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Cal Grant is a financial aid program administrated by the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) providing aid to California undergraduates, vocational training students, and those in teacher certification programs. Cal Grants are the largest source of California state funded student financial aid. [1]
Cal Grant gives funds to students who meet grade point average and parent income requirements. Up to $12,630 a year is available to qualifying students which can be applied to tuition, room and board, or books and other supplies. [2] Cal Grant applicants must file FAFSA or California Dream Application between October 1 and March 2 each year, along with the Cal Grant GPA verification Form. [2] Students that do not have a high school GPA to submit (such as students that were homeschooling, attended charter school or have a GED) may substitute their GED, ACT, or SAT scores.
This award may be applied to tuition and other fees at public or private colleges for students working towards an associate's or bachelor's degree. In the 2018-19 school year, the grant covers $5,742 at California State Universities and $12,570 at University of California schools. Up to $9,084 is given to students attending a private school. [3]
This award is given to low income students as a living allowance and partial tuition assistance. First year students are given up to $1,672 for books and living expenses; after that the awards are the same as Cal Grant A. As of 2019 the grant increased up to 6,000 a year due to a new bill passed July 2019. Beginning in 2019‑20, Cal Grant recipients with dependent children qualify for larger access awards (of up to about $6,000 per year) at the public segments (UC, CSU, and CCC). Cal Grant recipients enrolling full time at CCC also qualify for additional aid (of up to $4,000 per year) through the Student Success Completion Grant. To be eligible for this grant the student must be engaging in at least one academic year of courses. [4]
This award provides assistance for tuition at occupational or career colleges. $547 is available for books and equipment and is available at any California Community College. The vocational program must be at least four months in length but not more than two years. [5]
For students that did not qualify for the regular Cal Grant A, this award is available, but not guaranteed, to all that meet the minimum eligibility requirements. The student must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 and be from a low to middle income family. This award helps with tuition and fees at qualifying schools with programs of more than two years.
Students must have a minimum GPA of 2.0 and are from a disadvantaged or low income family. The money may be used for tuition and access costs at eligible schools with programs of more than one year in length. The first year, this grant can only be used for access costs like living expenses, transportation, supplies and books. Starting with the second year, this award may also be applied to tuition.
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further their education at a private elementary or secondary school, or a private or public post-secondary college, university, or other academic institution. Scholarships are awarded based upon various criteria, such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, financial need, among others, or some combination of criteria. Scholarship criteria usually reflect the values and goals of the donor or founder of the award. While scholarship recipients are not required to repay scholarships, the awards may require that the recipient continue to meet certain requirements during their period of support, such maintaining a minimum grade point average or engaging in a certain activity. Scholarships may provide a monetary award, an in-kind award, or a combination.
A 529 plan is a tax-advantaged investment vehicle in the U.S. designed to encourage saving for the future higher education expenses of a designated beneficiary. In 2017, K–12 public, private, and religious school tuition were included as qualified expenses for 529 plans along with post-secondary education costs with passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a form completed by current and prospective college students in the United States to determine their eligibility for student financial aid.
Student financial aid in the United States is funding that is available exclusively to students attending a post-secondary educational institution in the United States. This funding is to assist in covering the many costs incurred in the pursuit of post-secondary education. Financial aid is available from federal and state governments, educational institutions, and private organizations. It can be awarded in the form of grants, loans, work-study, and scholarships. In order to apply for federal financial aid, students must first complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
The CSS Profile, short for the College Scholarship Service Profile, is an online application created and maintained by the United States-based College Board that allows college students to apply for non-federal financial aid. It is primarily designed to give member institutions of the College Board a comprehensive look at the financial and family situation of students and their families to use as they determine their eligibility for institutional financial aid. It is more detailed than the United States federal application, Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA.
The Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) (French: Régime d'aide financière aux étudiantes et étudiants de l'Ontario ) is a provincial financial aid program that offers grants and loans to help Ontario students pay for their post-secondary education. OSAP determines the amount of money that a student is eligible to receive by considering factors such as tuition, course load, and the financial resources of the student. More than 380,000 students – more than half of all full-time students –received student financial aid in 2014-15.
The HOPE Program created in 1993 under the supervision of Georgia Governor Zell Miller, is Georgia's scholarship and grant program that rewards students with financial assistance in degree, diploma, and certificate programs at eligible Georgia public and private colleges and universities, and public technical colleges. HOPE is funded entirely by revenue from the Georgia Lottery and is administered by the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC). Students can benefit from HOPE in several ways.
