<p>First off, I am a California resident who is going to be attending UC Davis in about a week! Unfortunately, I'm between a financial rock and hard place. </p>
<p>My financial awards have been released to me and my EFC is just a tad bit lower than $12,000. The thing is that my dad recently retired from his job and my mom has a stay-at-home business and doesn't supply very much income. Also, I have a twin brother that is also attending UC Davis so my family will be paying for two college tuitions and roughly $24,000 in all.</p>
<p>My two main questions:
What is the Blue + Gold Opportunity Plan?
I looked at the qualifications for the B&G and I felt like I met all the requirements including the lower than $80,000 income, but I haven't received any benefits from B&G. Are there any other not stated requirements that I might have not met?
Also, does having a sibling attending a UC or a parent's retirement resulting in a loss of income affect my EFC?</p>
<p>Any help at all would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for any help!</p>
<p>I am sure someone else can address B & G, there are many here who are familiar with it.</p>
<p>As far as having a sibling in school affect your efc, it was split in half already. If your sibling was’nt also in college your efc would be 24,000.</p>
<p>Retirement- this years efc is based on last years income. So if your dad retired during this year it will be reflected in this years income which will be reflected on next school years efc.</p>
<p>Since your family has an EFC of $24k for 2 kids, I doubt that your family has an income of $80k or under…unless your family has a lot of assets. </p>
<p>Remember, income is based on the 2010 income…not this year’s income. </p>
<p>And, I don’t think the B&G promise is given if the family has highish EFCs even if the income is low. I think it says something about income and financial need. </p>
<p>Your EFCs are too high for Pell and income is likely too high for Cal Grants. That would mean the UC would have to give a UC grant for your tuition. It’s not likely going to do that. </p>
<p>Are you a transfer student? why are you just realizing your FA situation???</p>
<p>Blue and Gold is vague on what ‘financial need’ means except that is says
based on federal aid programs. I think this might mean you have to
be eligibie for federal aid (meaning Pell grant). So, if you don’t qualify for
the Pell Grant, you don’t qualify for Blue & Gold. Don’t by shy about
calling the financial aid office and asking though. Here is the number
for UC Davis - 530-752-2390 (press 8 to bypass all the recorded stuff).
They are probably very busy today since they just posted fin aid
to student accounts today.</p>
<p>B&G like Cal Grant is based on income ceiling, not EFC. Cal Grant has an additional ceiling to meet in terms of assets. I’ll admit it has been a few months since I last reviewed each program in depth, but the only changes my email has alerted me to (and that I last researched when changes occurred) was the increase to B&G’s income ceiling and the new rules requiring all current Cal Grant recipients to requalify under the new award rules (in the past, you did not have to meet income and asset ceilings again, just have at least $100 of need and remaining eligibility time). One does not have to be eligible for Pell Grant to receive B&G. That would be silly to have the income ceiling at $80k if Pell eligibility was required.</p>
<p>To answer the OP’s question, B&G is just a promise your systemwide fees will be met through a combination of grants and/or scholarships. However, unlike Cal Grant, there is no separate income ceiling for larger families. Unless you actually meet the $80k ceiling (for the 2010 tax year) and submitted both a FAFSA and GPA verfication form, then you will not qualify.</p>
<p>@kela
Ohh. My parents and I did personally make a trip to the UC Davis financial aid office earlier in July when we were asked to verify a few documents for our financial aid, and my dad inquired about how my/my brother’s financial aid would be affected by a loss in income earlier that year (his retirement). I believe the representative told us about a form that would be available on the 15th of September for those kinds of situations. Does anyone know anything about that. Maybe I was a little vague to be honest!</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids
From I remember on my parents filling out their part of the FAFSA, we did actually have a considerable amount of assets… So that could be it. Would assets hurt in qualifying for Pell Grants and the B&G promise?
So far UC Davis has given about $12,700 through an “Entering UG Scholarship - NH”. I also got a bit more than $1,000 from a “University Fee Grt Group 1-NH”. I know the first one is a scholarship but I’m not sure what the second one is and am even more wary since it says fee. Haha.
