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UC Berkeley scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$54,388per year · 2026-2027 · ResidentNon-resident $93,658
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

UC Berkeley may be worth checking, but its awards do not follow a simple grades-and-scores chart. Start with the published scholarships below.

Where does your student land?

Verified Jul 2026
5 school sources to explore

Published rules, with the school sources close at hand. Confirm the details before you count on an award.

The award collection

Published scholarships

These amounts and requirements come from the school’s own published pages. Open an award to see who qualifies and how to keep it.

Where does your student land?

  1. Regents' and Chancellor's ScholarshipMinimum $2,500/year for students without financial need. For students with demonstrated need, awards scale up to full cost of attendance.Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Regents' and Chancellor's Scholarship

    Minimum $2,500/year for students without financial need. For students with demonstrated need, awards scale up to full cost of attendance.

    Variable or qualified amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Regents' and Chancellor's Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    All UC Berkeley applicants automatically considered. Holistic review by the Academic Senate Committee on Undergraduate Scholarships. Faculty interviews in early March. Notifications by end of March.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for up to 8 semesters (freshmen) or 4 semesters (transfers). Scholars may take up to 2 semesters of leave while maintaining eligibility.

    Worth knowing

    Berkeley has the largest Regents' program in the UC system with 600+ scholars enrolled (~150+ new awards/year). Benefits: priority enrollment, guaranteed housing, faculty and peer mentorship, Research and Professional Development Fellowship (up to $1,000).

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Sather Tower at UC Berkeley

Sather Tower at UC Berkeley

What makes UC Berkeley different

UC Berkeley awards non-need institutional merit to only about 2% of freshmen, averaging $13,175. The Regents' and Chancellor's Scholarship is the flagship — minimum $2,500/year (no need), scaling up to full COA (with need). Berkeley has the largest Regents' program in the UC system with 600+ scholars enrolled.

Merit tiers1See who qualifies
First-year students with school awards2%First-year students, CDS 2024-2025
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

Selection beyond grades and scores

Start with the selection process.

These awards are not recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read each award's selection rules, application steps and dates. Meeting a minimum is not an award offer.

  1. Read the selection rules

    Look for the school's stated criteria and whether an additional application is needed.

  2. Check the application dates

    Confirm the current admission and scholarship deadlines directly with the school.

  3. Know what happens next year

    Check renewal, credit requirements and how other aid affects the award.

The fine print / Three questions to carry forward

Before you count on it.

Does it apply to us? Confirm the entering year, residency and every eligibility condition.

Can we keep it? Check renewal GPA, credits and how long the award lasts.

Can we combine it? Ask how outside scholarships and other school awards change the offer.

Take UC Berkeley's decision sheet

A printable research summary, source links and room for your questions.

See what could change an award

What families often miss

  1. For students with no financial need, the Regents' and Chancellor's Scholarship is just $2,500/year. The 'up to full COA' language applies only when combined with demonstrated need. High-income families receive the honorific, priority enrollment, and mentorship, but minimal cash.

  2. The Regents' Scholarship amount scales with need. Families who skip FAFSA lock themselves into the $2,500/year floor and forfeit Middle Class Scholarship eligibility (families up to $234,000). Always file FAFSA, even at public universities.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

California families who should understand that Berkeley is overwhelmingly a need-based aid school. The Regents' and Chancellor's Scholarship is prestigious (~150+ new freshmen/year), but for high-income families the cash is just $2,500/year. The real value is priority enrollment, guaranteed housing, and faculty mentorship. Out-of-state families will find essentially no institutional merit to offset the ~$39,270 NRST for new students.

Cost of attendance$54,388–$93,658 for 2026-2027Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
Out-of-state, on-campus$93,658
In-state, on-campus$54,388
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Health insurance
  • Books
  • Personal
  • Travel

Official UC Berkeley 2026-27 direct-cost table (admissions) + 2026-27 personal-expense budget (financial aid), Campus Residence Hall. Living Expenses $23,640 (direct) + additional Food $2,322 (indirect) combined into Housing & food $25,962. Out-of-state adds Nonresident Supplemental Tuition $39,270. Health insurance (SHIP $5,066) is part of official direct-cost total but is waivable with equivalent coverage.

