ESS 708: Financial Aid FAQs

Laura Vogt:
Hello and welcome to The Not So Secret Guide to Being a Berkeley Engineer. My name is Laura Vogt, I’m the associate director for marketing and communications for the College of Engineering and your podcast host. And so every year I make sure that we include a podcast about financial aid and we update it and make sure it’s all the most up-to-date information for you. And we’re lucky to have Joseph Sell, the assistant director from Financial Aid & Scholarships Office here with us again. Hi Joe, welcome to the podcast.

Joseph Sell:
Hey Laura, thanks so much for having me. So glad to be back again this year. Looking forward to it.

Laura Vogt:
Why don’t you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit more about what your role is at UC Berkeley.

Joseph Sell:
Absolutely. So yeah, again, my name is Joe Sell. I use he/ him pronouns. I’m an assistant director in our Financial Aid & Scholarships Office counseling unit. And so I work with our team of counselors. We are here to support students with all of their financial aid questions. We offer advising, really just support through really any questions that are coming up. We also do a lot of the background work as well. We’re reviewing appeals, looking at financial aid documents, really just doing all the processing, awarding, but also advising as well. So really we are the center of financial aid office here on campus and happy to support.

Laura Vogt:
Thank you again for coming. I think this is our fourth year of doing this together.

Joseph Sell:
I think so, yeah.

Laura Vogt:
So this year I have a different perspective because my niece is going to college and so we’ve been going through the financial aid process with her, and it seems like there’s a lot more to it since the thousands of years ago that I went through the process. So let’s start with the beginning. What determines a student’s financial aid eligibility?

Joseph Sell:
Yeah, so the very, very first step would be the student needs to complete their financial aid application. Here in California we have two different financial aid applications. The first is the FAFSA, which is your Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This is the application for students who are US citizens, permanent residents, or an eligible non-citizen, which means that they have been granted some other immigration status. Students can apply for the FAFSA for consideration for federal, state and university financial aid. We also have the California Dream Act Application. So if students do not meet the citizenship requirement for the FAFSA, but do meet the requirements for what’s called the AB 540 non-resident tuition exemption. Generally students who, again, may not be US citizens but have lived in California, perhaps graduated from a California high school, have lived here for usually at least three years or so. There are different requirements that can qualify student as AB 540, but those students can file the California Dream Act Application.
Both applications are identical in the questions they ask. And so that’s really the starting point. We use the information from those applications, which is generally information like the parent’s income, the student’s income, financial resources that the student or their parent have, particularly if the student is considered dependent, number of individuals in the household, so if the student has any siblings that their parents support. All these questions are asked by the FAFSA and it outputs what’s called an Expected Family Contribution, or an EFC. That number is what we use for really determining how much and what types of financial aid a student can receive. And so really that’s the very, very first step, is just to complete that application, and then that would be then what we would use for creating a financial aid award offer.
I will say, since you mentioned this is the most up-to-date, there are definitely some changes coming for next year to the FAFSA, and as well the California Dream Act Application to mirror that. We are still receiving updates from Department of Ed sort of regularly, but we do know the FAFSA is going to be changing. It should be available roughly around January, so far as what we’ve been told. The main difference is that the EFC is going to be called a Student Aid Index moving forward, but a lot of the changes are really designed to simplify it for the student, so to make the application a little bit easier for students and families to complete. So we’re optimistic these are positive changes. We are just waiting for more updates and more of that will be out as that information becomes available.

Laura Vogt:
Changes are always fun.

Joseph Sell:
Always, so many changes, always fun.

Laura Vogt:
So is it too late for students to look into getting financial aid?

Joseph Sell:
It is not. I will say the FAFSA and the California Dream Act Application have a state deadline. Each state sets their own deadline. That is March 2nd of each year, and so technically the deadline for 23/24 was March 2nd. Now that does not mean that students cannot still apply. Students can definitely apply after that deadline. Really that deadline is primarily for consideration for specific state programs, like the Cal Grant for example. So students who file by that deadline will also be in consideration for programs like the Cal Grant, but students who apply after that deadline can still be considered for federal, state and university aid all the same. So my suggestion would be if a student has not yet applied, to still go ahead and submit their application for 23/24, that’s what we will use for rewarding financial aid starting in fall 2023, spring 24, and then the following summer 24.
What I will say is that if students are interested in taking summer classes, particularly if they are to be coming in as a freshman and want to take classes before they begin, if they want to receive financial aid, they need to make sure to complete their 22/23 FAFSA. That is the one that we’re still using for students who have been attending classes starting this last fall. That still covers summer 2023, and so if students are beginning in summer 2023, and would like to receive financial aid, they do need to make sure to complete that application. That one does have a bit more of a closer coming deadline. The application does officially close on June 30th. Department of Ed does take it off of the website. And so if students are interested in applying for financial aid for the summer, they do just want to make sure to complete that FAFSA or that Dream Act Application as soon as possible.

