<p>I met all of the eligibility rules for the ACG Grant but was not awarded it. The financial aid office told me that I was not on the list of students who completed a rigorous course of study. Will I took over 5 AP Classes and was a state scholar, so obviously I did. </p>
<p>I contacted the Registrar who said I was not on the list from the FA office of students to be verified. I then sent an e-mail to the FA counselor I had been talking to. A week went by so I sent an e-mail to the FA Director. After two weeks, I have heard nothing back regarding the ACG Grant! I sent follow-up e-mails and everything.</p>
<p>Once classes start and I get the refund, is it possible for them to still award me the ACG Grant? Are they allowed not to award this even though I met all requirements?</p>
<p>When you did FAFSA did you check the box that asked about whether you had completed the rigorous course of study? I think that is what initially alerts the school to check to see if you are eligible.</p>
<p>I would make an appointment and go to the FA department and talk to someone in person. They should be able to award it one classes start. My daughter’s ACG was not awarded until really late as they had not finished checking eligibility but she did end up getting it. </p>
<p>One other thing - how many credits are you going in with? The ACG has some weird rules and too many credits from APs can impact eligibility.</p>
<p>That may be part of your problem. With 31 credit hours you may be ineligible for the 1st year ACG and the 2nd year ACG requires meeting a certain college GPA criteria. I’m not a financial aid officer but I know that the ACG rules are quite complicated to administer. I would suggest trying to get an appointment and meet face to face with a FA counselor. Good luck.</p>
<p>What is your gpa for your dual enrollment credits? Did you verify that they have received the transcript from that college? To receive a sophomore ACG, you must have a gpa of at least 3.0. Kids transferring in with a bunch of AP credits often can’t get the ACG because they don’t have an actual gpa.</p>
<p>I received an A for the course, but it was taken at another university and transferred. Therefore, they did not include a grade on my transcript at the university I’m attending. </p>
<p>So I guess I will not be getting this grant then because I took too many AP classes? How wonderful! We will give a grant if you are academically competitive, but you are not allowed to be too competitive. Stupid government.</p>
<p>Hopefully the dual enrollment class might help you meet the GPA requirement. Talk to your FA department. Good luck.</p>
<p>I agree it is pretty ridiculous to implement a program that encourages students to take rigorous classes then penalizes them for the very thing that qualifies them for the grant. I don’t think the govt ever gets input from people who actually have a clue about financial aid (such as financial aid officers). I know the ACG and SMART have been difficult for FA officers to administer and not as many people benefited as should have because of the weird rules. Which is why the programs will not be continued after this year.</p>
<p>I completely understand your frustration and wish you the best of luck. Let us know what happens.</p>
<p>No…it does NOT have to be a gpa from the school you’re attending, just a college gpa. That’s why they would need to use the actual transcript from the other school. Sophomore ACG’s seem to get processed late…my D’s award just posted and she’s a returning student so they’ve had all summer to see her credits/grades! They initially said they would post it by mid-July and were actually a month late. </p>
<p>If you don’t hear back from them by the time school starts, make an appointment to see someone in FA. If you’re eligible they can award it late.</p>
<p>This makes it so complicated! Luckily I do have a college GPA, which I guess is a 4.0 since it was an A.</p>
<p>However, I have work-study for 1300 and my COA is met, so if I get the ACG, then my work study will be eliminated. That is fine, but if the ACG is given in the middle of the semester, what happens if I already got a work-study job? Obviously I would lose it, but what about the money that was already paid from it?</p>
<p>Do you have loans ? If so then the ACG could be instead of them. Otherwise I would think if you have already earned part of the WS then you probably would not be able to get the full ACG as that would take you over COA. </p>
<p>You really need that sit down with a FA officer.</p>
<p>I can see why FA officers are going to be glad to see the back of the ACG and SMART programs!!</p>
<p>I have no loans. My full COA is covered through grants, scholarships, and workstudy.</p>
<p>I also don’t understand why the FA counselor and director are ignoring my e-mails. (The counselor responded in less than a day and kept replying every few hours…Since I have sent my latest findings that I was not on the verification list, I haven’t heard from her for over a week)
I move in on Saturday, so Monday I guess I will be in the FA office.</p>
<p>You have to realize that they’re extremely busy this time of year and it doesn’t sound like an emergency situation, unlike some of the other cases they’re dealing with. Basically, you owe them nothing and are getting a refund and have accepted your package up to full COA, right? So, your problem is likely getting triaged for later so that kids who have special circumstances and are having difficulty paying the bill get helped first.</p>
<p>It sounds as if you’re entitled to the ACG award and they’re simply backed up - especially for cases like yours that will require extra effort (due to the eligibility snafu). Unless this is a small school, you’ll probably find that this continues for the first few weeks of the semester. Be politely persistent, but give them a bit of time to sort it out. In the meantime, if you can find a non-WS job on campus that would probably be a good solution. My understanding is that schools are required to award federal grant aid first but, except for Pell grants, are not allowed to make awards in excess of financial need (COA-EFC). Congrats on your good package!</p>
<p>The folks in financial aid might be taking vacations (you’d think that we shouldn’t be allowed to do that, judging by the upset students when I am out of the office for a few days! :)). They also might be ridiculously swamped by all of the students who waited until the last minute to get everything in (I told a student today that NO … I do NOT have time to look at her very confusing situation today because SHE DID NOT FILE BY THE PRIORITY DEADLINE … we promise we’ll have it done if you file on time, but all bets are off if you’re late). We tend to get cranky at summer’s end.</p>
<p>You, of course, did things on time. But you also have your aid package. The ACG is icing on your cake, and it’s going to have to take a temporary backseat to the more pressing issues facing your aid office. ACG awarding is a time-consuming, manual process. Situations like yours, which are the unusual, take more time & so often get shoved even farther back in the queue. There’s only so much time in the day. </p>
<p>To help your aid office, you could do the following: Get a copy of your high school transcript (make sure it includes a graduation date). Get a copy of all transcripts from the college courses you took in high school (ALL). Submit these with a letter explaining that you are entering as a sophomore & realize that you will need to be evaluated & awarded as a sophomore … so to assist the staff in evaluating your information, you have attached the transcripts they will need. Let the staff know it’s for your ACG evaluation. </p>
<p>Wait patiently for awhile.</p>
<p>Realize that if you are 0 EFC & are awarded to Cost of Attendance, the ACG award is going to reduce something - you can’t be awarded aid in excess of COA. Even if you do have an EFC > 0, there may be some reductions in other aid due to the ACG. If you have loans, it may reduce your loans (or may cause some sub to be taken away - you might be able to replace it with unsub). You can reduce work study instead of loans, if you choose (you will need to communicate that to the aid office). Some schools use equity packaging and include ACG in the equity amount ---- in this case, you may actually see institutional grants swapped out for ACG. This is perfectly allowable (school funds are at a premium, and many schools will replace them with federal grants if possible). If your school does this, it would mean that the net effect of receiving ACG would be nada for you.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. After two months, I finally received SOMETHING today. I have been constantly e-mailing people back and forth trying to get this straight. Here is the final result:
“Also, since you qualify as a sophomore, your high school graduation date makes you ineligible to receive the grant…I have spoken with our Associate Director of Federal Programs, and she has agreed to allow you to receive a university grant in place of the ACG grant.”</p>
<p>So I received a 750 institutional grant, which I am happy with. I did not realize that the graduation date could mess the ACG up?</p>