<p>I am getting scared. I am getting a lot of financial aid and none of it has been sent to CARS yet</p>
<p>Masterhammy, I talked to a few friends and they’re in the same position. I guess CARS/finaid is just backed up. …</p>
<p>my friend at berkeley told me that I should pay the minimum by August 15th and then wait for the financial aid to be disbursed and then they’ll return our money. Luckily, my loans went though so I didn’t have to pay that much.</p>
<p>What about those of us who can’t afford the minimum …</p>
<p>Guys, check your CARS -> Award Summary to see which awards/grants/loans in your financial aid has come through. They automatically go into paying for your CARS account balance. 3 grants and 1 loan have come through for me, and now my balance went from around 9.6k to 4.6k. I still have some grants that have yet to be received, but I’m guessing they’ll get to it.</p>
<p>Like stly said, just wait for awhile and see what’s up. </p>
<p>Also, thanks for your helpful explanation styl, really cleared things up for me.</p>
<p>I called the Financial Aid Office about a week ago and was wondering when the dues are actually due since I had some problems with completing the requirements. The lady told me that there is a grace period for the first payment and that the last day to pay without any consequences will be sometime in early September.</p>
<p>If someone else could call and confirm this information, I’m sure it will benefit all of us.</p>
<p>So is it possible to not be registered and still move in and attend classes? (Referring to the comments about the grace period.)</p>
<p>I checked the Award Summary and I have the Pell Grant and Perkins Loan in it so far. But I still have some other stuff that I’m waiting. Those damn Cal Grants</p>
<p>I don’t understand why they wait until mid august to transfer the loan/grant/scholarships to CARS, is it like they can’t do it anytime earlier?</p>
<p>Has anyone not had their Pell Grants sent to CARS? I know I should just wait and stop posting in this thread, but it’s a little nerve wracking when I’ve talked to all my finaid-friends and they’ve gotten at least their Pell Grants processed and BearFacts still shows that I haven’t done my counseling (which I did and the .gov website confirms it).</p>
<p>My pell grant aslo hasn’t gone through</p>
<p>Ok this thread has really helped.
My panic attacks have subsided.</p>
<p>Does anyone know for sure if you absolutely have to accept loans before August 15th? </p>
<p>My parents are still kind of on the fence about accepting the Parent PLUS loan, saying it would be better if they had time to wait and see how things play out during the school year before I accept it.</p>
<p>Update: looks like Cal Grants have paid out. Check your financial aid awards summary and CARS quick statement. Both should be updated.</p>
<p>Matt</p>
<p>Cal Grants have indeed paid out.</p>
<p>Does anyone here know how refunds work? I should have had about $2900 left over after my Cal Grant paid the last of my balance, and I’m living off campus, but my CARS account shows a $0 balance rather than a negative one. Does it take a little while to process the negative balance and refund it? Or is there another fee that will come up later that I have to pay before it gets refunded?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>EDIT: I’m worried because I know Cal Grant is supposed to go towards tuition/fees, so they might try not to give me what’s left over. But it’s not my fault that my loans paid out first and may have been applied towards the bill, I would have had Cal Grant cover tuition/fees and my loans be left over.
Does anyone know how this works?</p>
<p>Hmmm… I have never had this before… my aid just dropped down to 7K for each semester but I got 11K for fall semester. WEIRD. anyone have anything like that?</p>
<p>Oh, Regents paid out as well.</p>
<p>CARS never shows a negative one- whatever is left over will be processed to the CARS–>Refund Summary It does take longer for that to process. all the fees should be listed already. They will give it to you, it doesn’t necessarily “matter” where the money goes to but that it goes to both the school and you eventually.</p>
<p>Okay, thank you, that’s good to know. There’s still nothing in my CARS->Refund Summary but hopefully it will be processed soon.</p>
<p>um… my financial aid award summary seems to have been updated and the total amount seems to have gone down… but anyway, my Cal Grant B still hasn’t been paid to CARS. Also, for amount accepted for Cal Grant, it says 0 dollars… and on Accepted/Declined status, it says nothing for Cal Grant. Did I have to do something to accept Cal Grant? I thought it gets accepted automatically unlike the loans…?</p>
<p>lunareclipse: No, I don’t think so. My counselor just got back to me saying I can check my offer letter NEXT WEEK (after August 15th) to see changes. Obviously if my offer letter is going to change after the deadline I can still accept awards. However, she’s automatically accepting stuff for me, so that might change things. Call and make sure?</p>
<p>No changes in my Cal Grant, too, nikinikibambam.</p>
<p>As for refunds—I think BearFacts says it takes up to 30-60 days to process.</p>
<p>Yea, no real set deadline to accept/decline loans. When/if you do, they will be processed and applied to CARS bill. Obviously if you don’t accept a loan you will have to pay some other way.</p>