Laura Vogt:
And are there options available for students, because it’s such an early deadline for March, if something happened after you applied? And I know it’s using the year before’s income anyway, so are there things that you could do if your financial circumstances have changed since you were accepted to Berkeley, and since the values that were used when you applied?

Joseph Sell:
Absolutely. Yeah, so you’re right, so the FAFSA or Dream Act Application are using income from two years prior. So for this upcoming year for 23/24, it is looking at the family’s income from 2021. Certainly acknowledge that there are a lot of things that can change in those two years, and so it is certainly possible that that FAFSA or Dream Act Application is using income that the family may no longer have, or that may just no longer represent the family’s ability to contribute. And so for that we have what’s called an EFC Appeal. Of course the name will probably change as the FAFSA changes as well, but the purpose is still the same. This is really our opportunity to review changes in the family’s income or their circumstances. So say for example that a parent has lost a job, or is working fewer hours than they were in 2021, their income might certainly be less than what the FAFSA reflects or the Dream Act Application reflects.
And so we can use that EFC Appeal as an opportunity to review that more current income. So we might ask for a copy of the family’s 2022 tax return, or something that documents that decrease or change in income. This could also be just other expenses the family is experiencing that are possibly creating financial hardships. So if the family is incurring a significant amount of out-of-pocket medical expenses that insurance can’t cover or something like that, there are other things we can also take a look at to try to adjust the EFC and try to account for those changes. Any adjustments we make typically would be a reduction to the EFC in this case. And the purpose of that is to try to offer more need-based financial aid. That could be grants, could be scholarships, could be work-study, it could be subsidized student loans, which we’ll talk about I think a little bit later. But I would definitely encourage if there has been any change in the family circumstances for students to consider that Expected Family Contribution Appeal so that we can try to review a more current picture of their income.
Something else I’ll mention as well, we also have a process or a form called a Cost of Attendance Adjustment Request. So what this is for is taking a second look at what’s called our estimated cost of attendance. When students look at their CalCentral and they’re looking at their award package, they will see something that is called that Cost of Attendance. Now what that is, is that’s really reflective of what we estimate to be all of the student’s total costs to attend UC Berkeley for a year. That does include tuition and fees, health insurance, or the items that are charged, but it also includes a lot of items that are not billed to students, but we still know that students have. So books and supplies, living expenses, food, transportation, personal expenses, which is just more miscellaneous. We factor all of these items in, in determining how much total financial aid a student can receive.
Now, we recognize these are estimates and so it’s certainly possible the student’s actual expense might be greater than that. For example, if we budget that an average in rent for a student living off campus is around $1,300, but a student’s rent might be $1,600, we have an option and a process, this Cost of Attendance Adjustment, to make sure that actually reflects the actual cost the student has. And then therefore we can then offer additional student aid. Usually it’s work-study or student loans, but we can at least offer additional resources to try to meet those additional costs that a student has.

Laura Vogt:
And I know student loans have been such a hot topic for the last couple of years across the nation. Do you have any advice for students trying to figure out if they should take the loan, all of the loans, that are offered?

Joseph Sell:
Yeah, the first thing I would say, is just to demystify student loans a little bit, and that student loans are another form of financial aid to support with expenses. One thing we often hear is that financial aid is often thought of as just grants and scholarships, and financial aid is much more of a blanket term for other sources as well, a student loans, work-study, just really other resources that are there to support with the student’s educational expenses. Now that said, student loans do require repayment and so we do want to make sure that students are borrowing responsibly. The first thing I would say is just get an idea of what your actual need is going to be. Add up all of your total expenses for the year. The cost of attendance is a really great support structure to look at budgets and get an idea of what your budget might be.
But students will know what their expenses are best, and so they’ll know if their grants are not enough to cover their rent for the year, or the semester or something like that. I would encourage students to find out what is that shortfall, what is the amount that I still need? And then look into borrowing that from their student loans. Now student loans can be accepted multiple times throughout the year. So if you only need, for example, a little bit of loan at a time, you’re not required to accept all of the loan that has been offered to you. If you have a $2,000 loan offer and you only need $500, that’s an option, and the remaining 1500 would still be there later on. So that’s another thing too, is maybe just borrow what you need in the short term, and then if additional expenses come up later, you will still have the opportunity to borrow from those student loans later on down the line.

