<p>Yes, and thank you for your responses.
I wonder if this is something the Nexus would be interested in.</p>
<p>The UCSB FAO says that once the family covers any EFC, takes out all of the given WS for that year, takes out all of the given Perkins and Stafford Loans that year, the student has remaining quarters of eligibility, the UCSB FAO will “attempt to give” enough UC Grant to meet full need regardless if whether the student ran out of CAL Grant eligibility due to coming in with higher class standings, is a 5th year, or is a 6th year. </p>
<p>Keltix: Do you plan on taking a 5th year? I can ask more questions to the UCSB FAO once I’m there since I plan on asking them more questions later today at around 3:40 PM.</p>
<p>The key there is having all work study and student loans offered taken before more grant aid kicks in. By a fifth and sixth year, you have a decent chunk of eligibility and, depending on age/dependency status, it could be quite a significant amount. It is also key that they only attempt to meet need, but that there is no promise it will be met. There isn’t even a promise for systemwide fees after the fourth year, but I have my hopes that they would try to meet this at least for fifth and beyond year students (up until their set “length of eligibility” requirement).</p>
<p>With these new budget cuts coming up, I see a lot of those attempts being foiled so I wouldn’t rely too heavily on a true fifth and beyond year of aid. Priority is going to go to those with promises to meet things like systemwide fees first. I’m counting myself lucky I only have one additional quarter to take past my two years from transfer.</p>
<p>Just saying to take what you were told with a grain of salt :). Things can change pretty drastically in terms of what aid they have available and that’s most likely why they’re very careful not to make any promises. It’s good to hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.</p>
<p>My son will have taken 11 AP tests by this fall which will put him at sophomore standing at his UC. Is it possible to take an AP test but not receive credit for it?</p>
<p>I contacted our UC and they said they would make up the lost Cal Grant (year 4) with a UC grant, but like Kender said, things can change…</p>
<p>Not planning on taking 5th year.</p>
<p>You can take AP exams, but just don’t report the scores. Not sure what the point of that is, though.</p>
<p>Some high schools require AP exams to be taken as a part of an AP class.</p>
<p>After asking several of my friends from 5 different UCs whose CAL Grant has expired, UC Grant replaces CAL Grant, but the max UC Grant seems to be $15,300 for this school year. This is all speculation though, so I don’t have all of the facts. All 13 of us (from 5 different UCs) got a UC Grant of $15,300 and all of our CAL Grants expired. Also looking back, all of our FA packages had CAL Grant + UC Grant < $15,300 in the previous years.</p>
<p>All of our EFCs are 0-200 and we received $5,550-EFC Pell Grant.</p>
<p>I also noticed that those who lived on campus in the resident halls had PLUS Loans while those that lived off campus were not offered PLUS Loans.</p>
<p>I’m guessing this means FAOs expect 2nd-nth year students to live off campus and if they choose to live on campus then their parents would have to shoulder the PLUS Loans.</p>
<p>According to Project on Student Debt, the UCs “attempt to” meet full need via Pell Grant, CAL Grant, UC Grant after the student has taken out </p>
<p>$5,500 subsidized loans
$2,000 unsubsidized loans
$2,000 Work Study
$3,500 Self-Help <---- not sure about this
$X EFC</p>
<p>I don’t see a Self-Help on my FA package this year or previous years though (maybe mistake?).</p>
<p>What this could mean is that for any student whose CAL Grant is gone but has 0 EFC, the UCs “attempt” to meet full need with extra UC Grant as long as the student takes out the $7,500 loans, do WS, and Self-Help Summer job contribution. They also expect students to live off campus after 1st year when calculating the FA packages.</p>
<p>EDIT: Actually I just received an email from my FAO, and they said my analysis was correct (even the off campus vs. on campus part). I typed up a similar analysis in the email I sent yesterday.</p>
<p>I also forgot to mention that even though Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan doesn’t extend for 5th-nth years, what I wrote was still true (based on what I received in the email and they said they still “attempt” to meet full need for 5th-nth year students where Blue and Gold does not apply).</p>
<p>You need to try to get something in writing about this from your UC. Another student posted a few months ago that his 5th year aid at a UC was awful after B&G and other aid expired after year 4.</p>
<p>UPDATE:
We are the family whose son would have entered with sophomore standing due to too many AP credits…</p>
<p>Even though the financial aid officer at my son’s school said they would make up the lost Cal Grant with a UC grant, we decided not to chance it. </p>
<p>We discovered that College Board offers a service called Score Withholding,</p>
<p>“You may have one or more scores withheld from the report sent to the college you indicated on your answer sheet. To have a score withheld from the indicated college, AP Services must receive your written, signed request by mail or fax by June 15 accompanied by a $10 fee per score, per college.”
[AP</a> Scores - AP Scores & Reporting Services](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>View Your AP Scores – AP Students | College Board)</p>
<p>So we calculated how many test scores we had to withhold in order for him to enter college with freshman standing (I think we withheld scores from 4 or 5 tests). I just checked his Cal Grant Award Detail and it does say he has 4 more years remaining eligibility. </p>
<p>According to College Board, “You may later release the score to that college by sending AP Services a signed written request.”</p>