Financial aid, aieee!

<p>Forgive my cluelessness about this - I put one kid through a UC with no financial aid, now I have two going to Berkeley with aid, and I don't understand how it works AT ALL.</p>

<p>First question: When my freshman was accepted to Cal, her financial aid page showed a "Berkeley Undergraduate Scholarship" of $13,023. When we checked today, that scholarship still showed up on the "award details" page, but there's also an "Estha M. Rodkey" scholarship in the amount of $13,523. Are these the same scholarship? It seems that they may not be, since the amounts are added together in the grand total of gift aid. (Boy, wouldn't that be nice!) </p>

<p>And the "award payment status" shows $6560 accepted but only $245 paid through the Rodkey scholarship, nothing for the undergraduate scholarship.</p>

<p>Second question: Since the fees are due tomorrow but the financial aid doesn't appear to have been posted to the accounts yet, am I expected to come up with $12,000 for the two girls, then get a refund later? This seems crazy.</p>

<p>Any help from veterans would be appreciated, as the FinAid office is closed today.</p>

<p>Those are the same scholarship. I called financial aid about this last week. The Berkeley Undergraduate Scholarship is converted to a named scholarship or scholarships…</p>

<p>As for what’s due tomorrow, go to BearFacts and click on your quick statement. If you see any amount listed under the minimum due, that is what needs to be paid by tomorrow. Hang in there… :-)</p>

<p>Darn - knew it was too good to be true!</p>

<p>they’ll actually give you leeway in terms of the due date, the 15th is like a soft deadline before actually charging a late fee</p>

<p>Hahaha… I know, but we can dream…</p>

<p>Just as momfirst said. In my freshman year, they held some thank-you dinner/small event thing for the “scholarship winners” later in the year and I was nagged via e-mail to write a thank you note. (lol…don’t get me wrong I appreciated it all, but I kept getting constant e-mails…).</p>

<p>Thank you both for your quick replies. (and sympathy!) I think I’ll wait until Monday and spend my lunch break on the phone with Financial Aid before I send any money. </p>

<p>I suppose they figure that if you can get in to Berkeley, you can navigate the financial aid system. Unfortunately, Mom and Dad (who are the ones with the checkbook) didn’t get in to Berkeley…</p>

<p>hahahaha… Have a good weekend. :-)</p>