Laura Vogt:
And what is the difference between the type of loans that a student could be offered?

Joseph Sell:
Yeah, so I will say that CalCentral, when we offer student loans in the award package, it’s designed to offer loans the top to the bottom of the aid package in the order most preferable to least preferable. And so to give some context there, the different kinds of student loans that a student might see. The first is called a Federal Subsidized Loan. This is a federal student loan. It is actually typically the most preferable student loan that can be used. And what makes it preferable is that the subsidized loan does not accrue any interest while the student is enrolled in school. So for example, let’s say back to that previous example, a student just needs $500 to maybe just cover a last little bit of rent. If the student is able to repay that next year, or a couple of years, or before they graduate, they’re still paying exactly what they borrowed. There’s no interest accrued. They don’t have to pay anything additional for that, it’s the exact amount they borrowed. And so really the subsidized loan is the best option first.
Now recognizing that may not be enough to cover those additional expenses, and so then we would look at the Federal Unsubsidized Loan. Really the main difference between these two types is that the unsubsidized loan does begin to accrue interest once it disperses to the student. So in that same example, for $500, that student might be repaying a little bit more than they borrowed if they’re repaying it in the next year or two, even if they’re repaying it before they graduate. Now what I will say is that federal loans do not require repayment until six months after the student graduates, or otherwise leaves the university, like withdrawing. And so while students are enrolled, they’re not required to make payments on these loans.
For the ones that are accruing interest, if they’d like, they certainly can at least pay on the interest to keep it down, but it’s not a requirement or an expectation. And once students pass what’s called a six-month grace period after they leave the university, then they will begin repayment on their student loans. And I will say as well, I mentioned earlier that subsidized loans are… The eligibility is determined by the FAFSA. So some students may not have access to subsidized loans depending on their eligibility. So I just do want to share that. But if that loan is not available, that is one that is determined by the FAFSA.
Another loan that students might see is called a Federal Parent PLUS Loan. So dependent students in particular, if they have been offered all of their federal student loan eligibility, they’ll see a loan called a Parent PLUS Loan. This is a loan that their parent can borrow on their behalf if the parent chooses to do so. The parent does have to actually fill out an application through the studentaid.gov website. So there is additional steps the parent has to take. I will say there is a credit check that’s included in that. So it’s a little bit different, where student loans don’t require that credit check the Parent PLUS Loan does. But that is an option. It does typically have less restriction on how much a parent can borrow, whereas the student loans are a little more restricted. So that’s another option that students might see where a parent may be able to borrow on their behalf.
Now of course there are other loans. We do have some university loans, like a Berkeley Loan, a Summer Sessions Loan for students taking classes over the summer. These are also subsidized loans, so if students see these university loans like a Berkeley Loan, these are also great options as well. And lastly, there are private loans, which are not federal student loans. They don’t have a lot of the same benefits that a federal loan or a university loan would offer, but it is still an option nonetheless. So if students find maybe a gap in their award package, or just that they need those additional loans, private loans are also an option that they can apply for separately through outside lenders, and we do have a list of suggested lenders we typically work with on the Financial Aid website.

Laura Vogt:
Okay, thank you. We talked, or you mentioned, work-study a couple of times. So what does it mean if a student has the option of work-study?

