USC and the Cal Grant

<p>I got accepted as a transfer a few days ago and now I'm waiting for my financial aid award letter.</p>

<p>Right now I'm a little concerned because a few weeks back, I got an email saying I've been disqualified from the Cal Grants A and B, the ones I'm supposed to receive upon transferring to a 4 year school. I checked my status today and it said "reported assets over the ceiling." </p>

<p>Should I worry about this? I read on some other places that the schools in this case usually cover the money that cal grant was supposed to provide. </p>

<p>I looked at the award letter I got from UCSD and that seems to be the case, at least with the UC's. They are giving me 21K in grants + 2K in work study, leaving me with about 7500 in federal loans.</p>

<p>You may wish to repost this in the Financial Aid Section of the Message Board, as those folks are FAid experts.</p>

<p>just did</p>

<p>thanks.</p>

<p>USC will calculate your USC-determined need and put together your award based on that. In cases where the student qualifies for Cal Grant, that becomes a part of the package. In cases where the student does not qualify* for Cal Grant because of assets or income, USC does not leave a Cal Grant sized hole, they meet the determined need anyway.</p>

<p>*This does not apply to your case, but it is important to include: If the student WOULD have qualified for Cal Grant but did not qualify because they did not meet the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) deadlines, the Cal Grant will not be replaced by USC.</p>

<p>All of that said, remember that USC will use the CSS/Profile, which considers assets the FAFSA does not, to determine your need and so your expected contribution may differ (and by “differ” I mean it will probably me more…) at USC.</p>

<p>Come back and let us know how it turns out.</p>