wes
06:40:08 PM
why is there still fees for room/board if cumuter?
Maricruz
06:40:18 PM
Why is there still a cost for room and board as a commuter?
Satwik
06:40:19 PM
typically how many students live in a dorm room?
Arsh
06:40:24 PM
my questions?
Samira
06:43:51 PM
i declined work study accidentally on my Aid is there a way to reverse it and accept it ? Because it will not let me
Rosario Schlinger
06:44:41 PM
Hi Samira, please call FA office at 949-824-8262 so an advisor can can assist you.
Wafa
06:45:17 PM
If you accept loan offers on your financial aid package, do you have to take those loans out? Or do you just have the option to?
Rebecca Ixchel Perez
06:45:59 PM
Hello Sebastian and Maricruz- These fees in your award letters are just estimates. We take into account that students might have costs on top of housing and tuition fees. This way, IF a student needs aid for these expenses their financial aid package will reflect some of that.
Venecia Flores
06:46:03 PM
Hi Valerie - you can buy books at the Hill (UCI bookstore) and the budget for room and board is an estimate it varies depending on where you are saying on campus and how many roommates.
Rosario Schlinger
06:47:00 PM
Hi Wafa, your financial aid award is what is offered to you. You are not obligated to accept any loans.
Aiden
06:48:27 PM
If no scholarships have been shown in my award letter, does that mean I did not receive any or will those be chosen later?
Rosario Schlinger
06:49:45 PM
Hi Aiden- not necessarily. You can reach out to our scholarship team via email scholarships@uci.edu
Rosario Schlinger
06:50:31 PM
If your questions were not answered, please visit our website at ofas.uci.edu and either make an appointment, call or email us at finaid@uci.edu