Cost of Attendance: Your Cost of Attendance is an estimate of your total expenses based on your college or program’s academic year (tuition, fees, and living expenses). Most graduate program’s follow a nine month academic year but there are some that have slightly different program lengths. By federal law, a Cost of Attendance may cover only student expenses for the terms defined as the academic year. Expenses for periods of non enrollment, spouse, and dependent living expenses cannot be included, with the exception of documented child care costs which may be added.
Your eligibility for Federal Direct Loans will be the difference between your Cost of Attendance and any other merit-based or other grant awards you receive. You may submit a Cost of Attendance (COA) Adjustment Request with documentation of any educational expenses you have that exceed items in the standard Cost of Attendance within the academic year terms for which you are enrolled. COA Adjustment Request Forms can be downloaded from the Forms section of this site.
Student Contribution: Your Student Contribution is calculated by a formula called Federal Methodology passed into law by Congress in 1992. Your Student Contribution is derived from the income and assets you report on your FAFSA. Your Student Contribution is not used to determine your eligibility for merit-based grant awards from your academic department or the Graduate Fellowships Office, or for most federal loans. Your Student Contribution is only used to determine your eligibility for Health Professions Student Loans, and Federal Work-Study.
Other Resources: These are awards, fee remissions, and waivers that have been reported by sources outside of the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office, including your academic department and the Graduate Fellowships Office. If you have been notified of any awards not shown in this section, you are required to report them in your CalCentral account. It is your responsibility throughout the year to report any Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) or Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) jobs, fellowships, or department awards (fees and/or stipend), travel grants, normative time grants, fee remissions, GSHIP waivers, or other aid not already shown in this section. Please note that if your department has only reported the fall semester portion of an award and you anticipate receiving more funding in the spring semester, it is important to add the spring award in the My Finances section of your Cal Central account as soon as you become aware of it. Outside awards may be reported to the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office at any time and you are encouraged to make sure that all of your awards are reported in a timely manner.
If you report changes in resources, your financial aid eligibility will be re-evaluated and we will notify you by email if your award is revised. If the Graduate Division, your academic department, or an outside agency reports awards that you have not previously reported to us, we will adjust your loan(s) or work-study. You may be required to repay loans already disbursed if the total of your financial aid awards, including your outside aid, exceeds your Cost of Attendance.
Financial Aid Awards: This is your offer of federal financial aid. Typical financial aid offers include a Federal Direct Loan and a Federal Direct Grad PLUS Loan to meet your Cost of Attendance. Financial aid offers will not include other types of awards unless you, your department, or the Graduate Division's Fellowships Office have reported them to the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office. See Types of Financial Aid below for loan details or information about how to request work-study.
Your financial aid offer may be revised if: 1) there are changes in your financial situation (e.g., funds or support from any source including the Graduate Division or your department), 2) there is a change in state or federal funding availability, 3) there is a change in your enrollment (e.g. fall & spring enrollment to fall only enrollment) or 4) there is an error in the offer.
The Financial Aid and Scholarships Office will normally reduce unpaid Direct Loans prior to reducing paid Direct Loans. This means your spring refund from your Direct Loan could be less than the fall refund if new award information was added to your aid package after fall Direct Loan paid to your account. These adjustments will appear on your student account in the My Finances section of CalCentral.
