<p>My financial aid award summary stated that I did not receive any grants. Although I applied for a Cal Grant last year during high school, I never received any information regarding it and therefore thought I was unqualified and did not receive any money from it. All of the money used to pay for my schooling was borrowed from Stafford Loans and PLUS Loans. However, just this week I got a letter from Cal Grant saying I was approved for Cal Grant A.</p>
<p>Since the loans get sent directly to the school first, I don't really know what to do. The next disbursement of the loans is on the 4th, and the last disbursement already paid off what I owed for this upcoming quarter. Will the loan money then be applied for Spring quarter or be sent back in the form of a check? Even if it does get sent back in the form of a check, I still have another disbursement left. Do I just hope that the Cal Grant disbursement comes before the loan disbursement or what?</p>
<p>On another thread you said that your dad has a large amount of money hidden in a bank account and that he won’t tell you how much is there.</p>
<p>When you submitted your FAFSA and info to apply for a Cal Grant, did you not include your dad’s big savings acct? If so, that might come back to haunt you with this grant.</p>
<p>I actually did put the amount on my FAFSA. However, I had to change my FAFSA multiple times because I wasn’t sure about everything, but I finally got all the info down. That might be why it took so long to get my Cal Grant confirmed, I guess.</p>
<p>Yeah he did. He wasn’t happy about it, though, lol.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>On second thought, I’m thinking that the Cal Grant money will just be sent to me via check if the loans get to my school first. I guess I just answered my own question. :)</p>
<p>Call or email your FA office - some require a student to request a refund before they will issue a check and, if your school held loan funds last time, it sounds like they’ll hold the grant funds too. You can cancel your upcoming loan disbursement or use the grant to pay off the previous one. Keep careful records of everything involving your student loans - and put them in a safe place!</p>
<p>Sometimes you just don’t know how finances will happen. Money expectations do change on the <em>dime</em> in time and amounts. </p>
<p>I made sure that we borrowed more than was needed when DS attended 2002-06 because our cash flow was precarious and the investments we had tanked far below what was needed. We were 100% EFC. As the finances became more clear, at various times, readjusted the the year’s requested loan amount in August; or the spring semester’s PLUS in December; or if loans disbursed or we extra cashfloow the took the school’s refund and paid towards principle the PLUS. </p>
<p>You’d would want to fully, 110% understand the conditions for the loans. Make a miniumum goodfaith effort to not borrow more that the COA. Keep the loan amounts reasonable and as low as possible.</p>
That was good for you.</p>