Financial Aid

Don’t let the cost of a UC education keep you from applying. UC offers an extensive financial aid program because we want every student we admit to be able to attend regardless of economic circumstances. In fact, most undergraduates receive some financial assistance, including grants, loans, work-study awards and scholarships.

Understanding Grants

UC, like many colleges and universities throughout the country, uses a federal formula for determining your grant assistance. The calculation is based on financial information you and your parents supply on your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Depending on your parents' income, you may qualify for grants. University students receive grant awards through many programs, including the Federal Pell Grant, the Cal Grant and UC’s University Student Aid Program (USAP). Among USAP grants is the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, which will cover your statewide fees for four years (two years if you’re a transfer student) if you’re a California resident and your family’s income is less than $70,000 a year. If you qualify for additional aid, you will also receive grants to help pay for books, housing and transportation.

Our grant program is designed to ensure that students need to work no more than part time while enrolled and can keep borrowing within reasonable limits so that payments upon graduation are manageable. Because they don't have to be repaid, grants directly lower the cost of UC for many undergraduates.

Paying Your Share

The chart below illustrates the net cost in 2009-10 for four California-resident students with different financial resources. Net cost is the price of attendance after need-based grants are taken into account. Their families paid their net costs using a variety of means. Most students and their families use a combination of current earnings and savings to pay their share of the cost of a college education. For many families, though, the combination of savings and earnings isn’t enough to cover all of their net costs. UC families have access to several financing tools, including student and parent loans, subsidized part-time student jobs and deferred payment plans.

Loans: UC administers loan programs to help students and parents finance the cost of attendance. The best loans are from federal programs that charge competitive interest rates and delay the start of repayment until six months after you stop attending school. Students at all income levels can borrow from the unsubsidized loan program, and there is a federal loan program (PLUS) for parents.

Employment: Many students put earnings from summer jobs toward covering their net cost. In addition, part-time jobs are available on and off campus during the school year for students who are eligible to work in the United States. Each UC campus has a student employment office that compiles job listings and helps students find work. Most UC students earn between $8 and $12 per hour.

Federal work-study funds help employers pay for part of the salaries for student workers, but jobs are available to students whether or not they are awarded any work-study funds.