I need advice right now. Normally I would ask counselor’s at my highschool but this coronavirus has ruined everything and no one will return my school emails or calls. So, the problem is I have narrowed down my college choices to UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Long Beach. I’ve been waiting for an update on my financial aid at UCSB so I could compare the two schools and ultimately decide. Well it’s been a while and I started to worry so I checked UCSB’s portal and checked my financial aid status again, only this time I was greeted with a message stating I have never submitted my FAFSA. I was shocked as I was nearly 100% certain I did do so. So I log onto FAFSA and check only to see that I have sent my FAFSA to the wrong school. I’ve sent it to the Antioch University of Santa Barbara, not UCSB. I absolutely have no idea what to do now. UCSB was my top choice, I really was looking forward to attending. I have tried calling but due to coronavirus, all of their offices are closed. I’ve sent emails and have yet to hear back. Decision day is coming up fast and I’m starting to panic. If I go the Cal State Long Beach route, financial aid only covered enough to the point where I will still have to pay $12,000 per year. I have no idea how any of this works. I don’t even know how to get a loan and resources at my school are definitely no help. And $12,000 per year sure seems like a heck of lot of money that I definitely can’t afford. But I want to go to UCSB extremely bad. It’s my dream school and I know I will be absolutely crushed knowing I was accepted but couldn’t attend because of one stupid mistake. Will UCSB even offer financial aid this late? And even then, will they inform me before decision day. I wouldn’t want to accept their offer and lose CSULB without knowing if I can or can’t afford it. I have no idea what to do. Heeeeeeeellllllpppppp!
Well the first thing to do was to enter the correct code so that your FAFSA numbers would be transmitted to UCSB as soon as you learned that they hadn’t been sent yet. Did you do that?
Yes, their offices are closed, but people are working from home and should eventually get to your email. Try sending one again.
Where is your guidance counselor? Send that person an email too and get some help with this.
What have your parents told you about paying for college? Can they help you at all, or are you entirely on your own to find the $12,000?
The first thing you need to do is put UCSB’s school code on your FAFSA & submit the update. Do it immediately. Then call & email UCSB until you get hold of someone; explain what happened. You will be eligible for federal aid, but whether or not it’s too late for institutional aid, only they can tell you. Good luck.
I updated my FAFSA with the CORRECT school code earlier this morning. I will definitely continue to call & email them. It’s a slight relief to know I could possibly at least get federal aid. Thank you for your advice!
Yes, I updated my FAFSA with the correct school code. I will continue to email them. I have sent multiple emails to my counselor for advice and assistance with no response back. My parents can help but not very much. It better than nothing and I am grateful, but I will most likely be responsible for the majority of the $12,000.
Are you Calgrant eligible? If so, did you receive a Calgrant from any other UC or CSU?
@gumbymom @“aunt bea”
Yes, I am Calgrant eligible. From my understanding, I won’t be able to claim the Calgrant until around the summer. However, in my financial aid packet for CSU Long Beach, they estimate to award me the maximum amount for the Calgrant.
It looks like you submitted your FAFSA correctly now.
I think you should also call the college. Someone else on this forum had sort of the same issue…got accepted to Cal but hadn’t submitted the FAFSA to that school. The advice given there was to submit ASAP, and contact the school.