Due to some miscommunication with my financial aid office I submitted my FAFSA on March 4th, 2 days past the March 2nd deadline for CAL GRANTS. My financial aid office director offered to write me a letter for a possible appeal. I have tagged UC Davis and will be transferring in the Fall 2015 my family is dirt poor and I have an EFC of zero. I am wondering if anyone has any information or experience appealing or how this late FAFSA submission will effect the Blue and Gold Scholarship or other possible CAL Grants. Currently having a total breakdown worrying I just messed up my college career due to this mishaps.
I have always been advised to apply by the September deadline for community college applicants. Dumb I know, but my financial aid officer honestly told me to not worry about that deadline. It’s amazing how uninformed some financial aid officers can be about cal grants. It might also be relevant to mention that my GPA was verified on time.
Your FA officer told you not to worry about the SEPTEMBER deadline. The FA officer was right. You chose to ignore the published 2 Mar Deadline. Not their fault - yours. NEVER miss the deadline for a scholarship.
@Erin’sDad sorry if that seemed confusing but I was referring to the March 2nd deadline thumper1 was asking about (which is part of the reason my financial aid supervisor is willing to write me a letter), thank you for your response but I do understand that investigating things myself should have been done. Definitely a painful lesson learned, I am here to see if there is anything I can do to help myself through this next year without taking out loans for my entire tuition at UC Davis or just not going, because I cannot afford it.
Hi Mommdc,
I am currently at a community college and the Calgrant deadline was unfortunately not mentioned to me. My worry now is that I will not be able to recieve Calgrants for at the 2016-2017 academic year. I am a science major and have actually been at my CC for 3 years, due to elaborate prerequisites and have no options to stay here.
You’re right - it’s a mess. You will need to file an appeal, and if the FA director is willing to write a letter in support of your appeal, so much the better. I’d assume you’d need to wait until you’re actually denied, but maybe not. You should call the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) on Monday and ask. CSAC: (888) CA GRANT (888-224-7268).
Explain your situation and ask them what you should do. If you were just starting out, you could take a year off and re-apply the following year . . . but where you’ve already been at CC for three years, I just don’t know.
Call, ask what you need to do, and then come back and let us know what they said.
Meanwhile, I know it’s tough, but try to relax. We’ll help you as much as we can, and making yourself crazy in the meantime isn’t going to help.
And when you call on Monday, have a pen and paper with you so you can take notes.
Thank you for the response Dodgersmom, I also really appreciate the advice to stay calm!
I actually called CSAC, UC Davis, and my financial aid office today in a panic and I was told to submit an appeal to CSAC (there is no 2016-2017 appeal form available yet) and to notify UC Davis financial aid including the attached letter. I will definitely be calling CSAC on Monday in order to get more information. I guess my biggest concern right now is not receiving the Blue and Gold. I will be updating soon
