Advisory Committee on Student

Financial Assistance

Comments of Chri s Car ter

Univ er si ty of Cal ifor nia
March 7, 2002
Selected UC Numbers

❚ 138,803
❙ 2000-2001 undergraduate enrollment

❚ 9
❙ Number of UC campuses currently enrolling
students

2
Undergraduate Financial Aid
Policy at UC
❚ UC will maintain affordability for
California residents
❚ Financing is the responsibility of a
partnership between
❙ Student
❙ Parents
❙ University and state & federal
governments

3
Need-Based Financial Aid at UC
❚ Nearly half -- 46% -- of undergraduates at
UC received need-based financial
assistance in 2000-2001

❚ Nine of ten need-based aid recipients

received gift assistance

4
Grant Recipients by Source

❚ Undergraduates
❙ Federal Grants: 41,700 recipients
❙ State Grants: 36,200 recipients

❙ UC Grants 42,900 recipients

5
UC’s Institutional Grant Policy

❚ Use grants to keep work and debt levels

manageable
❙ Work fewer than 20 hours weekly while
enrolled and full-time when not enrolled
❙ Limit the need to borrow such that payments
are manageable given average wage of a 1st
year graduate of UC

6
Unmet Need Levels

❚ For 2000-2001, average unmet need was

$2,542

❚ In same year, loan/work levels averaged

about $6,500 for all undergraduates

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Indicators of Success: 1
First-Time Freshman Enrollment Systemwide by
Parent Income, Fall 2000

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
< $30,000 $30,000 - $59,999 $60,000 - $99,999 $100,000+

Series1 22% 24% 25% 29%

8
Indicators of Success: 2

❚ UC compares favorably relative to

other top-ranked institutions in terms
of percent of students who are Pell
eligible.

9
Implications of no Institutional Aid

❚ With no institutional grant program, the

average unmet need of a UC aid recipient
would almost double to $4,879

❚ Loan/work levels would increase by about

$2,300 or one third

10
Economic Recession

❚ Tends to drive up demand for

financial aid

❙ Family incomes tend to be flat or fall

while costs increase
❙ Declining state revenues put pressure
on student fees to increase

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Funding for UC Grants
❚ UC seeks to hold Students harmless
in the face of increasing enrollment
and prospective fee increases

❚ UC policy dedicates one third of all

increases in fee revenue to the
University’s student aid program

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Prospects for 2002-2003
❚ Governor has proposed cutting
support for UC’s financial aid
program by $17 million, or about
10%

❚ A fee increase is not being actively

discussed/considered at this time

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