Oops, I think I screwed up the Cal Grant

<p>I am a community college transfer student looking to start UC Davis this fall. I haven’t gotten an admission decision yet, but I did complete a TAG.</p>

<p>Like many others, I got my financial aid report today. I am an independent student, so my award numbers are (approximately) as follows:</p>

<p>Pell Grant: $4.5k
Gov’t Loan: $5.5k
Beginning UG Scholarship: $13k</p>

<p>Leaving about $3.5k for me to come up with out of pocket.</p>

<p>Ok great, I said. But I didn’t see anything about Cal Grant. So I researched it and discovered that I don’t recall doing the GPA Verification form that was due March 2nd along with FAFSA in order to get the Cal Grant. In fact I didn’t even know about it despite the million times I read over the financial aid pamphlet that was sent to me.</p>

<p>Did I mess it up like I think I did? Am I screwed with regard to the Cal Grant for this year? Would I have gotten anything anyway, or would it have been the same loan amount and just less scholarship from UCD?</p>

<p>My community college automatically submitted my GPA verification form… Does it say it wasn’t submitted at all?</p>

<p>No, it doesn’t say anything. I just know I never did anything like that and I didn’t specifically instruct my JC to do so either. I go to DVC - maybe they did do it automatically and I just didn’t qualify?</p>

<p>At my JC, they do it automatically if you have over a certain amount of units (usually a small amount). I believe I recall the financial aid woman who helped me say that they’re required to submit your GPA by law. It should say on the page whether or not your GPA verification form was received (after you select what school year you want to view).</p>

<p>This is the website to check your cal grant status: <a href=“CSAC - Student Landing Home”>CSAC - Student Landing Home; . After you create an account,
you can ‘View Application Status’, select the 11-12 year, then go to
the bottom of the screen where it will hopefully show a green
check mark by the Fafsa and also by the GPA verification form. You
can also ‘view award detail’.
By the way, if you do get a cal grant A, it will probably just lower that
‘Beginning UG scholarship’ by the same amount. If you get cal grant B,
it will still lower it, but you would get an additional 1551 to use towards
books and other expenses.</p>

<p>Thank you very much.</p>

<p>I’ve actually attended two community colleges (Both a part of Contra Costa Community College District). I’ve taken several classes at DVC and have over 100 credits there and I’ve taken 1 class at LMC, and got an A in that class, so technically my GPA at LMC is 4.0. At DVC, where I have most my classes, the GPA is about 3.15.</p>

<p>After viewing the application status on the site you referred me to, it says they have received my GPA verification form. But it says it’s only gotten it from LMC, nothing about DVC. However - the GPA listed is 3.15, indicating to me that perhaps LMC sent them my entire transcript.</p>

<p>I was under the impression that the minimum GPA for Cal Grant was either 3.0 or 2.0.</p>

<p>(I realize that these questions probably warrant a phone call to any or all of the agencies in question here, but I’ll make posts anyway.)</p>

<p>If the Cal Grant would just replace the UCD Scholarship without any significant change in the loan amount then I guess this is a moot point.</p>

<p>DVC and LMC are both part of the Contra Costa Community College District… so yes, they will know about and combine all units to determine your GPA.</p>

<p>It may or may not be a mute point regarding Cal Grant. Cal Grant you can take with you if you change colleges… a University grant you can not.</p>

<p>On the Cal Grants web site, you should be able to click on “Award Detail” tab and also the “CA Aid Report” and see what they have awarded you. For a UC, the max is $11,124 I believe.</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

<p>Application Status:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Guess that answers my question.</p>

<p>I’m so relieved to know that the GPA-V form was sent in automatically.</p>