<p>March 2nd is the last day to file the FAFSA to qualify for Cal Grant. The California Student Aid Commission is INFLEXIBLE with this date - if you do not file the FAFSA by midnight March 2nd, you will not get a Cal Grant - even if you received a Cal Grant the previous year.</p>
<p>The Cal Grant is worth $9,708 per year at USC. </p>
<p>Here are the 2011/2012 income and assets ceilings for Cal Grant: <a href="http://www.csac.ca.gov/facts/2011-12_incomeceilings.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.csac.ca.gov/facts/2011-12_incomeceilings.pdf</a> There is no "sliding scale" with Cal Grant - these are cut-offs.</p>
<p>An example: Dependent students in a family of four may have a household income up to $78,100 and assets up to $60,500 (not including home equity) and qualify.</p>
<p>Complete income/asset details: <a href="http://www.csac.ca.gov/facts/2010-11IncomeCeilings.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.csac.ca.gov/facts/2010-11IncomeCeilings.pdf</a></p>
<p>****This applies to new AND returning students.* If you are a current student receiving Cal Grant, you MUST file the FAFSA by today to continue to receive your grant.</p>
<p>If you have not completed your taxes, file using your best estimates and then update the FAFSA when the taxes are complete. This is a hard deadline.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Oops! In the section titled *****This applies to… **, I say you must file by “today.” That is not correct - the deadline is March 2nd (I was saving time by copying and pasting from last year’s deadline thread 
and didn’t update that section).</p>
<p>Does renewing FAFSA and CSS take a lot of time?</p>
<p>If you have all the information gathered - tax returns, bank statements, informal home value estimate, your 1098T (go to Oasis to print out your 1098T listing eligible expenses and grant/scholarship aid for figuring your Hope, Lifetime Learning or other educational credits, as well as determining if you have any tax liability for your grants/scholarships), social security number, etc., a renwal FAFSA and CSS/Profile should take less time than the first time through.</p>
<p>When starting your FAFSA, be sure to click that you want to do a renewal, not start a new one - either will work, but a renewal will have much of the information pre-filled. If you use your existsing College Board account, the CSS/Profile will also pre-fill many of the fields.</p>
<p>I suggest you (and/or your parents) start now - TODAY - so that you can get on the phone with them to be sure you have everything you need to get the forms in by the deadline - which for returning students is March 2nd. You do not have to complete the forms in one sitting - you can save and come back when you get the additional information you need. If taxes haven’t been filed yet, submit with estimates and do corrections later.</p>
<p>Don’t miss deadlines!</p>