Joseph Sell:
Work-study is really an opportunity for a student to earn through employment while they’re on campus, particularly through this program. And so some of the benefits to work-study, I will say work-study functions very similarly to a regular job. It does not pay like financial aid through the student’s account. The student gets a paycheck in hand, just like a regular work position. Some of the flexibilities that work-study has are first off that there are a lot of employers that only hire through work-study. And so students that are eligible for work-study do have additional employment opportunities that are available to them. Work-study employers also know that their employees are students first, and so they are often much more flexible with work hours, with really just understanding that the student’s studies are their priority, as opposed to their role as an employee.
And so work-study does have a lot of those additional benefits. So yeah, I would just really encourage if a student does have a work-study offer, they’ll typically see a link above that offer in their award package that just says Find a Job, they can click on that and it will take them directly to the work-study website. Again, they have to have a work-study offer to access that website, so it is really specifically for eligible students, but that’s really an opportunity, for every year they have that, to seek out those jobs.
And I would say it’s not an obligation either, especially students coming in as a freshman, they may not want to work just yet and while they’re getting used to their course load and getting used to Berkeley. So if work-study is there, it’s really just an opportunity, but it’s by no means an obligation. And if students don’t want to use work-study but perhaps with additional student loans, we can always move that around from work-study to loan eligibility. And often in many cases vice versa, if a student has a subsidized loan they do not want, but they are interested in work-study, often we can change that into work-study eligibility as well.

Laura Vogt:
Yeah, I had a student assistant for the last couple of years that’s a work-study position and it’s really nice to be able to work around their schedule, and when it’s finals week you know that you’re really not going to see anybody.

Joseph Sell:
Yeah, absolutely. It’s a great experience too. It’s really just a great opportunity. And again, even just having that flexibility with perhaps lesser hours, it’s still just a really great opportunity to get job experience, that you can put on a resume, and have that moving forward. And often it’s very easy to balance your student responsibilities, especially if it’s a job that only works a few amount of hours a week or so. So yeah, it’s just a really great opportunity for students to earn some additional income while they’re here.

Laura Vogt:
Now, is there anything that could affect the grants that a student is given? Is there something tracking how they’re doing on their academics?

Joseph Sell:
Yes. In Financial Aid we have something that’s called Satisfactory Academic Progress, it’s often referred to as SAP. This is really our responsibility to make sure that students are meeting a specific path and trajectory to graduation. And so really what that means is that there are three requirements a student must be meeting. We check these every year at the end of the spring semester and this is required in order to continue receiving most sources of financial aid, grants, scholarships, work-study, federal student loans, et cetera. And those requirements are that a student must have a 2.0 GPA or higher if they’re undergraduate, a graduate would need 3.0 GPA or higher. They must complete at least 67% of all of their cumulatively attempted units here at Berkeley. And that does include transfer units, so transfer units are considered completed, and units they’ve brought in. And then they can’t attempt more than 180 units, which again includes transfer units.
And so as long as students are following those three criteria when we check each spring, they will continue to be eligible for financial aid. Now of course there are other measures as well. The student does have to also be in good standing with their college. I will say that that academic standing and SAP are two different measures. So it is certainly possible that a student could meet one but not the other. And so they do still also have to be in good standing with their college, and they do still have to have graduation requirements to complete.
One thing I will say is often students will ask about a very last semester where they may want to go study abroad, but they have actually completed all of their graduation requirements, in some cases that final semester may not be eligible because the student can graduate. So just a little pointer here too, if students are interested in study abroad for example, that is definitely something we offer financial aid for. But it’s good to meet with your advisor early and plan for when to schedule a study abroad or other sort of activities you want to participate in, in order to make sure that financial aid can help cover those.

Laura Vogt:
Study abroad is such an awesome opportunity. It’s the one thing that I wish I had done when I was in college.

Joseph Sell:
Same. I wish I had done it too. But yeah, it’s such a great opportunity. I will say we have a team of counselors that work specifically with study abroad, and so they’re there to basically handle and answer any and all questions related to financial aid while abroad, and through the EAP program, or just through one of the Berkeley Summer Abroad, as well, programs. So yeah, if students have questions about study abroad, I would also encourage them just to reach out to us and find out more about that opportunity.

Laura Vogt:
Awesome. So what’s a good starting point if a student wants to see if there’s still scholarships out there?

