@CuteyBrown Yes, it does.
@Ifeanyi1 Thank you! Also, my counselor sent all my school documents this Wedsnday and I still have gotten no confirmation of receipt. Should I resend them or wait longer?
My counselor sent it on March 6th and still no confirmation. In fact, they just sent me an email saying they are still missing this info and that I should upload it. But uploading is not possible on the student portal. I called GMS several times today and got voicemail. Frustrating!
@PeaceOfMind Did your counselor send it to freshmen@aigcs.org ?
@CheyenneAllen No, I sent it to gmsreply@hsf.net. I think we need to send it to different administrators based on our ethnicity. HSF is Hispanic Scholarship Fund.
@brendalil I had the same issue. My counselor sent the information on Monday and this was not reflected in the system. Eventually, she resent the documents on Thursday early in the morning EST and now GMS has them. I would suggest calling GMS directly. The representatives can probably check the system. If GMS has not yet received the requested documents, I would definitely recommend resending as opposed to waiting.
@Ifeanyi1 I just got an email from them basically saying to calm down and give them time to process all the documents LOL
@brendalil Oh, ok. LOL.
A previous winner of the scholarship told me to wait to send the acceptance letter until you get your most prestigious one. Apparently they really like to boast about their scholars going to ivy leagues or top 20 schools which can be seen on their website. They like to get prestigious admits
Do you guys know for the people who have an efc that is not 0 but are elligible for pell grant how they are able to pay it off? Is it possible for them to use the pell grant to pay that amount off or are they going to have to take the route of a small loan or a side job?
@2ne1islife The Expected Family Contribution must be paid by the student and/or the student’s family. The Gates Millennium Scholarship will not cover that amount, and the Pell Grant does not cover that either. Some families do take out loans to cover the EFC. A student could be Pell eligible and still have an EFC of $5,234. If your aid package from the school includes a Work/Study job, you can turn that down and Gates will make up the difference. If you need to work to contribute towards the EFC, getting a regular on- or off-campus job is an option.
I heard this scholarship has a maximum cap of 10,000 dollars is this true ?
@pleaseacceptme99 I don’t know where you heard that, but it is not true. The Gates Millennium Scholarship is a “last dollar” scholarship, so the amount that any particular Scholar receives depends on the Cost of Attendance at the college they attend and how much aid they have from other sources. Some Scholars are fully-funded from other sources and receive not a single dollar of GMS money. Other Scholars get whatever is required to cover the unmet need. If your aid package from the college includes loans and a Work/Study job, those are considered “self-help aid” and Gates covers those also. The only thing GMS does not cover is the Expected Family Contribution (including any loans taken out to pay for the EFC).
@northernAZ I heard it from a previous winner
Okay, if I get Gates (God willing) and I go to one school my freshman year, and transfer to another school my sophomore year, will Gates be okay with that? Like will they still pay for me to attend another school if I transfer?
I don’t know how to word this question properly.
@pleaseacceptme99 There is a cap on graduate fellowship funding: $20,000 per year for a public university and $30,000 for a private university. Also, I have never heard that the college you plan to attend has any influence on whether you are selected as a Scholar. All the Scholars I have helped are attending in-state public universities.
@ifizzle321 You can transfer to any eligible college or university and the Gates Millennium Scholarship transfers too. If your unmet need at the new college is higher, your Gates scholarship aid will go up too.
@northernAZ that’s good news. I got my info from a previous winner she just graduated I don’t think she would lie to me but thanks.
She told me at the conference, for those who are selected, there were very few public institution kids most were private or Ivy League
@pleaseacceptme99 I just exchanged messages with a Scholar who got $15,000 one year. Also, all the Ivies are private, including the University of Pennsylvania. I am very sure that the “prestige” of the college is not a factor in who gets selected. If you join the Gates Millennium Scholars Program Applicant Group 2015-2016 Facebook group you will see a wide range of colleges applied to. It’s also a good site for all kinds of info. The administrators are Scholars.
@northernAZ thank you!