Academic Competitiveness Grant dilemma

Paying for College
1

<p>I'm having a problem with getting the ACG, could anyone give me some advice? Here's my situation:</p>

<p>I am going to be a sophomore at Cal this fall. My freshman year, I got the first year ACG and finished 28.5 credits. In order to qualify for the 2nd year ACG, I have to be in my 2nd Title IV academic year, which is 30-59 units as explained here:</p>

<p>ACG</a> and SMART Grants</p>

<p>I'm starting my sophomore fall semester with only 28.5 units so I don't qualify. I don't have a problem with that, but I assume that I should qualify Spring semester, since I would have 28.5 + 16 fall units= 44.5 units. I am currently in correspondence with a financial aid counselor about this, and I asked whether I would receive the full 1300 in Spring. She replied that I would only receive 650 since "1300 is for the full year."</p>

<p>How the financial aid office works is that they calculate all your grants/loans in the beginning of the year, and split that in half for each semester. But in this case, I don't think I should be losing half of that money because the ACG uses only the "Title IV academic year" and the actual school year has nothing to do with it. I don't think that the government requires that the ACG be split into two semesters.</p>

<p>After looking at the Financial Aid Handbook, I believe I have found an example of my situation here:</p>

<p><a href="http://ifap.ed.gov/sfahandbooks/attachments/0708Vol3Ch4FredAug16.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ifap.ed.gov/sfahandbooks/attachments/0708Vol3Ch4FredAug16.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>On page 3-67, Example 1, Sophia seems to be in my situation and it says she is eligible for a "second-year ACG" in her Sophomore Spring semester. If anyone could confirm that this is indeed similar to my situation, I might ask the counselor to refer to that.</p>

<p>I have sent another email asking whether I would receive the second half of the ACG in my junior year instead, but I don't think they would administrate that very well. I would prefer to receive the full ACG in my spring semester.</p>

<p>Thanks for the help.</p>

2

<p>ACG disbursements fall under the same payment guidelines as Pell...each disbursement has specific qualifications. A student can be eligible in one semester and ineligible in another. The example doesn't cover Sophia's 3rd fall term, only her 2nd spring term. Based on my training, the school is correct in the handling of your ACG funds.</p>

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<p>But is there a requirement that the ACG be distributed across two semesters? I don't see why I can't receive the full amount in one semester, unless it's just a policy at my school to split all grants, even if it means losing one half of the grant.</p>

<p>In that case, my question would what if I only take 14 units in my sophomore spring semester. Then I would have 58.5 units starting my junior fall semester, meaning I should receive the 2nd half of the ACG. This point might actually be moot since the ACG would just replace another grant that I would have received. (I have 0 EFC)</p>

4

<p>Again, based on the training I have had regarding ACG, the payment guidelines follow Pell Grant payment guidelines. Both grants MUST be split between two semesters and students may find they only have eligibility during one semester. Students cannot receive the full grant in one semester, no matter what the circumstances. These are federal regulations and not up for negotation with FAO's. ACG is also FAFSA year specific, so you would not receive payment 1 during spring and payment 2 during fall. If you are still considered a sophomore and meet the other ACG eligibility requirements, you would receive payment 2 of the 2008-2009 ACG award for spring, having not been eligible for payment 1. For 2009-2010, IF you qualify for ACG (and if the rules or grant remain the same...remember, they can change each year, as Congress sees fit), you may qualify for payment 1 for fall and forfeit payment 2 for spring (as you would have received 4 full payments.)</p>

<p>The school cannot promise ACG eligibility for 09-10, as we aren't even sure whether this grant will still be around by then.</p>

5

<p>
[quote]
The school cannot promise ACG eligibility for 09-10, as we aren't even sure whether this grant will still be around by then.

