Do UC's typically offer merit for OOS apps, like other state schools?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
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So many other state flagship schools provide significant merit to OOS applicants; Wisconsin, ASU, Delaware, SUNY, etc.
But, I haven’t seen many posts about any UC’s merit. Is this a thing, or not something UC’s offer? Particular interest in UCSB, UCI, UCD, UCLA.
Thanks,

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usually - no.

there’s some…minimal.

In general, schools buy kids. If you’re already getting top kids, you don’t need to buy anyone. That’s why the UNCs, UVAs, W&Ms of the world have minimal and competitive merit. I don’t think Wisconsin is a big merit school either.

But an ASU/U of Arizona, Alabama, SUNYs, Delaware you mentioned - and so so so many more - are trying to buy those kids that can get into those other schools - and many do so very successfully.

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It’s not.

Very few OOS get merit aid, and that too very little (a few thousands - won’t make much of a dent to the COA).

The UCs aren’t alone in this. Many other popular and sought after state schools give very little to practically no merit (or financial) aid to OOS applicants. UMich, GT, UIUC, UMD, Purdue are examples.

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absolutely not.

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The UCs offer the regents scholarship to OOS students…highly competitive, and not a huge amount. There are a very very small number of larger awards…

If you are an OOS student applying to a UC, expect to be full pay at about $75,000 a year.

@Gumbymom

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UCs offer almost no merit to anyone, certainly not out of state students. Regents is a very small award in the scheme of things, if one even gets it. Plan on full boat.

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This information was compiled from another thread but in general, OOS students should expect to pay full fees at all the UC’s. Some UC campuses have specific OOS merit scholarships that are highly competitive. There are departmental and major specific scholarships available for enrolled students at each campus which OOS matriculants can apply later.

The Regents Scholarship is the most prestigious scholarship awarded by the UC campuses. As such, it is very competitive and is awarded to an extremely small percentage of admitted students (top 1-2%). Selection criteria varies by campus. Scholarships are not transferable between UC campuses.

UC Berkeley

  • SEED Scholarship - application invite comes with acceptance
  • Regents Scholarship - $2500/yr
    • Candidates are usually admitted in February and are invited to interview for the scholarship.
    • Scholars with financial need are awarded a scholarship up to their full need as assessed by the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office. OOS students are not guaranteed the additional need-based aid.

UC Davis

  • Regents Scholarship - $7,500/yr
    • may be accompanied by a stipend for those with demonstrated financial need but OOS students are not guaranteed need-based aid.
  • Non-resident Provost Scholarship - $13,250/yr

UC Irvine

UCLA

UC Merced

  • Regents Scholarship - $7,000/yr
    • If a Regents’ Scholar has additional financial need beyond the $7,000 honorarium, the scholar will be awarded the maximum amount of university scholarships and/or grants to cover the remainder of the scholar’s in-state need. (Cost of Attendance minus Expected Family Contribution minus other financial aid equals need). OOS students not guaranteed need-based aid.
  • Non-resident students from western states may receive a WUE discount

UC Riverside

UC San Diego

  • Regents Scholarship - $5,000/yr
    • Regents scholars who are CA residents, and have demonstrated financial need will receive additional scholarship and/or grant funds to meet the financial need for 4 undergraduate academic years for freshmen

UC Santa Barbara - Note that neither the honors program, nor the Regents Scholarship, provide priority registration at UCSB.

UC Santa Cruz

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Wisconsin does not offer significant merit money at all. They fund their low income instate students and have a few scholarships that can be applied for separately. But seem to be targeted to unusual applicants. My OOS kid did get a music scholarship from Madison. That was pretty exotic for undergrad.

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As usual @Gumbymom this is great detailed info.

My D22 applied to UC schools knowing she would be competitive for scholarships and indeed was offered two Regents awards. At the time of application, we were unaware of how relatively small the awards were compared to the total cost of OOS attendance.

Even with the Regents, the UC schools remained her most expensive options. In the end, as much as she liked the schools, she did not like them enough to justify the cost.

If we had fully processed all this info earlier, it may have saved her some applications. That said, a lot of the final decisions and weighing of cost benefit didn’t happen until we visited more schools and I don’t think she was ready to do those evaluations until senior year. Obviously, if we had a hardline budget, though, we could have used this info to eliminate them earlier.

OP, great question! This info has been shared in other threads, but often is buried in the details of long “chance me” threads that fewer people see.

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All true though in the case or Purdue they’ve done such a good job managing costs that even for OOS it feels like you’re getting a good chunk of aid :slight_smile:

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It is true - one can’t just look at merit - but also starting costs - the Florida schools, for example, start with a low base as does Purdue and others.

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Not only $$, but also time. The UC application is so different than the Common App. Four very specific PIQ and 20 Activities & Awards makes it difficult to re-use info from other applications.

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True. Their COA is low compared to other flagships so that definitely helps.
But I was addressing this statement by OP:

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Not a lot of merit in general at UCs. Regents scholarships are typically the biggest scholarships available, but most will not come close to the out-of-state added tuition (except possibly for students with financial need at UCB, UCD, and UCLA).

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Credit for the information should go to @lkg4answers whom compiled it with input from several posters.

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