Cal Grant hasn't posted yet and tuition is due soon... anyone else?

[Amelia]

Okay, is anyone else's financial aid portal just stuck on "review" for their Cal Grant? I'm supposed to start at UCLA in the fall (!!!), and while I'm super excited, the financial side is giving me major anxiety. My family's EFC is low, so I was really counting on the Cal Grant A to help make this dream a reality. The award showed up in my WebGrants account ages ago, but it's still not showing on my UCLA financial aid offer. Tuition is due in like, a month and a half, and I'm just staring at my screen like... .

I've emailed the financial aid office twice, but I know they're swamped. Is this just a normal waiting game? Should I call them? I don't want to be annoying, but I also need to know if I need to find a different plan.

 

[Walter]

The Cal Grant anxiety is SO real but let me give you the timeline that happened for me:

• March: Award showed in WebGrants
• April: Nothing on UCLA portal, started panicking
• Early May: UCLA portal updated with "Estimated Cal Grant"
• Late May: Actual Cal Grant posted
• June: All good, tuition covered

The UCLA financial aid site specifically mentions that Cal Grants are awarded by the California Student Aid Commission and applied toward tuition and fees . The commission processes thousands of these and sends them to schools in batches. If your WebGrants shows it, YOU'RE FINE. The university just hasn't gotten the official data dump yet.