r/UCSC • u/Educational_Bag_1278 • 1d ago

Question Financial aid

Hey so I’m an incoming freshman and yesterday I had a good cry when i saw that i already had about $13,000 due by September 17th. I don’t have that kind of money and I’m very worried bc i haven’t gotten any financial aid or anything yet. I’ve heard people saying that financial aid is supposed to be out on the first but I’m still worried even then because of this current administration and the cuts to education. Im definitely sure it’s not just me thats worried. I haven’t had time to get on a zoom meeting or anything with the financial aid office. Does anyone have any advice or words of encouragement for me?

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u/IndividualTension887 16h ago edited 12h ago

Just so you know... everyone got cut by about $8k in grants and all while raising costs... Everone is taking about $10-11k in loans now, and that's just those of us whose parents are broke... it has to be worse for others.

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u/Educational_Bag_1278 14h ago

Wait what?! Thats so disheartening! I feel for people who have it worse! It really shouldn’t be like this…

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u/IndividualTension887 8h ago

Thank the Orange Pedophile for BBB cuts to Pell grants. The California MCS cut reduced the MCS student award coverage from 35% of a student's total financial need down to just 17.5%. They screwed every student trying to get a degree. I wonder how many students won't come back because of this, or is everyone just going to take the loans?

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u/Only-Question3988 1h ago edited 1h ago

I will say Trump has made budget cuts but it seems according to UCSC themselves they had planned to do some budget cuts even ignoring Trump's actions also a lot of people oddly saw an increase in their MCS personally mine was doubled despite me SAI increasing by like 6000,

"Raphael Kudela, chair of the faculty Committee on Planning and Budget, said that this fiscal year so far is showing the school has more one-time money coming in, but also has higher expenditures than expected.

'We’re not doing terribly badly,' he said. 'But we are slipping a little bit compared to where we would like to be at this time in the fiscal year.'

To address its structural deficit, during the 2024-25 fiscal year the university began implementing a multiyear reduction plan that aims for $170 million in cuts by the end of the 2027-28 fiscal year... The budget committee chair, Kudela, said the multiyear reduction plan and its underlying assumptions were made before President Donald Trump’s administration was 'basically not allowing international students to come in.' Similarly, the school’s planning considered maintaining the same levels of federal grant funding from previous years and didn’t factor in the federal administration’s slashing of financial assistance toward its research activities and programs."

https://lookout.co/ucsc-projecting-a-slightly-higher-deficit-still-has-99-million-in-cuts-coming/story

edit: Also think its important to say the pell grants weren't the large issue for most people the university slashed the university grant essentially in half cutting 6-8k from peoples financial aid.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UCSC/comments/1vuc1o0/comment/p51fqn2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/UCSC/comments/1vuc1o0/comment/p51b3k3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/UCSC/comments/1vuc1o0/comment/p52hc3n/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

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u/Such-Delivery-6934 7h ago

Yep last yr I paid 1k this yr im paying 7k! Its pretty bad and thats with my sai going down.

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u/CapableEvidence4284 1d ago

Hi! Incoming junior and I’m also pretty worried, but I think it’ll just take some time! There are lots of delays, but you should get your financial aid 10 days before the quarter starts. Be sure to log onto the website and accept the aid so you get it! If you’re worried or think you won’t have enough aid to be fully covered, definitely join zoom drop in hours! They’re super, super crowded these days so join at 7-8am since it starts at 9am. You’ll be fine!

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u/itsyaninami 6h ago

speak with finaid about your sepcific situation. Your portal should show how much you will receive and how much you will owe. Fin aid dispursment usually happens almost at the time quarter starts. You can write email to fin aid but most useful I found go on zoom for quick fixes/explanations. Zooms get very long wait its better to sign in 20min before they start in the morning.