How do i increase my pell/cal grant??? Help!

Paying for College
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>The financial aid summary that my university gave me states</p>

<p>Estimated Cal Grant A- $4,854
Estimated Pell Grant- $2,775</p>

<p>I really need more financial aid help from both of these grants and i know they are not the maximum amount ( although i'm not sure what the maximum amount is). So i suppose i have two questions:</p>

<ol>
<li>How do i confirm this is my actual cal/pell grant?</li>
<li>Who should i contact (the university or some federal organization) to raise my cal/pell grants.</li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you so much</p>

2

<p>The Pell grant amount is determined by your EFC.</p>

<p><a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P1001Attachment.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P1001Attachment.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>From the FAFSA, i believe my EFC is 0 and the cost of attendance is around $55,000. There are also a few special circumstance that i did not mention to anyone besides the university.</p>

4

<p>^^^</p>

<p>Look again at your FA award. Is that Pell award for only one semester. If you double that amount, that should be for the year (I think).</p>

5

<p>It sounds like a semester’s aid to me also. $2775 is a semester’s worth of the maximum Pell grant for 2010-2011. ($5550 for the year, $2775 for a semester). That being the case you cannot get any more in Pell and I think that is probably the max Calgrant as well.</p>

6

<p>If your EFC is $0…I can’t imagine what special circumstances adjustment the school would be making…that’s the lowest an EFC can be.</p>

<p>Call the school to confirm your aid.</p>

<p>This sounds like a private university given the price. Do you have less expensive CA public options you can consider where your aid will cover more of your cost of attendance?</p>

7

<p>As mom2collegekids said about the Pell, you are looking at a one-semester award for the Cal Grant. The Cal Grant is a set amount - there is no sliding scale, so you either get it or you don’t. At a private university the Cal Grant is $9,708 per year. Divide that by two, and you get the one-semester award of $4,854.</p>

<p>If you are a Spring admit, your 2010-2011 award will be a 1/2-year award. Next year you will receive full-year amounts. If you need an 8th semester to finish your degree (some Spring admits manage to finish in 7 semsters), your aid will continue and you will get the “other half” of the award you did not get this year, unless you attend another institution for this Fall (2010) semester and receive Federal and State aid there.</p>

8

<p>You’re looking at one semester worth of aid. What other aid did you get? What sclool is this?</p>

9

<p>Just checked past posts - Looks like it is USC - originally a Spring admit moved up to fall. Gameaholic, USC will revise your package for a full year - you are still looking at the 1/2 year award. They will do it automatically, but send an email reminding them you are a Spring admit moved to Fall asking when you can expect the revised full year award. Their response will reassure you that the full-year award is coming.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

10

<p>Oh i see…they post the amount of money for each semester. So the total amount for the whole school year is actually $9708 for cal grant and $5500 for pell grant. Thanks guys for clearing that up.</p>