Joseph Sell:
One starting place I would recommend, and there are many resources, I think where I would maybe start is one website we have, which is just scholarships.berkeley.edu. This page has changed a little bit, but it is still a great landing space for just beginning the scholarship search. There are some resources that website offers that are scholarships, there are also just more support resources in finding a scholarships that that website has information about. So that’s one place I would start, would just be checking out that website. But I will say that scholarships are of course not Berkeley specific. There are scholarships all year round all across the country that students can apply for. There are more general national databases, like Fastweb, that have these resources.
As general as it sounds, Google is a great resource as well. There are lots of scholarship opportunities out there that are maybe not linked from one of our websites but are still an opportunity all the same. Also, I will say that there are many scholarship opportunities often in the community. So reaching out to if your parent’s employer may offer scholarships, or a community group, or a church, or somebody you may be associated with that may also offer these different scholarships. And so it’s worth just asking, just seeing around and seeing what’s available within the community as well. But yes, I would definitely recommend that scholarships.berkeley.edu website as a starting place.
Some things I’ll say about scholarships, just more in general, you can apply for scholarships all year round. One thing we hear is that students often think of scholarships as just something they apply for before their freshman year, and students can apply for scholarships every year and throughout the year. There are a lot of scholarships that might begin their applications halfway through the year. And so really just checking on these opportunities pretty much all throughout the student’s time at Berkeley. Another thing I’ll say is that it should always be free to apply for a scholarship, so if you do see an application that asks for a payment to apply, definitely do not move forward with that scholarship, that may not actually be a legitimate scholarship program. And so really just to encourage to make sure that whenever you’re applying that you are applying for free scholarships. These are actually the scholarships that you should be seeking out.

Laura Vogt:
And so the payout of loans and scholarships is usually what? Like a week before classes actually start?

Joseph Sell:
That’s right.

Laura Vogt:
And you have to make that last through the whole semester, so do you have budgeting tips and tools?

Joseph Sell:
That’s right, yeah. So just a little about disbursement to which you mentioned. So we do disperse financial aid, and generally that is the total of a semester’s grants and scholarships, any loans the student has already accepted, any other outside scholarships that might be in place. We disperse all of those 10 days before the semester begins, and that’s both fall and the spring, as well as summer actually. Now that is before due dates, and so the purpose is to make sure that students receiving financial aid have their tuition and fees, as much as possible, covered well before that due date.
And then at that point students who maybe are living off campus, for example, if their financial aid is in excess of their total charges, that will be issued to the student essentially as a refund. And so one thing I would suggest is to make sure that students set up a direct deposit account in their CalCentral. That’s just one way to make sure that if there is an eligible refund from aid that that does get to the student as soon as possible. And like you mentioned, anything that they receive at the beginning of the semester is really intended to last through the whole semester. So for example, for the fall, if a student receives a refund from their aid at the end of August, that is intended for all of their costs through December, and then we disperse aid again in the spring and in January. So you’re right, there is a requirement and a responsibility in budgeting that out. Now we do have some resources to assist with that.
The first I would recommend is called our Bears for Financial Success, abbreviated our BFFS. So that is a resource on campus. They are our student financial wellness program. They are students, they’re peer mentors, who have a lot of personal experience with budgeting and their own personal finances. And so they advise from that personal experience and they support students, again as a free service, to help with just more of those budgeting tools and questions. That’s not just budgeting, financial aid refunds, but also just other general questions like managing credit card debt, or just seeking out other personal budgeting tools that students can use more sustainably. So really one really great resource for students that just maybe want additional assistance with that budgeting process.
Another tool, it’s an online tool that Bears for Financial Success can also refer to, is called iGrad. I think it’s also linked from CalCentral as well. And that’s just a more online personal budgeting tool. Again, free for students, that’s available for them. So there are tools, both through CalCentral, as well as in-person with the BFFS, but the BFFS do offer office hours. They have drop-in advising. So you can really just search BFFS on the Financial Aid website and that’ll take you to where you can schedule time with them, just to have any of those budgeting conversations if those are helpful.

Laura Vogt:
And as we get closer to the beginning of the semester, students might end up seeing something that says CNP, so what does that mean? Is that something that they need to be concerned with?

Joseph Sell:
Yeah, well, I will say good news is at least it looks like CNP is suspended through Spring 24, so at least for this upcoming year, students should not have to worry about that. But let’s still talk about it because it may still come up in the future, and I think it’s still important to know. CNP is a Registrar’s office policy, it stands for Cancellation for Non-Payment. What CNP means essentially is that students are typically required to pay at least 20% of their tuition and fees in order to be officially registered for the semester. Now, I will say that is actually still important regardless of CNP. Students want to make sure they do have that official registration, that way they have full access to all of their student services on campus. Things like the RSF for example, will require that a student is officially registered to access.
So even without CNP, that is still something that students need to take into consideration. Now what I will say is that students who are receiving financial aid, we do disperse financial aid well before those deadlines. And so if a student has enough financial aid to cover their tuition fees, then really CNP and this official registration really wouldn’t be much to be concerned about, because financial aid will address that for them. But if they do not have enough to cover their tuition fees, or perhaps there’s a delay in their financial aid dispersing, maybe there are still tasks they need to complete, or their application is not yet complete, they just want to be mindful to make sure that they do at least make arrangements for that 20%, so they do have full access to all of their student services. But the short answer to your question, CNP, it’s currently suspended, but that would be a cancellation in the event that a student was not able to pay that fee requirement.

