<p>I didn't get any work study..did anyone else notice a change like this?</p>
<p>Do you have unmet need? My daughter (different school) had WS her fresh/soph years but does not her upcoming Junior year because she is eligible for the federal SMART grant (mainly for science majors) which covered what she was previously getting in WS. Her remaining need of just a few hundred was met with loans rather than WS.</p>
<p>Thats unfortunate 
I still have my WS. But anyways how come they take away the WS if you have more grants/scholarships? =/</p>
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Because WS is need based. If the grants/scholarships meet all the need then they replace the WS. Can’t have WS if there is no remaining financial need. My daughter keeps saying now she will need an outside job and I keep reminding her that she has the same amount of money, just in grant form (which is a good thing) rather than WS. Although she did like her WS job this gives her an opportunity to try and get involved in research as she does not need to work a paid job to get the grant money that replaced the WS.</p>
<p>^Yeah exactly. </p>
<p>If you have 5k with 4k grant and 1k WS, but now you have 5k Grant, you have the same thing. I’m actually surprised they removed WS and gave a Grant. Whenever I removed WS, they gave me a loan :(.</p>
<p>The SMART grant is a federal grant for Pell eligible Juniors/Seniors in specific majors (mostly science). It is granted before other aid such as loans/WS. </p>
<p>My daughter did have part of her WS replaced with loans her freshman year when she opted not to take the full WS award (she had an outside job related to her career plans at the time - which made her realize she did not like that particular career).</p>
<p>Well UCLA doesn’t include SMART/ACT grant in the eFAN so for those of you who are eligible for either of these grants, I advise you to consider this when you accept/decline your financial aid offer. Typically, the SMART/ACT grant will repay the loans AND/OR replace your remaining loans. You will receive your SMART/ACT grant late in the quarter (~8th week or so)</p>
<p>@ Swimcatsmom: Do you know if 5th year seniors are eligible for SMART grants?</p>
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<p>I believe if you have exhausted your 4th year of SMART grant, you will not receive it as a 5th year senior.</p>
<p>They will determine eligibility based on how many terms of 4th Year status grant you have received (3 is maximum).</p>
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Not generally. The SMART grant is for juniors and seniors and is generally only available for two years. A student can usually only receive a total of $8000 in SMART grant ($4000 for each year). I believe there is a change in the rules this year and additional money is available to students in degrees considered to be 5 year programs. For instance at my daughter’s school the blurb about the SMART says that only students in one specific degree (the architectural engineering program which is a 5 year program) may be eligible for additional SMART $$s in the 5th year. However if my daughter takes 5 years to complete her degree (which she may as she is probably adding a double major or a minor) she will not be eligible for additional SMART as her degree is considered a 4 year degree, even if she takes 5 years to complete it. That is my understanding - the ACG and SMART rules seem to change every year and seem quite complicated to administer.</p>