Cal State San Bernardino award rules
Will the scholarship last four years at Cal State San Bernardino?
We pulled the school’s grade, credit, and time limits into one place so you can see what it takes to keep the award.
The short answer
2 of 2 published awards are listed as renewable.
The exact rule can change by award. Check the award your student may receive before you count on the same amount every year.
What to do
Find the award name in the full research below. Save its grade, credit, and deadline rules with your college plan.
See every award rule, common mistake, and source
At a glance
- Renewable tiers
- 2 of 2
- One-time tiers
- 0
- Tiers with published renewal terms
- 2
- Renewal risk profile
- low
Renewal risk profile
Cal State San Bernardino's published renewal rules cluster around a 3.0 floor with no major-GPA gating, which is survivable for the typical freshman with steady study habits. The risk is non-renewal due to enrollment status (dropping below full-time), not GPA.
- Presidential Academic Excellence Scholarship (PAES) / Presidential Academic Excellence Program (Honors College): See notes
- University Legacy Scholarship (Palm Desert Campus): See notes
Renewal terms by tier
Presidential Academic Excellence Scholarship (PAES) / Presidential Academic Excellence Program (Honors College)
Amount not published (covers unmet tuition & mandatory fees, books, an internship award, and first-year housing & meals)To keep it: Supports 4 years (8 semesters) toward a bachelor's degree; recipients must maintain University Honors College eligibility and complete a minimum of 30 units per academic year. No fixed dollar amount or renewal GPA is published.
Source: https://www.csusb.edu/honors-college/presidential-academic-excellence-scholarship-paes
University Legacy Scholarship (Palm Desert Campus)
Up to $7,425 (net of financial aid) for up to four yearsTo keep it: Renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study, contingent on ongoing involvement as a leader at the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus.
Source: https://www.csusb.edu/pdc/current-students/scholarships
How families lose this aid
- Expecting an automatic GPA/test merit scholarship at CSUSB.
CSUSB publishes no automatic merit grid. Almost all institutional scholarships are competitive and donor-funded, applied for through the CSUSB Scholarship Portal; the largest awards (PAES honors) are need-blended and limited (20 freshmen). Plan around the low sticker price plus Cal Grant / Middle Class Scholarship, not a guaranteed merit check.
- Missing the early scholarship and program deadlines.
Most CSUSB scholarships are due before March 2 annually, and the PAES honors program has its own earlier track (CSUSB application priority Nov 30, PAES application Mar 1). Applying late forfeits the strongest awards.
Renewal questions families ask
- Does CSUSB give automatic merit scholarships based on GPA or test scores?
- No. CSUSB publishes no automatic merit grid. Institutional scholarships are competitive and applied for through the CSUSB Scholarship Portal in MyCoyote. The flagship academic award (the Presidential Academic Excellence Scholarship) is competitive, limited to 20 local first-time freshmen, and states no fixed dollar amount.
How Cal State San Bernardino compares across our verified dataset
- 665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Cal State San Bernardino 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 renewal claim is checked against Cal State San Bernardino’s own published materials.
- Policy pageCal State San Bernardino stacking policy
- Cost of attendanceCal State San Bernardino cost-of-attendance worksheet
- Merit tiersPresidential Academic Excellence Scholarship (PAES) / Presidential Academic Excellence Program (Honors College)
- Merit tiersUniversity Legacy Scholarship (Palm Desert Campus)
More on Cal State San Bernardino merit aid
- Cal State San Bernardino merit aid overviewFull tier ladder, named scholarships, departmental awards, and how families decide.
- Cal State San Bernardino scholarship stackingWhether outside awards land as upside or quietly displace institutional aid.
- Does Cal State San Bernardino displace outside scholarships?The dollar math on a $5,000 outside award, plus peer schools that handle it differently.