Hey y’all! My name is Eddie, I am currently a third year student at UCLA, double majoring in Sociology and Geography. I am from Montebello, California and so excited to use this video to talk to yall about affordability at UCLA.

But first, I just want to give you all a huge congratulations for getting accepted into UCLA! it is an extremely important milestone in your lives and not only am I proud of you, but so is everyone around you whether it be your parent, siblings, friends, or whoever inspires you! You finally made it, and now its time for the most important part, choosing where you want to go. I do want to acknowledge that whatever choice you make on where you want to pursue your education, is 100% valid! So with that being said, I want to introduce you all to a couple terms related to paying for your education. I know that school can be expensive and everyone’s financial situation is different but at UCLA we like to think of paying for your education as an investment in your future!!

Lets start with Financial Aid! Financial aid is the money used specifically for students to pursue higher education. There are four types of aid you can receive and i’ll tell you a bit about those.

First off, we have grants, Grants are money specifically from the government that you do not have to pay back! So this is free money that is given to you based on your household income used to pay for your tuition at the college you decide to attend. A few of our most popular grants are the Blue and Gold Grant, the Pell Grant, the Cal Grant, and the Middle class scholarship. Like i said earlier, these are all based on your household income, so for example, the Blue and Gold Grant will pay two years of full tuition to anyone whose household income is under $100,000. And every grant has different requirements but these are awarded to you based on your FAFSA or the financial aid application you had to complete earlier this year.

Then we have Scholarships, I’m pretty sure most of you have heard of scholarships but to reiterate, MORE FREE MONEY! Except scholarships are merit based, meaning they are based off of your own achievements whether it be academic, sports-related, or identity based. A few good websites to check out for scholarships are College Board or Sallie Mae. UCLA even has their own scholarships resource center to help identify which scholarships you qualify for.

Next, is Student loans. Loans are not as awesome as scholarships or grants because this is money that you do have to pay back! Every loan has different terms so my bet advice is to make sure you understand what each loan offers. Some loans have lower interest rates than most and some you don’t have to start paying back until after you graduate. One of the really good things about loans is that most, if not all, are on a payment plan specifically tailored to what you can pay. I also just want to say that if you have to take out loans that’s totally fine, but in terms of paying them back, I recommend only taking the loans that you absolutely need.

Finally, we have work study which is jobs specifically allocated for students to pay for the living expenses that college requires. There are so many different types of work study jobs ranging from office, to store assistants, to campus security. I have a job that works directly with high school outreach and helping students in underserved communities access higher education. These work study jobs are extremely helpful in paying for the living expenses that come with college life and they provide you with great experience for your future careers!

Well that’s all I got for you! I hope this was useful and I hope y’all have an amazing college journey! I hope to see some of you next fall! Good luck and once again, Congratulations!!