Cal Grant A: Income or GPA based? When will college receive funds?

Cal Grant A is actually BOTH income AND academic based! Your daughter needed to meet both requirements: 1. Financial: Your family income and assets must be below certain caps (about $109,000 for a family of 4 for 2025-26) 2. Academic: She needed at least a 3.0 high school GPA As for timing, Cal Grants are typically disbursed at the beginning of each term, so the school should receive it around when classes start. However, many colleges will credit it to her account before payment deadlines even if they haven't received the actual funds yet. I recommend calling her college's financial aid office to confirm their specific process.

my son got cal grant A last yr and the $ didn't show up till 3 weeks after classes started!! we had to pay tuition first then got refunded later, total nightmare

Quick clarification on Cal Grant A that the previous poster didn't mention: it specifically covers tuition and fees, not living expenses or books. The maximum award amount varies by college type - for 2025-26, it's approximately $12,570 at UC schools, $5,742 at CSU, and $9,358 at private California colleges. Regarding disbursement timing, it depends on whether the college is set up for "initial paper warrants" or "electronic fund transfers." Most schools use EFT now, which is faster, but some smaller colleges still use paper warrants which can delay things. Call your daughter's financial aid office ASAP to ask: 1. Are they set up for EFT for Cal Grants? 2. Will they defer her tuition payment deadline if the Cal Grant hasn't arrived? 3. What's their specific disbursement schedule for Cal Grant A?

Cal Grants are the WORST with timing!!! My daughter almost lost her dorm room because the school was waiting for her Cal Grant and wouldn't let her move in without payment. The whole system is broken IMO.

Has your daughter completed her FAFSA too? Cal Grant works with FAFSA, and she needs both. I learned this the hard way when my son had issues last year because his FAFSA had an error that delayed his Cal Grant even though he was approved for it.

congrats on getting cal grant A! thats awesome, my kid didnt get it cuz her gpa was only 2.8 even tho we're broke lol. wish they looked at improvement not just overall numbers

btw when u call finaid office dont be surprised if u cant get thru. i spent DAYS trying to reach someone at my sons school. busy signals or on hold for hrs then disconnected

One important thing to know about Cal Grant A that others haven't mentioned: the income/asset ceilings adjust slightly each year. For 2025-26 awards, they're using your 2023 tax information (from your FAFSA). If your income goes up significantly in 2024 or 2025, it won't affect her current Cal Grant eligibility. Also, Cal Grant A is renewable for up to 4 years as long as she maintains a 2.0 college GPA and takes at least 15 units per term (to graduate on time). She'll need to file FAFSA each year to renew, but the GPA requirement drops from the initial 3.0 high school GPA to just 2.0 in college. Regarding disbursement, UC Davis specifically is very good about crediting anticipated aid before it arrives, so you likely won't have to pay upfront. Their system typically shows Cal Grant as a pending credit weeks before the payment deadline.

One more thing: If your daughter received Cal Grant A but is attending a community college first (which wasn't clear from your post), the Cal Grant A will be held in reserve for up to 2 years until she transfers to a 4-year school. Community colleges use Cal Grant B instead (which has a lower GPA requirement but covers living expenses).

Welcome to the financial aid journey! As someone who just went through this with my freshman daughter, I wanted to add a few practical tips that helped us navigate the Cal Grant A process: 1. Set up your student portal access at UC Davis ASAP if you haven't already - this is where you'll see all aid postings and payment deadlines 2. Screenshot/save the Cal Grant award notification - you'll reference this multiple times 3. Consider setting up a payment plan with the school even if you expect the Cal Grant to cover tuition - it gives you flexibility if there are any delays 4. Sign up for text/email alerts from both the school's billing office AND financial aid office - they often send different notifications The stress is totally normal! Once everything processes (usually by late August for fall semester), it becomes much more routine. UC Davis really is good about working with families on aid timing, so don't hesitate to reach out to them early and often. Congratulations to your daughter on her acceptance and the Cal Grant - that's a huge accomplishment!

Just wanted to add one more piece of advice as someone who works in higher ed - make sure to check if UC Davis offers a "Cal Grant bridge loan" or similar emergency aid program. Many UC campuses have started offering these specifically for situations where state aid is delayed. It's usually a short-term, interest-free loan that gets automatically repaid once your Cal Grant arrives. Also, keep in mind that Cal Grant A funds are restricted to tuition and fees only, so if you're planning your budget, you'll still need to cover room, board, books, and personal expenses through other means (Pell Grant, student loans, work-study, etc.). The good news is that UC Davis posts a detailed cost breakdown on their financial aid website so you can plan accordingly. One last tip: if you run into any issues with the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) - they're the ones who actually send the Cal Grant money to schools - their customer service is notoriously difficult to reach, but they do respond to written inquiries submitted through their website portal. Keep records of everything!

Just a heads up about Cal Grant A timing - I work at a UC campus and wanted to clarify something important. While most schools do credit anticipated aid before it arrives, there's usually still a "net payment due" that students need to cover by the deadline. This includes housing, meal plans, and any tuition not covered by the grant. For UC Davis specifically, they typically release billing statements in July and payment is due in mid-August. Cal Grant A will show as "anticipated aid" but you'll still see a balance for housing/meals (around $15-16k for the year). Many families get surprised by this thinking the Cal Grant covers everything. My advice: log into the student billing portal as soon as it's available and look at the full cost breakdown. That way you can plan for what you'll actually need to pay out of pocket. UC Davis does offer monthly payment plans starting in summer which can help spread out the non-grant costs. Also, if you're eligible for additional aid like Pell Grant or Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, those will stack with your Cal Grant A and could potentially cover more costs. Make sure your daughter's financial aid file is complete so all aid can be processed together!

As a new member here, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread! I'm in a very similar situation with my son who will be starting at UC San Diego in the fall and also received Cal Grant A. Reading through all these responses has been incredibly educational and has helped me understand what to expect with timing and payment processes. The tip about asking for a formal payment deferment in writing is something I never would have thought of, and I'm definitely going to look into whether UCSD offers a Cal Grant bridge loan program. It's also really helpful to know that the GPA requirement drops to 2.0 once in college - that takes some pressure off! I'm curious if anyone has experience specifically with UCSD's financial aid office and how they handle Cal Grant disbursements? Are they similar to UC Davis in terms of crediting anticipated aid before it arrives? Thanks again for sharing all your experiences and advice. This community is such a valuable resource for families navigating this process for the first time!

Hi everyone! I'm new to this community and just wanted to add my experience as someone who went through Cal Grant A delays last year with my daughter at UC Santa Barbara. A few things that really helped us that I haven't seen mentioned yet: 1. Contact your student's college advisor early - not just financial aid, but their assigned academic advisor. They often have insider knowledge about typical aid processing timelines and can sometimes expedite things if there are issues. 2. Join your school's parent Facebook groups if they exist - other parents often share real-time updates about when aid actually hits student accounts, which can be more accurate than official timelines. 3. If you do end up paying upfront, make sure to ask about refund processing times. When our daughter's Cal Grant finally arrived, it took another 2 weeks to get our refund check, which we weren't expecting. 4. Keep your FAFSA login info handy - sometimes schools need you to make minor corrections or updates that can hold up all aid processing, including Cal Grant. The stress is so real, but it does work out! By October everything was settled and we barely thought about it anymore. Hang in there!