Are UC(SD) Grant and Cal Grant the same source?

nick_scheu
Sun, 24 Jul 2011 18:36:54 +0000

I’m guessing you’re eligible for Blue and Gold, right?

Since you are, UC has committed that you won’t pay systemwide fees, after totaling up all other aid. If there’s a difference between all of your other aid and the total cost of the fees, UC promises to make up the difference. It’s most useful for students making close to the $80k limit, since students making $20k will almost certainly have their fees covered anyway.

What happens is that the initial financial aid offer acknowledges your eligibility for Blue and Gold. Since your Cal Grant hasn’t been approved yet, the school makes up the difference with a UCSD grant. This is technically from a different source than a Cal Grant. Cal Grants come out of CSAC’s budget, I believe, while the UCSD grant comes from UCSD.

Once your Cal Grant is approved, it should appear on a revised financial aid offer, causing the UCSD grant to be reduced.

It’s possible that UCSD could nail you if you’re eligible for a Cal Grant but don’t fill out a form properly or something. I’m not sure what your issue is, but you should definitely get it straightened out to be safe. You might even end up with a better offer once your Cal Grant is factored in.

I’d call UCSD’s financial aid office and find out what the deal is. You’ll probably also have to call CSAC, but it sounds like it may be an issue with UCSD not properly requesting the funds from CSAC, so I’d start with SD.

However, if you end up legitimately not qualifying for a Cal Grant even though you meet the requirements for Blue and Gold, you should be fine. The UCSD Grant should hold. The only issue I see is if, say, a student just didn’t apply for a Cal Grant, but was eligible for one. If I were UCSD, I wouldn’t respond favorably to a student just being lazy, you know?