(This is my first time posting so I am not sure if I am doing this correctly)
So I am a high school senior and I got accepted to my school of choice, however I decided to go to community college instead because I did not receive enough financial aid to pay. I did bad in school, I got a 2.68 GPA, so I was only eligible for Cal Grant B, not Cal Grant A.
However I read on the California Student Aid Commission website that it is best not to use your cal grant in community college because you can reapply for the cal grant when you transfer. (read it on here:) http://www.csac.ca.gov/doc.asp?id=1372
How do you decline the cal grant so that you don’t use up the money that you could have gotten later?
I don’t understand everything about the B but I thought that if you get the B then you get the state university grant to make up the tuition cost the first year. After that you get the same money as calgrant A
Yes, Cal Grant B is ‘better’ than Cal Grant A. The college makes up the tuition portion for the first year. It should have shown a university grant in your award letter. But, if you have already decided to go to a cc, then it doesn’t matter and hopefully someone else here can help you on the ‘declining part’. BUT… if you do cc for 2 years, then transfer and do 2 years at a CSU or UC, you will not be ‘losing’ any of your cal grant. Its only if you think you need to go for a total of more than 4 years that you would want to save your eligibility. (I’m trying to say that you have 4 years eligibility total - you only need to save them for transferring if you think you will need more than 2 years for your junior and senior classes).
You are going to want to put your Cal-Grant on a “hold” or a “leave of absence” through your webgrants account. This is easily done by creating your account at webgrants4students.org. Do this if you believe that it truly will take you longer than 2 years to complete your junior/senior years at the state/UC you transfer to - as @jbourne already mentioned.
Wait, okay so the Cal Grant has been confusing me so much.
So my Cal Grant B CAN be used for 2 years community college and 2 years in a CSU/UC? And when does it give me the same amount as Cal Grant A? In my second year of receiving the Cal Grant or my second year in a university?
Can you copy and paste your CSU award package? I just want to see if it would work out better for you. Is this CSU in commuting distance or is the problem that you can’t come up with room and board?
For Cal Grant B,if you went to a CSU diierctly, you get the 1,470 and university grant the first year. After that you get the university grant replaced with a cal grant to cover the tuition and fees and you also continue to get the 1,470 access award in each of the next 3 years.
For going to CC first. Awards depend on cost of the school. Your link mentions how it works for A but not how that works for B. So I don’t know.
IF you went directly to a 4 year CSU or UC -
Cal Grant B - pays year 1 Access Award,
Years 2 -4 Access Award PLUS Tuition Award
BUT in year 1, you will get a University Award for Tuition - it just comes from the university, not
the cal grant funds. So, if you have Cal Grant B, you end up getting 4 years tuition and
the extra Access Award all four years. It is awarded to very low income students and has
a lower GPA requirement.
IF you go to 2 years CC, then 2 years CSU or UC -
It looks to me like you get the Access Award for years 1 and 2 at the CC. But no tuition.
The tuition is a lot less at the CC and assuming you wouldn’t have room and board, this
could still be cheaper.
Then years 3 and 4 - you will get tuition and Access Award from Cal Grant.
The only problem about ‘using up eligibility’ is if you take more than 2 years at your CC or
think you will take more than 2 at the CSU or UC. So… if you take 2 years at CC and claim
the Access Award, then it takes you 3 years to finish the CSU, you will only get 2 years of
Cal Grant aid at the CSU and have to pay the 3rd year yourself.
Make a webgrants4students account. Take a look at what your account offers.
Seems like you will either indicate you want to save your calgrant on hold or accept now to get 1,473
If you receive a Cal Grant B, you can use your $1,473 living allowance to help pay for books and other community college costs. (If you do, however, keep in mind that you’ll be using up Cal Grant eligibility that you may instead want to save if you’re planning to transfer to a four-year college.)