[/quote]

Hi Nikkil
Is this based on insider info that it might not be around? Or on the fact that the machinations of the fed govt are impossible to predict so you never know what they might do next so don't make any promises? DD will be done with the ACG by 09-10 but we will be mighty dissappointed if the SMART is likely to go away :(</p>

<p>Can I ask you another question (sorry to hijack your thread OP but Nikkil is our actual FA expert that visits these boards as opposed to the rest of us that just have consumer experience to share). My Son is returning to college after going for a year and a half and doing OK but dropping out. Then he returned for a semester while also working full time and did awful because of a combination of working full time and not being able to keep up with the work then having another problem put him even further behind - he ended up withdrawing from 2 classes and getting dropped from 1 . This time he is planning to not work and applied for financial aid for the first time (was not on financial aid the bad semester though I gather that does not factor in) but was denied because of GPA and excessive withdrawals. I was surprised he was denied as his cumulative GPA and % of classes completed meet the fed guidelines as laid out at my daughter's school (75% and over a 2.00) but it seems to be based on the one semester rather than the cumulative. Is that common? He is appealing but we are rather worried as he needs the aid so that he can **not **work full time this time round so he can focus on school. Any thoughts? Advice? Thanks.</p>

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<p>Swim,</p>

<p>Regarding your first question, it is because I don't have faith in the fed govt to retain a program at actually benefits students. They place a lot of hype on key programs and then dissapoint people. Like with the Pell Grant, they boasted how they were increasing Pell grant eligibility for 08-09. The actuality is that the amount students can receive was increased but they made it more difficult to retain a zero EFC...something they "omitted" from their boastings.</p>

<p>What parts of FA as your son denied for? All federal aid or just portions of school based aid? I would definately recommend appealing to the Director or Dean of Financial Aid, regardless of what was denied. Make sure your son is prepared to explain his choices...work more important than school, etc. He needs to be sincere about placing his students as a top priority and be ready for any possible retorts questioning his motives. Sincereity and hosesty go a long way with FAO's.</p>

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<p>Nikkil
Thanks for your response. He was denied for all aid which I think at his school is just federal aid - I don't think the school has any institutional aid. They did include an appeal form and he is planning to appeal. Of course it complicates things even more as he has to hand his notice in at his job and now does not know if he can. His only explanation is that working full time (he would basically leave school in the afternoon and drive back home and go to work usually to @ midnight then go home to bed and have to be up and drive back to the school (in the next town) to be at his 1st class by 8.30 a.m.) just left him no time to keep up with the school work. He was already struggling when his rental house was badly damaged and a lot of his possessions destroyed and he had to deal with cleaning up the mess and having to find a new house and move at short notice. We have some photos of his house. He realizes now that he cannot work full time and go to school full time so the financial aid is a real deal breaker for him as we can help some but cannot cover everything. I hope they are willing to grant the appeal as he finally has realized he needs an education to live - if this all falls through I don't think he will ever go back to school. If they do not grant the appeal we can pay for the 1st semester including helping with his living expenses in the hope that if he does well enough he would then become re eligible for aid the next semester. That would completely deplete his remaining 529 account leaving us unable to help much after that. </p>

<p>I understand what you mean about the govt and their grants etc. They made such a big hype about increasing the Pell to $4800 then said little about the fact that it was actually going to be $4731 (not that much lower but how random a number is that?) or about the fact that the maximum EFC to qualify for any Pell was actually going *down *from 4110 to 4041 which seemed very odd to me. There was a post earlier in the year from a student who had gone through the whole Gates scholarship application then could not get it because his EFC was a little over 4041 so he was not Pell eligible.</p>

<p>Anyway thanks for your advice. it is nice to have a real financial aid person to ask.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for the answer Nikkil. I'm glad to know how it actually works.</p>

9

<p>Swim,</p>

<p>I would definaely encourage your son to file the appeal and plead his case, explaining, as sincerely as possible, how he realizes that his "failure" was "his fault" and how he plans to succeed this term. Even though your son faced circumstances beyond his control that contributed to his inability to succeed last term, accepting responsibility typically helps tremendously. Unless he truly isn't showing academic progress, they should be able to approve the appeal.</p>

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<p>Thanks Nikkil. He is hand carrying the appeal letter in as I type. Problem is he has to hand his notice in by friday and it seems unlikely he will know about financial aid by then. So the whole thing may be moot as he does not feel able to hand his notice in till he knows for sure where he is financially.</p>