<p>Pell Grant (gave me around 4.6 i think)
Possible Cal Grant A (gave me around 7)
UCSD Grant (gave me around 2.5)</p>
<p>total amounted to 14k+</p>
<p>I'm wondering if I get into UCLA will I expect similar funds to this, or do they give money based on GPA somewhat?? Is this grant per year?? Or total?</p>
<p>And when is says possible Cal Grant A how do i know if i get it? Seems like I have it they gave a specific number and stuff already..</p>
<p>I don't think they really KNOW what you will receive at this point. Likely the pell/cal grants are just estimated. My Berkeley offer letter did not have any pell/cal grants listed, but showed that I would receive a generous grant from the school itself. That way, they don't have to give inaccurate estimates. As soon as my pell grant came in, they replaced much of their school grant with the pell grant. I think UCSD probably lets you know the estimate beforehand, while Berkeley plays it safe by waiting until the grants come in.</p>
<p>Each school has a different policy in terms of these grants. The state/federal government will offer you the same amount of money no matter which school you chose to attend. It's up to the individual school whether to take the money. For example, my boyfriend received a full cal/pell grant. However, since Berkeley wanted him to pay a certain amount in loans, they did not take the entire grant. </p>
<p>Essentially, each UC has a different system of distributing funds. Just because you received a 14k estimate from one school doesn't mean you will receive the same package from another. </p>
<p>Financial aid is really confusing...
I may be wrong about this information, but this is what my experience was based upon the financial aid packages I received from each school.</p>
<p>I only applied to Berkeley, UCLA, and Riverside.
Berkeley offered me the most money and UCLA the least.</p>
<p>The EFC is how much your family will be expected to contribute out of pocket. Your school has a maximum financial aid package worked out and will subtract the EFC from that package. </p>
<p>For example, if Berkeley's estimate for the year is $21,000 and your EFC is $6,000, they should give you $15,000 in grants and loans. </p>
<p>However, since each school has a different manner of working this out, will need to get an individual financial aid estimate from each school. You should be able to get this once you are accepted. </p>
<p>Essentially, all the EFC tells you is how much you will be expected to pay out of pocket. Anything beyond that is up to the school.</p>
<p>You automatically apply for the cal grant by filling out your fafsa before the deadline.</p>
<p>dbguy4eva,
You should have gotten an EFC after completing your fafsa. After that, you will not know what your financial aid packages are until you look at the individual offer letters from each school.</p>
<p>alansda
I doubt that the school will automatically give you a grant if you didn't submit a fafsa. When you fill out your fafsa, you automatically apply for the pell grants, cal grants, and school grants. </p>
<p>Since you didn't do that, the only other option would be to apply for individual scholarships either privately or through the school.</p>
<p>Torrancecali,
That's because none of the schools really KNOW yet how much cal grant money you will get. All they can do is estimate, and some play is safe by not doing that. The Cal grant money comes in really late.</p>
<p>It's possible that SD hasn't worked out the estimates yet. It really depends on how SD has their website organized. I had a difficult time finding my UCLA estimate at first and ended up e-mailing them. I guess I had just overlooked the link. </p>
<p>If you can't find the estimate consider e-mailing them and asking how you find it or when it will come out.</p>
<p>SD gave me a financial aid estimate. I clicked continue under the acceptance and it was one of the four choices towards the top of the next page (the others were guides for new admits and faq type things) Then I had to click continue one more time to get an overall thing and another time to get a breakdown by grant (Pell, Cal and from UCSD)</p>
<p>guys... i didnt sign up for cal grant when i was in high school... cause i was an idiot. do i still have a chance to sign up for it once i transfer?</p>
<p>Does anyone have an EFC of $0? And how does that translate into Cal Grants and Pell Grants? I'm an "independent" for once going into my last and final semester at Berkeley (Fall 2008). </p>
<p>I've also been following the governor's budget and CA's budget crisis and said the governator planned on eliminating ALL NEW COMPETITIVE CAL GRANTS for next year which is a BIG PROBLEM since I applied for the UCDC program and the UC Sac program which are big financial drains. I need to pretty much do the programs because I dont have any internships under my belt; for the major I have, getting a job after graduation is the difference of having had an internship in the past or not.</p>
<p>Has anyone been getting the competitive Cal Grant (the one that gives you money for housing) on their fin-aid packages? If so, how much are you getting and thru which campus?</p>
<p>Ah, I forgot about some schools submitting it automatically. I was just thinking about the running around that I had to do (they messed up the form...twice...) to get that done</p>
<p>Does anybody know when Berkeley sends out financial aid offers? I did my FAFSA back in early February and they're the only school I haven't heard anything from...</p>