1 CA Dream Act 2014/2015 Q & A 1. Must a student be identified as AB540 to apply for the CA Dream Act? Yes, students must be identified as AB540 to apply; students must submit an affidavit form with admissions-students can find the form on the PCC admissions website. You need to print out a copy, complete it and submit it to the Admissions and Records office. 2. What is the web-site to apply for the CA Dream Act? www.cadreamact.org- video tutorial, instructions. Student may e-mail studentsupport@ca.csac.gov or call 1-888-224-7268. CA Dream application demo site https//training.csac.ca.gov 3. What is the deadline for the CA Dream Act? Deadline is January 1-March 2 4. What Cal Grants are available within the CA Dream Act? Cal Grants available for UC s, CSU s and most private and some vocational schools; up to $12,192 (depends on financial need and institutional cost) 5. When applying on the CA Dream Act web-site does it time out? Yes, the time is good for 30 minutes then students will need to save information. Students can use the same username and ID to apply for the dream act every year. 6. What is a Non-SSN G.P.A.? Students must submit a Non-SSN G.P.A. Verification form by 3/2/14; it is a form students must submit to establish academic merit for their Cal Grant application. In addition to submitting the CA Dream Act application to establish financial need, students must submit a non-ssn GPA Verification form to CSAC every year to be eligible for Cal grant awards. The financial aid office electronically uploads a Non-SSN G.P.A (depending on the number of units a student has completed-see the Financial Aid office. If not, students need to mail in the form to CSAC. Students need to take the 2014/2015 Non-SSN instructions sheet to the campus. A school
2 official completes the for school use only section. Students mail back the form at the address listed at the bottom of the form. Students should make a copy for their records, purchase a certificate of mailing from the post office as proof of their timely submission. G.P.A will be accepted only if certified by a school electronically or by mail through paper 2014/2015 Non- SSN G.P.A. Verification form. No transcripts are accepted. http://www.csac.ca.gov/pubs/forms/grnt_frm/non_ssn_gpaform.pdf 7. Should the student s name on the CA Dream Act application and Non-SSN G.P.A. Verification form be the same? Yes. 8. Are student s required to complete all parts of the CA Dream Act application? No. Only asterisks required to complete; only collecting SS# for data purposes and not sharing information with anyone. Question #8 regarding SSS# is not required. A student can put zeros on questions #65 if the parent does not have a SS# or ITIN. 9. Can a student submit the CA Dream application without the parent signature to meet the March 2 deadline? Yes. The application would be still be considered on time without the parent signature but the student needs to submit the parent signature to complete the process. In other words, students can make changes and get parents signature and still meet the deadline. 10. Are undocumented males requires to register for selective service for the CA Dream Act? Yes. Males must register for selective service https://www.sss.gov/ 11. What happens after a student has submitted the CA Dream Act and the Non-SSN GPA Verification form? After a student has filed a CA Dream Act application and the Non-SSN GPA Verification form with CSAC, they should go on-line to check their CA Dream Act status and GPA by logging on and creating a Web grants for Students Account www.webgrants4student.org
3 12. When should students check in with the financial aid office regarding the CA Dream Act? During spring, 2014 students should review the status of their financial aid aware offers, check with the financial aid office or campuses they are applying to for information about their financial aid offer. 13. Will students be required to complete the income verification? Students should complete the income verification, if required. A percentage of students will be selected by their college/university to verify income submitted in the CA Dream Act application. If parents filed taxes, they might be required to present IRS Tax return transcripts to verify income. CSAC will need the parents name, income and wages. A. Students considered dependent must submit parental information. Students considered independent do not need to submit parental information. B. If students do not meet any of the criteria below, they are considered dependent for financial aid purposes and must provide parental information. If they meet at least one of the criteria below, they are not considered as an independent student for financial aid purposes: -Were born prior to 1/1/1991 (i.e. are over 24 years old) -Are legally married -Have dependent children or other dependents (other than spouse) for which the provide more than 50% of the support -Are attending Graduate School -Have been granted legal guardianship or emancipation by a court in the U.S. -Have been verified as an orphan or ward of the court 14. Are both parents required to submit a parent signature for the CA Dream Act application? Dependent students must have at least one parent submit a parent signature to verify the parental information on their CA Dream Act Application. Independent students are not required to have a parent signature or parent income information.
