<p>Last year coming in as a freshman to UCLA I got to federal grant money and only $1400 from UCLA. My freshman year I got decent grades as an engineering student and got a 3.6 gpa overall. This year, my sophomore year, I still got no federal money but got a $12,500 grant from UCLA and a $5,500 subsidized loan. My parents don't like to tell me about our finances so I don't know if your financial situation changed significantly between the two years. Did they increase my financial aid because of my grades?</p>
<p>No…it sounds like your family’s income for 2009 was under $70k so you qualified for Blue and Gold.</p>
<p>Previously, the threshold may have been lower ($60k) which may be why you didn’t qualify the previous year.</p>
<p>Grants are usually awarded for need; scholarships for merit. You can look up the name of the grant on the school’s financial aid page and see what the requirements were. There are schools that offer scholarships specifically to continuing students but these are sometimes from specific departments or endowed funds.</p>
<p>By the way, most scholarships offered for continuing students are smaller. (The ones I’ve seen are $5,000 and less.) The “big money” scholarships are often reserved for freshmen.</p>