Laura Vogt:
You had talked about students keeping track of their tasks that need to be completed for financial aid. So where is that task list found?

Joseph Sell:
Yeah, students will have what’s called a CalCentral portal, and CalCentral is really their main hub for not just financial aid but also academics. They’ll see their grades there, they’ll see their student account, so their bill if they owe any tuition, they’ll see a summary of their financial aid. There are a lot of other links to just more other campus resources. They even just update their personal information like their phone number there. So it’s really a main hub for a lot of student information. But financial aid specifically does a lot of communication and making these requirements available through CalCentral. So what I would say is for students to get familiar with CalCentral, I’m just signing into it, taking a look at their award package. When a student signs in, if they click the My Finances tab on the top of the page, it’ll take them to the initial summary of their financial information, which typically includes their bill, as well as just general information like their profile, their SAP status, that sort of thing.
There will be a View Awards button in the middle of the page. If the student clicks that, that then digs more into their specific financial aid information. They’ll see their award package, they’ll see their cost of attendance that we talked about earlier, but also they’ll see any tasks that are required of them. And so this could be, for example, if their aid application, their FAFSA or the Dream Act Application, is selected for a process called verification. This is common where Department of Ed or the state require us to just make sure all the information on that application is correct and accurate. In some cases, we’re required to do that before we can disperse financial aid to a student. There may just be other items we need to clarify. If there’s concerns about eligibility or something that the FAFSA can’t confirm, that we just need to do some additional work to confirm, students may see these tasks appear in their CalCentral.
And so in general, I would say, just a good habit to keep an eye on that left side of that page where any tasks would be. If there’s nothing to do, it’ll just say completed. Everything will be tucked into it nicely, there won’t be anything outstanding. And that’s the good thing, that’s what you want to see. But if you do ever see anything that says incomplete or assigned, it’s a new task, if you have questions about it, definitely let us know. There should be information of course about that task, but really that’s where students want to look to make sure their file is complete and everything is good to go for their financial aid to disperse.

Laura Vogt:
And is there anything that a student can do if they find themselves in need of an emergency fund?

Joseph Sell:
Yeah, we have a number of emergency programs on campus that can support students in this place. The first I’ll mention is the Basic Needs Center on campus. We have a really great relationship with the Basic Needs Center and really they are here to support students who may be experiencing housing or food insecurity, or perhaps have concerns about potentially meeting that insecurity. And so for example, if a student has an emergency that comes up and that maybe does pull their resources away, that they are a bit short on rent, or perhaps are maybe experiencing food insecurity, the Basic Needs Center is there to support. They are there to both connect to resources, but also in some cases they may be able to provide additional support to help, if that’s applicable, to help with their emergency. The Basic Needs Center has a food pantry also. So there are some resources there just in case students are finding themselves facing insecurity there.
But that is one resource on campus. Another that we have through Financial Aid is called the Emergency Loan Program. It is not a student loan, it’s a little bit different than that. Students can apply for this through their CalCentral. Essentially what this is, is the student would be borrowing against their student account. So let’s just say that a student needs a short-term $500. They could apply for a $500 emergency loan. That would both issue them a refund for $500 to help with that emergency cost, but would also bill their student account for $500. Now, this is not a typical loan, it doesn’t accrue any interest or anything like that. It’s basically just a charge on the student account that needs to be paid in order to make sure they can continue to enroll in classes and that sort of thing. So it is an option. I would say it’s more of sort of the last choice option if nothing else is available, just because, again, charging the student account is not always preferable. But again, it is an option that’s there if the students need it.
But lastly, I would also say just it’s good to check in with us in Financial Aid first. We can always review and see what resources are available to you. Perhaps there are student loans that are not being utilized, or perhaps there are other opportunities that we can help connect the student with. And so it’s always good I think also just to check in with us in Financial Aid if there ever is any sort of concern or emergency concern, and we can help refer to Basic Needs or the Emergency Loan Program, or otherwise just help identify any other solutions that might be helpful.