4 15. How is the parent signature submitted on-line? The student and parent must decide which parent will sign the application. For on-line applications, students choose their User I.D. and password and will use this to sign and submit the application. Then, one parent choses Add Parent Signature and has student sign into their account. Parent puts in their name, birth date and wages to create the Parent Pin, which parents use to sign the application. For paper application, parent can mail signature to CSAC. 16. Can both parents obtain a PIN to provide for the Parent Signature and what if there is more than one student in the household applying for the CA Dream Act? Only one parent can obtain a PIN to provide for the Parent Signature and this PIN is tied to the individual student. If there is more than one student submitting a Dream Application in the same household, the parent will have to obtain one Parent PIN for reach student. 17. Is the student required to have the parent sign the application every time there is a correction? Yes. Every time the student makes a correction on the application, the parent will need to sign again using the Parent PIN they created. 18. What if a parent does not have Internet access to submit the parent signature on-line? If their parent(s) has/have access to the Internet, they should add the parent signature online. If they do not, they can mail them a paper form so they can sign off on the Application. 19. What is a dependent student has parents who live outside the U.S. Are they still required to provide parental information? Yes. If a dependent student has parents who live outside the U.S., they still need to provide parental information. If their parent(s) has/have access to the Internet, they can fill out their information on-line. They can also work over the phone with their parents to acquire their information for the application. If the parent(s) live in a place where the currency is other than U.S. Dollars when submitting it on the Application.
5 20. Is March 2 the final deadline to be eligible to receive funding for the CA Dream Act? Yes. March 2 nd is important because if students fail to submit all required documents by this deadline, they will not qualify for Cal Grants. Deadline to submit CA Dream Act application and GPA Verification for the 2014/2015 is March 2, 2014. Given that this year the March 2 nd deadline falls on a Sunday. CSAC will accept Dream Act applications and GPA Verification until Monday, March 3. On-line applications are processed faster and easier to correct. Students who successfully submit the California Dream Act application, Non-SSN GPA Verification Form (electronically or on paper) before the March 2 nd priority deadline, meet the income guidelines as well as requirements below, are guaranteed to receive a Cal Grant Award. To be eligible for an Entitlement Cal Grant students must: o Meet AB540 Criteria o Not have a bachelor s or professional degree o Meet minimum GPA requirements (2.0 for Cal Grant B and 3.0 for Cal Grant A) o Meet income guideline set out by CSAC o Be in a program leading to an undergraduate degree or certificate o Be enrolled at least half time o Have registered with U.S. Selective Service (males) 21. Do AB540 students, who graduated from a CA high school or transfer to a four-year university have the highest eligibility of being awarded a Cal Grant? Yes. As an AB540 student, they have the highest eligibility of being awarded a Cal grant when they graduate from a high school or transfer to a four-year University from a community college. These grants are High School Entitlement or Transfer Entitlement Cal Grants. Entitlement Cal Grant A-award can be used for tuition and fees at public and private colleges as well as some private career colleges. At CSU and UC schools, this grant covers system wide fees up to $5,472 and $12,192. If students are attending a private non-profit college or for-profit college accredited by WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges), it pays up to $8,056 toward tuition and fees. If students are attending most other career colleges, it pays up to $4,000. 21. Is the information provided in the CA Dream Act application confidential? Yes. All student information is confidential. In compliance with FERPA, CSAC will not release information to third parties (Department of Homeland security). Records may be released to a third party, only after receiving student authorization.
6 22. What is the G.P.A. requirement for a Cal Grant A? GPA requirement for Cal Grant A= 3.0 G.P.A. and above 23. What is Cal Grant B? The Entitlement Cal Grant B award provides low income students with a model living allowance and assistant with tuition and fees. Most first-year students receive an allowance of up to $1,473 for books and living expenses. After the freshman year, in addition to $1,473, Cal Grant B also helps pay for tuition and fees in the same amount at Cal Grant A. For Cal Grant B, the length of a student s program of study must be at least one year or more. 24. What is the G.PA. requirement for Cal Grant B? GPA Requirement for Cal Grant B= 2.0 and above 25. In the event that students are eligible for both Cal Grant A and B, can they get both grants? No. In the case that students are eligible for both Cal Grant A and B, they can only chose one. They may not switch awards at a later time, even if it is a different academic year. Students needs to consider their financial situation before choosing between Cal Grant A and Cal Grant B.