Middle Class Scholarship + Cal Grant

<p>If I was already awarded a Cal Grant, will I be awarded the MCS? My Cal Grant is more than 40% of my tuition so would I have to choose either the Grant or the MCS? Or will I just not be awarded a MCS since I was awarded Cal Grant? MCS is federally run so I believe I would not have to choose between the two and I would be awarded both... </p>

<p>The Middle Class Scholarship is not federally run. It’s administered by the same agency that administers the Cal Grants. See [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.csac.ca.gov/mcs.asp]here[/url”&gt;http://www.csac.ca.gov/mcs.asp]here[/url</a>] for more information.</p>

<p>@dodgersmom
So does that mean we can’t be awarded both Cal Grant and MCS and have to choose between the two? I checked out the link and I’m still confused.</p>

<p>From the website:</p>

<p>The award is determined after you are awarded any federal Pell Grant, Cal Grant and institutional need-based grants for which you are eligible.</p>

<p>So, let’s say you’re eligible to have 14% of your tuition/fees covered by grants. (That’s the maximum for next year.) Then let’s say your tuition/fees equal $10k - just to keep the math simple. So you are entitled to $1,400 in grants. But you already have a Cal Grant (or a Pell grant) of $1,000. That means that you’d be entitled to another $400. That’s it. No more than that. If your Cal Grant was $2,000, you wouldn’t be entitled to anything else at all - you wouldn’t be eligible for a Middle Class Scholarship.</p>

<p>Frankly, unless you’re ineligible for the Cal Grant, I don’t know why you’d even be interested in the MCS - it’s a very small amount of money. 14% of tuition/fees isn’t much at all. It will eventually be 40%, but not for a few years. If you’re actually eligible for a Cal Grant, take it, be grateful, and move on.</p>

<p>Thanks @dodgersmom ! Very helpful :)</p>