<p>Hello, I have recently been approved for my cal grant and will be awarded cal grant B, but I am also qualified for cal grant A, i wasn't awarded it because of the school of attendance. Now I changed my school of attendance to the school I have been accepted and want to go to. Would there be any possibility I can be awarded cal grant A because of my change in school?
Thank you for any help.</p>
<p>You weren’t awarded Cal Grant A because you are supposed to be awarded the one that is the most beneficial, not because of any real difference in where either can be used. Cal Grant A and B are essentially the same, both used for four-year universities (unlike Cal Grant C which is for vocational schools), but B gives a living allowance amount in addition to the tuition/fee assistance. B is intended for low-income families, not low-achieving students despite what the lower GPA requirement might suggest, and is thus worth more. Cal Grant is not an academic scholarship.</p>
<p>The only reason I have ever seen a school award A over B is if they refuse to cover the tuition/fee assistance during the frosh year for B. UCs are guaranteed to do this (blue&gold promise) and CSUs have been, from my observations, very good about this as well. I cannot answer for privates since they are a breed all their own and only receive a set amount for tuition assistance (unlike CSUs and UCs that will have systemwide fees covered).</p>
<p>Make sure that you update your account on CSAC with the school that you will be attending. And to answer your question: yes, you can (before the first disbursement) request a change in which Cal Grant you will receive if you qualified for both A and B. However, as I said above, there is no real reason to do this unless you know your college will not cover the frosh year’s tuition/fee assistance for B. I would be interested in knowing which college refuses to do this so I have the information to pass on.</p>
<p>I will be attending a csu, so there won’t be a reason to switch it will there?
Will B cover my cost of college completely?
Sorry if this is bothersome, I just want to understand things in detail as much as possible so i can make an informed choice.</p>
<p>Cal Grant A and B cover all systemwide fees at CSUs and UCs. Cal Grant B gives an additional amount (assess or living allowance) of $1,551 no matter which school is attended. As I said, UCs are guaranteed in writing to cover the missing frosh year amount that Cal Grant B does not officially cover, but CSUs have shown from my observations to cover this as well. It would be silly to not as it is the low-income Cal Grant.</p>
<p>No, Cal Grant will not cover all your costs for college. It only covers systemwide fees. It does not cover campus fees. Systemwide fees are the fees that are charged by all colleges within each CSU and UC system (CSUs charge lower systemwide fees than UCs). Campus fees are the individual charges each campus imposes on its students.</p>
<p>It is good to be informed since on paper, Cal Grant A does look better than Cal Grant B if you don’t know about the frosh year systemwide fees being covered by other grants. Also note that your college is supposed to make the right decision for you on which will be the best financial aid package. So there is less need to worry. However, also note that they changed the rules on renewing Cal Grant. Previously, you only had to have minimal need to maintain it. You did not have to qualify with income and assets again. Now, all renewals must still meet income and asset ceilings each year.</p>
<p>Anywho, you’re fine. You have Cal Grant B and that works exactly the same at a CSU as it does at a UC except for different systemwide fee amounts.</p>
<p>What exactly are systemwide fees? What are those and whats the differences between campus fees?</p>
<p>I’m not sure how to write this more clearly, so please forgive me that I am repeating myself in some places:</p>
<p>systemwide fees: fees charged by all colleges within a system.
EXAMPLE: CSU is a system of colleges. Each CSU charges the same systemwide fees.</p>
<p>campus fees: fees charged by each individual college within a system.
EXAMPLE: My campus (UCSC) has several fees that are exclusive. Many of these were voted in by the students such as one called “Increase Library Hours of Operation Fee.” This is a campus fee.</p>
<p>To further illustrate this, I’ll use my own school as an example again:
UC systemwide fees: $12,192
UCSC campus fees: $2,640.36
**Total fees paid at UCSC<a href=“systemwide%20and%20campus”>/B</a>: $14,832.36</p>
<p>Note that the campus fees above also include the health insurance fee which is able to be waived if one has comparable health insurance already. However, it is another fee that would be considered a campus fee.</p>
<p>It is a similar thing for CSUs.</p>
<p>Ahhhhhhhhhh this was very helpful, i understand now. What i was worried was about the money i would receive, now understand the grant B would be better suited to me. Thank you very much and forgive me for being a bit difficult, just stressing out a bit and well that inhibits my thinking. Thank you. :)</p>
<p>Totally understand. I just know it can be annoying to some people to have information repeated so I try not to :). I’m just not always that great at finding a new way to say something.</p>
<p>Obviously you’ll need to see what final aid package you are given, but low-income (which I’m assuming you are with Cal Grant B) families tend to find the UCs and CSUs can be quite generous. Good luck!</p>