<p>FAFSA Deadline for Cal Grant: Wednesday, March 2nd for new AND returning students!</p>
<p>Current Cal Grant recipiants must file a FAFSA every year by March 2nd to continue receiving Cal Grant in subsequent years.</p>
<p>New applicants (including transfers) must also submit a GPA verification form by that day. Most high schools do this automatically, but it never hurts to double-check. Returning USC students do not need to submit GPA forms.</p>
<p>The California Student Aid Commission is INFLEXIBLE with this deadline - I have never heard of an exception being made for a late FAFSA or GPA form for Cal Grant.</p>
<p>*Note: Cal Grant is only available to California high school students and California Community College transfers</p>
<p>One last reminder - the FAFSA and GPA verification deadline for Cal Grant is tomorrow.</p>
<p>If you would have been eligible for Cal Grant but failed to file your FAFSA and GPA verification on time, USC will not replace the Cal Grant in your financial aid package.</p>
<p>If you haven’t filed taxes yet, complete and submit the FAFSA using estimates and do a correction when you (and your parents) file taxes.</p>
<p>*Only California applicants are eligible for Cal Grant, so out of state applicants do not need to worry what a “GPA verification” is.</p>
<p>i have already submitted my FAFSA and CSS profile. However, when I log in USC connect –> on the FA page (Document Management system), it says nothing is required on the section of My Document. What happened? Nothing is Pending, Required nor Received. ???</p>
<p>I had the exact same situation, and I started another thread on this. I was just in contact with the financial aid office, and they explained to me what happened. When my son created his USC id, they say that the SSN is optional. Well, that’s the key link between those forms and your profile, so if that’s not on their profile, the connection is not made. It’s a 1 minute call to get this resolved, but it’s difficult to get through to them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, VHFather! (This is something I have not heard of before!) If applicants with this issue are having trouble getting through by phone, you could FAX in a sheet with your name, USC ID#, and social security number and a request to link them up. Double-check the FAX number to be sure you don’t accidentally send this personal info to the wrong place!</p>
<p>Hi Alamemom, may I ask you a question. If a family exceeds Cal Grant both income (90K) and assets (60K) ceilings, is the chance of getting any Cal Grant impossible? </p>
<p>Would be any other grants available for this type of mid-income families (excluding merit scholarship) if filing FAFSA?</p>
<p>Would selecting UCs (over private collegs) help get Cal Grant?</p>
<p>Cal Grant is an all-or-nothing award. If you are under both ceilings, you get the grant, if you are over you do not get it. No, you are not more likely to get a Cal Grant if you apply to other universities - it isn’t administered by the universities, it is administered by the California Student aid Commission, and they distribute it according to the ceilings.</p>
<p>USC Grants may be a possibility with the income and assets you list. Be sure your FAFSA and CSS/Profile have been filed and submit your tax return info.</p>
<p>dana, something important about USC is that if you get your FAFSA in on time for Cal Grant but don’t qualify for Cal Grant, there is no “penaly” in terms of financial aid. USC will calculate your need and put together a package to meet that need. If you qualify for Cal Grant it is part of that package. If you don’t qualify for Cal Grant, the calculated need after Stafford loans ($5,500 freshman year), work/study (~$2,000 - $2,500), summer earnings contribution (~$2,000 - ~$3,000) will be met with USC grants - they won’t leave a “Cal Grant-sized gap” in your package. (The preceding does not include the family contribution which will be in cash or other financing.)</p>
<p>So even though the Cal Grant itself is “all-or-nothing,” USC will not leave those who are just over the ceilings empty-handed.</p>
<p>And the above contrasts with the case where an applicant would have been eligible for Cal Grant but missed the deadlines - in that case USC will not make up the Cal Grant in your package - it was the applicant’s responsibility to secure that funding from the California Student Aid Commission.</p>
<p>It is VERY stressful to wait for the financial aid packages - even for me! I know exactly how it works, but I don’t breathe easy until I see the numbers and KNOW it will work each year. (And the continuing students get their packages in July - a very long time to wait.)</p>
<p>The best bet is to keep all your options open - there is no need to commit to any school until the May 1st deadline. Gather all the info together, figure out how much each school will cost your family in terms of family contribution + loans + work/study (all of which comes out of your pocket sooner or later), and make an informed choice. The size of the package or grants is not important - the amount it will cost you and your family is the key. (For example, a $30,000 package from USC sounds better than a $8,000 package from a UC, but for a California resident, the UC may end up costing less with those packages. Don’t be so impressed with big $$$ that you can’t see the bottom line.)</p>
<p>Thanks for the helpful post above Alamemom. It is so hard to be patient! USC is my son’s dream school but everything will depend on Financial Aid. I even went back yesterday and looked at last April’s posts to see if people were posting their aid figures to see if I could get some idea. This is going to be a LONG month!</p>
<p>Cal Grant FAFSA deadline for new AND returning students is tomorrow, March 2nd. If you haven’t filed taxes yet, submit your FAFSA using your best estimates.</p>
<p>i have a question regarding to Cal Grant, last week, i jconfirmed my year of graduation in cal grant website (note that i just knew about cal grant last week, because they send me an email, telling to go to the cal grant website and filed it) so i did, and my status is in process.However, i just realized today that i file the cal grant a week later after the dead line, so my question here is, am i still qualify for the cal grant or i lost my chance? thank you guys for your time.</p>
<p>Alexis94, are you a USC student or a community college/vocational school student? The Cal Grant deadline for filing the FAFSA for four-year colleges, including USC, was March 2, 2013. If you missed that deadline it is very unlikely that you will receive a Cal Grant at USC.</p>
<p>There is a secondary deadline for community college or vocational school students of September 2, 2013. If you filed the FAFSA by that deadline and are attending community college/vocational school you might* be awarded a Cal Grant C ($547 at California Community Colleges, up to $2,462 at a vocational or career colleges).</p>
<p>*Please note that Cal Grants are awarded to California residents who have graduated from California high schools, filed their FAFSA and GPA on time, and who meet income and asset ceilings.</p>