<p>I was wondering about Cal Grants and living off campus. Does the college disburse them to you directly so that you can pay your lease, or how does that go on? My understanding was that Cal Grants, unlike Pell Grants, were given directly to your school with the student not getting any actual money. And if they CAN be used to pay for off campus housing, do they give you less or more?</p>
<p>i don’t know what other UCs do, but in case of ucla financial aid first goes into a student’s school account and it would pay off any academic fees and then if there any remaining, it would be disbursed to the student’s private account which can be used to pay housing, textbooks, or just anything.</p>
<p>same thing at Berkeley. It goes into your CARS (student) account, then after all fees & tuition has been paid the remaining gets directly deposited to your personal bank account</p>
<p>How soon do you get the money? Thanks.</p>
<p>usually your fees get paid a couple of weeks before the semester starts, then the left over money gets sent to CARS 10 days prior to the first day of class, then it takes 2-3 days for it to post to your account…so to be safe…approx 8 days before your first day of class each semester… this is for Berkeley</p>