And GMS doesn’t cover parent loans /:
@pleaseacceptme99 who is offering you parent loans of 30k+??? My FAFSA efc is about 300/400 but many schools have given me enough to only result in a 15-22k gap. GMS can hopefully cover whatever is left of your FA package because with your efc a loan larger than $15k+ is ridiculous :-/
@jjuar16 out of state schools like chapel hill and UT Austin
@pleaseacceptme99 GMS covers “unmet need” and “self-help aid.” The only thing it does not cover is the Family Contribution (a combination of student and parent contribution), including any loans needed to cover the Family Contribution. However, if other loans are listed in your award letter, you have the option of declining those loans, just like you have the option of declining work-study. You are not penalized for declining these “self-help” parts of your award from the college. If you are selected as a Scholar, included in that “good news” package will be a 30-page guide explaining the details of “GMS award math.”
I just want to go to coledge
What if the papers are submitted by the deadline but haven’t been verified by the deadline
@pleaseacceptme99 Verifying the documents is the responsibility of the GMSP partner organization. That’s why there is a full week after the deadline before Scholars are announced. It gives the partner organizations time to verify all those remaining documents that were submitted by the April 8th deadline. Do all your documents say “received and pending”? If so, you are in good shape.
@northernAZ yes most of them say received and verified only one of them says received and verification pending. (I sent this one later than the others)
So apparently my counselor emailed me today saying that she emailed the papers on the 9th of March but the portal still says it has not received anything :-< I’m going to call them tomorrow and ask what’s going on
So I’m a finalist for the scholarship and I gave my counselor the cumulative GPA form that I received in the mail but she just told me that she lost it and I can’t find the form in my emails. Would anyone possibly have the form that they could send me so I can print it out? Thank you guys I’m pretty stressed out because this is due soon 
My friend told me his recommendor saw the ladder and his place on it. Is there any truth to this ? I feel this is highly unlikely
@arandab98 If you have not yet gotten an extra copy of the GPA verification form, contact the GMS staff or the staff at your GMS partner organization immediately, have them email you a copy and monitor your counselor in person to make sure she submits it by the April 8 deadline.
@arandab98 There is an unweighted GPA form attached to the GMS finalist memo! I forward my memo email to my couselor when I found out about my status so she could use the form if she needed it. I think you could try that too?
@arandab98 I asked for advice from another finalist. She said the form was part of the email you received telling you that you are a finalist. I hope you did not delete that email.
@pleaseacceptme99 We were recommenders and no, we never had any kind of communication about our scholar’s ranking, that was last year’s (2015) class. He was named a scholar, by the way.
@pleaseacceptme99 If your friend’s Recommender saw the ladder, that would mean they have a contact within the GMSP or the specific partner organization and that that insider committed a highly unethical act, one that could get them fired. Count me skeptical.
@northernAZ @NJRoadie I’m skeptical too I don’t want to believe it but he even SIR’ed to an expensive out of state college because he was told his number on the ladder and is counting on the scholarship to pay for it
@northernAZ I feel stupid asking this, but is the optional profile form truly optional? I only ask because everything else has been verified for quite a while, but my son still gets calls/reminders that his file is incomplete. His school does not have a profile form.
@Alamom All my information about the GMSP comes from the Facebook group administered by several Gates Scholars. Everything I have seen about the “school profile” is that it is optional if it does not exist. Has your son been able to let the GMSP know, via phone or email, that his school does not have a school profile?
I’m going to UC Berkeley! Go bears! lol. But I sent my acceptance from Irvine in order to ensure everything was verified on time because Cal didn’t send notifications until the end of March. It’s all out of our control now guys!