Worksheet: compare your financial aid offers and plan a college budget

This page is a planning tool, not financial advice. For how aid works in the first place, see Paying for college in California, whatever your status.

What do the lines on my offer mean?

Every college lays out its offer differently. Learn the words once and you can read any of them. Our glossary of college and aid words has more.

Cost of attendance (COA). The college's estimate of a full year. Federal law (20 U.S.C. 1087ll) says it can include:

Some of these you pay to the college. Others are your own living costs. UC, for example, shows both direct and indirect costs on its cost of attendance page. For UC in 2027-28, campus housing and meals ($21,700) are bigger than tuition ($16,278).

Gift aid. Grants and scholarships. You do not pay them back.

Self help aid. Loans and work. You pay loans back with interest. Work money comes only if you work the hours.

Net cost. Cost of attendance minus gift aid. This is the number that matters.

Which aid is free money?

How do I compare two offers?

Follow these steps for each college. Use Worksheet 1.

1. Copy the full cost of attendance. If the offer leaves out housing or books, take them from the college's cost of attendance page.
2. Fix the estimate for your life. Living at home? Use the college's at home number. Driving instead of the bus? Add gas, insurance and parking. Sending money to family? Add it. The college's estimate is an average, not your life.
3. Add up only gift aid. Grants and scholarships.
4. Subtract. Cost minus gift aid gives your net cost.
5. Plan the rest. Savings, family help, your own work, outside scholarships, and only then loans.
6. Compare net costs side by side, then the things numbers do not show: support for undocumented students, distance from home, and how likely you are to finish on time.

An example (made up). Two offers for fall 2027:

College A's offer looks bigger, $35,000 against $17,000. But College B leaves $6,800 less to cover each year.

What about the next three years?

An offer is usually for one year. Before you choose, ask:

• Does each grant renew? Ask what you must do to keep it: units each term, a grade point average, filing the CA Dream Act Application every year.
• Will costs go up? Ask whether tuition is expected to change and whether housing costs rise after the first year.
• Will I lose campus housing aid if I move off campus?

Use Worksheet 2 to see the total. A $3,000 gap each year is a $12,000 gap by graduation.

Remember to refile each year. The CA Dream Act Application and Cal Grant deadline for 2027-28 is March 2, 2027, or September 2, 2027 for community college students (CSAC).

How do I turn this into a monthly budget?

A yearly number is hard to plan with. Break it down with Worksheet 3.

• Aid usually arrives at the start of each term, not every month. Plan to stretch it.
• Write every monthly cost: rent or what you give your family, food, phone, transportation, books spread across the term, and personal costs.
• Write every monthly source: aid spread by month, family help, work income.
• If costs are bigger than sources, look at the biggest line first. Usually it is housing.

Earning money: a valid work permit (Form I-766) is a List A document for the hiring form employers use (USCIS, I-9 acceptable documents), so DACA recipients with a current permit can be hired, including for campus jobs. Students without a work permit cannot be hired as employees, and Federal Work Study is federal aid, so it is not open to undocumented or DACA students. Some earn through paid fellowships or their own business. Read Earning money without a work permit before you take any paid role, and talk to a free legal helper if unsure.

What if the gap is too big?

Do not turn down a school before you ask.

• Ask for a review. Call or email the financial aid office. Say the offer leaves a gap. Tell them if your family's income dropped or something big changed this year, like a job loss or a parent's detention. Ask what papers they need.
• Ask the Dream Center about campus grants and emergency help for undocumented students. Every community college and Cal State campus must have a Dreamer Resource Liaison who knows financial aid (Education Code 66021.8). Find one near you in Dream Centers in the Bay Area.
• Keep applying for scholarships. See Scholarships, whatever your status.
• Look at a lower cost path. Living at home or starting at a community college and transferring can cut the cost a lot.

What mistakes should I avoid?

• Comparing total aid instead of net cost
• Counting loans or work as free money
• Forgetting your own costs like helping your family or a long commute
• Missing the accept deadline. For UC fall 2027 first year students, it is May 1, 2027 (UC dates).
• Paying a deposit for nonresident tuition you should not owe. Check your AB 540 status first.

Questions people ask

Why is my cost of attendance different from my bill? The bill shows what you pay the college, like tuition and campus housing. The cost of attendance also includes living costs you pay elsewhere.

Can I ask one college to match another's offer? You can ask for a review and share the other offer. The college decides.

Is the California Dream Loan a good idea? It is a loan you must repay. Use it after grants, scholarships and your own work. Ask the aid office for the interest rate and repayment terms in writing.

Who can help?

Contact them to confirm hours, languages and openings. Being listed here is not a referral or a promise of service.

• Each college's financial aid office, to explain any line on your offer
• Your college's Dream Center or Dreamer Resource Liaison (Bay Area list)
• California Student Aid Commission (California): (888) 224-7268, studentsupport@csac.ca.gov (CSAC)

Worksheet 1: read each offer

Worksheet 2: look at four years

Worksheet 3: my monthly budget