Laura Vogt:
Excellent. Is there anyone, if the student wants to sit down and actually talk to somebody about what they’re seeing on their financial aid portal?

Joseph Sell:
Yes, definitely. We have a number of ways that students can get in contact with us. The first is Cal Student Central. So Cal Student Central is our team of advisors that are in Sproul Hall. They have a bunch of knowledge about financial aid, but they also have a bunch of knowledge about other topics like the Registrar’s office, adding and dropping classes, billing questions, even some questions about admissions. They really are a wealth of knowledge about a number of topics on campus. And so they do offer in-person as well as phone advising. There’s a number of ways to get in contact with them. They do have hours in Sproul Hall, so 120 Sproul is where their office is located. They have in-person hours on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. And so really I would say the first starting place, if a student has just a general question or does just want to sit down in person with somebody and chat about their awards or their questions, I would definitely suggest Cal Student Central first.
Now we also in the Financial Aid Office partner very closely with Cal Student Central. And so in many cases, if it’s just a more specific financial aid conversation, that maybe needs a little more counseling, or just needs a bit more of an in-depth conversation, our office does have financial aid counselors, and we would also take time to sit down with the student and chat about their questions. Now we do a lot of our advising remotely at this point, so a lot of that would be callbacks. But we do also offer options for Zoom, other ways to get in contact with the students. We also offer satellite hours as well.
So we partner with the Basic Need Center, we do have counselors that do advising just through the Basic Need Center. We have partnerships with other offices on campus like EOP, the Undocumented Students program, the Student Parent Center, and so we do also offer additional advising for students in various communities on campus as well. But I would definitely say the first starting place would be Cal Student Central. They also have what’s called a virtual front desk. So if students can’t come in person, but they just want to get routed to the best person to answer their questions, they can sign at a virtual front desk and they’ll be routed either to Cal Student Central or Financial Aid, the Registrar’s office, whoever can best answer their questions.

Laura Vogt:
And what is your most important advice for students as they embark on this financial aid journey of college?

Joseph Sell:
Although it sounds kind of basic, I will say one of my biggest piece of advice is to get comfortable checking email, and to get in the habit of checking email. I will say that here at the university, a lot of offices communicate through email, and us in Financial Aid very much do that. And honestly, it’s because it’s the best way for us to communicate very broadly to tens of thousands of students that we’re reaching out to every day. And so I really, really encourage students to begin getting in the habit of checking specifically their Berkeley email, because we do send a lot of communications, and often a lot of important communications through email. And in addition to checking CalCentral, like we talked about earlier, and just getting in the habit of just checking in on your financial aid awards, if things look different, reaching out and asking. But really email is a tool we use a lot, and really, I would just suggest students to get in the habit of checking that.

Laura Vogt:
Is there anything that we missed in our discussion today?

Joseph Sell:
The other thing I would say too is just to make sure students know that we are available. And again, outside of checking email, we are here to answer questions all the same. And I will say financial aid is just complicated by nature, and we recognize that. And there are really no bad questions to ask, and so I really encourage if there is any question at all, about even from just filing the FAFSA to account transactions, or just really anything that’s a little more mystifying about financial aid, please, please do not hesitate to contact us to reach out to Cal Student Central, reach out to us in Financial Aid. We do really want to support and we want to help, again, demystify as much as we can, and try to make the financial aid experience as seamless as possible.

Laura Vogt:
Thank you so much today for stopping by and giving us all this amazing information.

Joseph Sell:
Absolutely. I’m so glad to be here, it’s so good to talk to you again, Laura.

Laura Vogt:
I have so much to take back to my family now.

Joseph Sell:
Oh, good. I’m glad I could help. I’m glad I could help.

Laura Vogt:
So financial aid is… It’s just such an important part of college planning and I know that there’s just so many questions, so thank you, thank you, thank you.

Joseph Sell:
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Laura Vogt:
So the websites that you mentioned and all the other links that you shared today are going to be on our podcast page, on our website, at engineering.berkeley.edu/esspodcast. And thank you everyone for tuning in this week, and we’ll be back next week with even more tips and resources. Bye.