The Tuition Assistance Program is a financial aid program for students who are New York State residents and who are attending a post-secondary educational institution in New York. It is a program of the Higher Education Services Corporation which is a New York State Agency.
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United States, but in a majority of countries they are rare or non-existent.
A Pell Grant is a subsidy the U.S. federal government provides for students who need it to pay for college. Federal Pell Grants are limited to students with financial need, who have not earned their first bachelor's degree, or who are enrolled in certain post-baccalaureate programs, through participating institutions. The Pell Grant is named after Democratic U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, and was originally known as the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant. A Pell Grant is generally considered the foundation of a student's financial aid package, to which other forms of aid are added. The Federal Pell Grant program is administered by the United States Department of Education, which determines the student's financial need and through it, the student's Pell eligibility. The U.S. Department of Education uses a standard formula to evaluate financial information reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for determining the student's expected family contribution (EFC).
The National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grant was a need based federal grant that was awarded to undergraduate students in their third and fourth year of undergraduate studies. The National SMART grant was introduced to help maintain the edge that United States has in the fields of Science and Technology. Only specific majors were eligible for the SMART grant, the complete list is given below.
Federal Student Aid (FSA), an office of the U.S. Department of Education, is the largest provider of student financial aid in the United States. Federal Student Aid provides student financial assistance in the form of grants, loans, and work-study funds. FSA is a Performance-Based Organization, and was the first PBO to be established in the US government.
In the post-secondary education system of the United States, an expected family contribution (EFC) is an estimate of a student's, and for a dependent student, their parent(s)' or guardian(s)', ability to pay the costs of a year of post-secondary education. The EFC is used in the United States student financial aid process to determine an applicant's eligibility for need-based federal student aid. In most cases, the same estimate is also used for state and institutional (college-based) financial aid. The EFC is included on the Student Aid Report and Institutional Student Information Record, which are sent after filing a form called a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). So as to estimate the EFC before filing the FAFSA, there are a number of free calculators on the Web.
The Federal Work-Study program originally called the College Work-Study Program and in the United States frequently referred to as just "Work-study", is a federally-funded program in the United States that assists students with the costs of post-secondary education. The Federal Work-Study Program helps students earn financial funding through a part-time employment program. Approximately 3,400 institutions participate in the program.
The California DREAM Act is a package of California state laws that allow children who were brought into the US under the age of 16 without proper visas/immigration documentation who have attended school on a regular basis and otherwise meet in-state tuition and GPA requirements to apply for student financial aid benefits. It and past similarly named legislation have been authored by California State Senator Gil Cedillo.
A scholarship is defined as a grant or payment made to support a student's education, awarded on the basis of academic or other distinction. "Scholarship" has a different meaning in the United States than it does in other countries, with the partial exception of Canada. Outside the U.S., scholarship is any type of monetary award to fund education. In the United States, the only country with a national system that determines a student's financial need, and where universities are far more expensive than in other countries, a scholarship is money for which the student must qualify in some way, and the term "grant" - an award the student receives because of financial need - is used for what in other countries are called scholarships.
New York State's Excelsior Scholarship program provides certain residents with free tuition for full-time study at its state universities: State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY). On April 11, 2017, New York became the first American state to make four-year public colleges tuition-free for those under an earnings threshold.
Student loans in South Korea, are student loans provided to South Korea's students that are managed by the Korea Student Aid Foundation (KOSAF) which was established in May 2009. According to the governmental philosophy that Korea's future depends on talent development and no student should quit studying due to financial reasons, they help students grow into talents that serve the nation and society as members of Korea. Through the management of Korea's national scholarship programs, student loan programs, and talent development programs, KOSAF offers customized student aid services and student loan program is one of their major tasks.
College Promise is a national non-partisan campaign that supports funding the first two years of higher education, starting with community colleges in the United States. While state-level campaigns often lack funding, College Promise highlights growing concerns about unaffordable college costs and student loan debt in the United States. College Promise is an initiative of Civic Nation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2015.
The Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, abbreviated TOPS, is a scholarship program available to prospective college students in the state of Louisiana in the United States. Specifically, the program is available to students who attend a public college or university in Louisiana, an institution that is part of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, or one that is a part of the Louisiana Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. Four tiers of TOPS scholarships are awarded: the TOPS Opportunity Award, the TOPS Performance Award, the TOPS Honor Award and the TOPS Tech Award.