UC Berkeley cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at UC Berkeley, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.

Average annual net price by family income at UC Berkeley, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$5,311
$30,001–$48,000$6,501
$48,001–$75,000$9,693
$75,001–$110,000$15,074
$110,001+$34,529
All income levels (average)$13,481

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$16,347
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$50,547
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$13,481

That works out to roughly a 70% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $45,619 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

UC Berkeley is a public school; Scorecard's net price figure covers in-state, Title-IV-aid-recipient payers only — there is no comparable federal figure for out-of-state students.

Outcomes for students who enrolled here

Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
93%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
97%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$13,000 (~$138/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$92,446
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
27%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
18%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Outside scholarships first reduce need-based loans and work-study. Only as a last resort do they reduce UC grants and institutional scholarships.

UC system policy: outside awards first reduce need-based loans and work-study. Only as a last resort are grants and institutional scholarships reduced. Federal regulations require total aid not to exceed the cost of attendance.

Source

More school data

From the UC Berkeley Common Data Set 2024-2025:

Merit penetrationHow likely is merit aid here?From UC Berkeley’s Common Data Set: the share of first-year students who receive institutional merit and the average dollar amount when they do.
2%of admitsget merit
Average award$13,175Covers ~14% of $93,658 cost of attendance

At UC Berkeley, roughly 1 in 50 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $13,175 — about 14% of total cost.

SAT mid-50%1300–153025th / 75th percentile
ACT mid-50%28–3425th / 75th percentile
Receive institutional merit2%First-year students
Average merit award$13,175Across recipients

Source: Common Data Set

UC Berkeley merit aid FAQ

  • Does UC Berkeley offer merit scholarships?

    Very limited. Only about 2% of freshmen receive non-need institutional merit, averaging $13,175. The Regents' and Chancellor's Scholarship ($2,500/year minimum, up to full COA with need) goes to ~150+ freshmen. All applicants are automatically considered. No automatic merit awards based on GPA or test scores.

  • How much is the Regents' Scholarship without financial need?

    $2,500 per year ($10,000 over four years). The non-cash benefits (priority enrollment, guaranteed housing, faculty mentorship, and the Research Fellowship) are often more valuable than the cash for high-income families. For families with need, the award can scale to full COA.

  • What state programs help California families at Berkeley?

    Cal Grant A covers up to $15,400/year in UC tuition (3.0+ GPA, income-qualified). Blue and Gold covers tuition for families under $100,000. Middle Class Scholarship helps families up to $234,000. All require FAFSA. None are merit programs.

See sources and other schools

How UC Berkeley compares

  • 145 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.

    UC Berkeley is in a recognizable cluster (145 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.

    UC Berkeley is one of them. The cohort minority (84 schools) only awards one-year scholarships, which means the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.

Sources used on this page

Every claim is checked against UC Berkeley’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

How Berkeley compares

Berkeley's institutional aid is need-based; merit aid is rare. Families usually evaluate Berkeley alongside:

  • UCLA Regents Scholarship. UCLA and Berkeley have comparable Regents programs; the academic and lifestyle differences usually drive the decision more than the financial ones.
  • UC San Diego merit aid. UCSD's Regents is the third-tier prestige UC merit option; for families who don't get Regents at Berkeley or UCLA, UCSD is the structural fallback.
  • Stanford for full-need applicants. Stanford is the closest private peer; financially, Stanford typically pays more for low-income applicants through full-need-met policies. For full-pay families, Berkeley is the more affordable option.
  • Cal Poly SLO merit aid. Cal Poly SLO is the more accessible California public alternative for engineering and pre-professional tracks; for academic prestige, Berkeley is the obvious pick.
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The next chapter

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