Honestly? Ignorance is bliss. I haven’t been trying to keep updated with my family’s financial situation hoping that it would all pan out… Defence mechanism : DENIAL. Now I’m very much endeared to it and I’ll definately be spending a large part of my next week researching scholarships and what not.</p>
<p>@jbourne
I definately did not get Pell Grant so that’s probably why I didn’t qualify for B&G. I was actually planning on calling them already and had the number down already but thank you!
What do you mean they just posted financial aid to student accounts? I’ve had my financial aid posted for quite a while now.</p>
<p>One last question:
Are Pell Grants, B&G promises, Cal Grants, etc. only offered to incoming freshman? Or can you not qualify for it one year and then like me, you have a loss of income in the family and qualify for those the next year?</p>
<p>THANK YOU FOR ALL THE HELP GIVEN TO ME SO FAR.
Granted, most of it has been bad news for me so far but even so, any help is encouraging at this point in time!</p>
<p>@kender
First of all, I live in the Bay Area too!
Secondly, that first paragraph of yours received a breath of sigh from me since it is probably the only slimmer of hope that I’ve received from this thread so far. That isn’t saying that the other posts haven’t helped me also though!
But yes, I will definitely call the UC Davis Financial Aid Office and inquire about these various grants and scholarships. They should know what the B&G promise, right?</p>
<p>So you have $13,700 in gift aid? Then you have had B&G met. That more than covers systemwide fees. I would be very surprised if they were any more generous than that considering your personal EFC is $12k.</p>
<p>aznkid, what more money are you expecting? Blue and Gold covers fees only, not housing/board costs. Those will be your and your family’s responsibility to pay - or you can commute from home.</p>
<p>@Kender and @polarscribe
Do I get any notification if I have received Blue and Gold benefits besides just having the Entering UC Scholarship and the University Fee Grt Group show up on my financial aid statement? Because other than that, I received no notifications or alerts telling me that I had qualified for the B&G promise.</p>
<p>Some people will see an actual grant that says “Blue and Gold,” others have it say something else. It all depends on the UC and how they choose to meet your fees.</p>
<p>I don’t think you’re quite understanding that the B&G promise allows for it to count any grants and/or scholarships to meet its goal of insuring systemwide fees are covered. Does it really matter they send you a special letter telling you this? You have your systemwide fees more than covered and what looks like your campus fees too (something not guaranteed to be covered). Isn’t that enough?</p>
<p>A common mistake people make is assuming B&G is additional monies on top of fees. You’re not going to get anything additional through B&G promise with so much gift monies.</p>
<p>From I remember on my parents filling out their part of the FAFSA, we did actually have a considerable amount of assets… So that could be it. Would assets hurt in qualifying for Pell Grants and the B&G promise?
So far UC Davis has given about $12,700 through an “Entering UG Scholarship - NH”. I also got a bit more than $1,000 from a “University Fee Grt Group 1-NH”. I know the first one is a scholarship but I’m not sure what the second one is and am even more wary since it says fee. Haha.</p>
<p>aznkid - as the other people said - those UC grants and things you see are actually the blue & gold. Per your other question - I did not receive any aid my freshmen year, but due
to layoffs, am going to receive aid as a sophomore. However, it has been a nightmare and practically having the fin aid office on speed dial. I am guessing that not having it the first year was the main problem in ‘falling through the cracks’. On top of that, all I could get was assurances on the phone ‘don’t worry, call back in a few months, etc’. Well, if I wasn’t ‘worrying’ and calling them - even as of last Friday, I wouldn’t have gotten it.
And it was still wrong this morning, but they have made corrections today. I still don’t
see the Pell Grant, but I’m not sure if other people see that now or not, so I will wait
a while longer before calling again! (I see it on the Award page, but not posted on MyBill).
As to my comment about posting to student accounts today - the financial aid previously was an estimate, but it should now show as actual credits on MyBill (since Fall charges are due by Thursday this week).</p>
