Hearing that schools are cutting resources may cause confusion for students who are currently in college or planning on attending college. That’s the case of 17-year-old Leslye Salinas who was accepted to UC Berkeley and was given enough financial aid to cover her first year – that is, until she also received a $3,000 dollar scholarship. Receiving the scholarship put her previous financial aid package in jeopardy.

Now Salinas is looking into loans, grants, and scholarships just to pay for her first year. Salinas is the first in her family to attend college. Now, her family members are forced to take on second jobs to ensure her education at Cal. She is unsure if her family's financial situation will allow her to study all four years, but one thing she is sure of is her future profession. She wants to become an immigration lawyer.

Below is Salinas’s story and an interview with UC Berkeley Director of financial aid.

Did you ever hesitate to apply to UC Berkeley?
I was very hesitant to apply to UC Berkeley because I know it's a very competitive school. … I kept reading how they were cutting their number of admitted applicants. When I got my letter of acceptance to UC Berkeley on March 26, my financial aid package showed that it wouldn't cost my family anything for me to go TO school and have the college experience of living in the dorm. UC Berkeley started with a package that included work studies, one subsidize loan, two freshman scholarships and a Cal grant.

What happened once you applied for scholarships?
I had applied for scholarships in the fall-as recommended by my college counselor. When those were reported to UC Berkeley, the financial aid package work changed drastically,... making my family pay for part of my tuition, which was unexpected. I found out I had to pay $5,000 dollars after May 1st, which was the deadline to accept or deny any acceptance to school.

What are the ways you are looking into paying for school?
Right now, I have unsubsidized loans I'll be committing too, which I didn't have before the budget cuts, which is a bad thing because I'm stuck with UC Berkeley. I love the school, but if my family can't afford it, then I will have to withdraw for the next semester. My grandma has been saving a lot for college but she'd worry: If she has to pay that much my freshman year, how much will she have to pay for all four years that 'm at Cal? I've considered not living on campus, however, when I sat down with all the numbers and saw how much it would cost me to live at home and how much it would cost me to live on campus, it turned out to be better on campus for the simple fact that I'll be there and if I need extra help, it will be easier. However, I don't think I'll be living on campus my second year.

How will you pay for the rest of your college years?
It's been hard to think about my third or fourth year at Cal. My grandma is worried that even if we have money saved up, it might run out. I have applied to several jobs right now, and I'm working right now. However, my job is not accessible from school, so I'm trying to look for an on campus job right now, which is kind of hard at this time because I can't apply until the fall when all the students are applying for the same type of jobs.

How is your family dealing with this?
When the conversation of how I'll finish paying for school has come about with my family, half of the time it has been like, it would be either dropping out of school or considering becoming more in debt. Every time we've talked about this, it's always ended up with -- why would I drop out, knowing that I'm first generation. It's depending on how much I can get and how much in debt I would I have to go in. I think it would have a lot to do with me dropping out or not, because I really do want to finish something at Cal.

According to the Director of Financial Aid at Cal, Cheryl Resh, Salinas’s situation is not connected to the buget cuts. It’s federal regulation.

Does Cal reduce student's financial aid (contribution from school) once a student reports another form of income -- like earning scholarships?

Yes see http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/undergraduates/adjustments.htm Students can only have up to the cost of attendance at the college they are attending – including all outside scholarships. This is a federal regulation. Students can do a budget appeal if their costs exceed the individual items from the cost of attendance. http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/home/cost.htm

Once a student has been notified about the kind financial help the school can provide, is this notification final or should the student expect changes, like a change in the financial aid package that might increase how much the family must contribute?

We reduce subsidized loan and work before other institutional grants and scholarships.

Is there a way for students to know if the changes in their financial aid package is related to budget cuts (or would the same changes have occurred regardless of the economic crisis)?

No relationship. We have made no changes to aid packages because of the budget yet – only if Governor makes a change to what the legislature sent up for his signature – will we have to do anything different at this time.

When and how does a student get notification that his/her financial aid has fbeen reduced or taken away?

Every time we make a change we send an email. They should always watch for our emails and not delete them before reading.

Has Cal reduced their number of applicants or number of acceptances do to the budget cuts?

No.

Understanding budget cuts can be hard, especially when all students hear about are layoffs, programs being cut, and decreasing the number of students enrolling. Students can easily get confused between UC and CSU’s budget cuts. This is when college counselor’s advice is mostly needed. Students are finding themselves lost between understanding their financial aid rules and what they hear on the news about budget cuts.
 

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