Skip to content

California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt · California

Cal Poly Humboldt Merit Aid

Verified Jul 202625 days ago· HX-AUTO
Merit tiers5See requirements
Last verifiedJul 2026Analyst HX-AUTO

Free Merit Check

See what Cal Poly Humboldt's published rules mean for your student's numbers. Takes 30 seconds.

Checking merit aid at Cal Poly Humboldt

We’ll email you this result and a few short merit-aid pointers. We store score ranges only, never your student’s name. Unsubscribe anytime. See our privacy policy.

The merit-aid verdict at Cal Poly Humboldt

Cal Poly Humboldt awards merit aid to students pursuing specialized studies in environmental science, natural resources, and marine biology.

Rules that bite at Cal Poly Humboldt

The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from Cal Poly Humboldt's own published policy, not generic advice.

  • capHard $29,894 cost-of-attendance ceiling

    Institutional aid at Cal Poly Humboldt cannot push the package past $29,894. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.

Who this school is for

This aid is designed for students focused on hands-on work in environmental and natural science fields, particularly those interested in research or teaching careers.

Tuition / cost of attendance: Approximately $29,894 for 2026-2027. Source

Federal cost and outcome data

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

Average annual net price by family income at Cal Poly Humboldt, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$8,483
$30,001–$48,000$8,812
$48,001–$75,000$11,088
$75,001–$110,000$15,593
$110,001+$22,228
All income levels (average)$13,171

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$8,250
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$20,850
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$13,171

That works out to roughly a 48% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $25,170 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

Cal Poly Humboldt 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
49%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
76%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$18,000 (~$191/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$47,626
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
37%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
34%

Institutional merit aid tiers

Every tier below is sourced to the school’s own published financial aid pages. Renewal terms apply only if the student maintains the stated GPA.

Amount not published

Manuel C Kaster Scholarship

Application
GPA
2.5

Source

Up to $750

Csu Coast Awards

Application
GPA
2

Source

Up to $1,000

Green Diamond Resource Company Natural Resources Scholarship

Application

Source

Amount not published

Northern California Botanists Barbara Castro Student Botany Research Scholarship Program

Application

Source

$1,500

Western Chapter Of The International Society Of Arboriculture Scholarship

Application

Source

Outside scholarship stacking policy

Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.

Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.

Source

Lesser-known scholarships at Cal Poly Humboldt

Named awards that don’t always surface on the main financial aid page. Each one has its own eligibility rules.

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityFred and Margaret Telonicher Memorial Scholarship is granted annually to a Cal Poly Humboldt undergraduate student in any concentration or major within the Department of Biological Sciences exclusively on the basis of academic excellence.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityBrusca Zoology Scholarship is awarded annually to graduate students in their 1st or 2nd year at Humboldt with exceptional interest and promise in field and/or laboratory studies of Invertebrate Zoology.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilitySterling J. Sam Botany Diversity Award is for qualifying Botany seniors and graduate students and is based primarily on academic experience, with field and/or research experience also considered.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityStephen Hillenburg Marine Science Research Award is awarded based on a research proposal and academic excellence to recognize students conducting creative marine science research.

Source

Amount$500–$1,500EligibilitySiering/Wilson Undergraduate Research Endowment funds undergraduate research activities in Microbial Ecology and Environmental Microbiology, with multiple grants of $500-$1500 anticipated.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityMalcolm Oliphant Scholarships in Marine Science are awarded on the basis of excellence, with academic promise demonstrated by scholastic achievement and faculty letters.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityMilton J. Boyd Teaching Associate Award recognizes outstanding first-year graduate students in Biological Sciences who have served as Teaching Associates through exemplary performance.

Source

Amount$2,500–$3,000EligibilityJames F. Welsh Biology Scholarship provides multiple scholarships of $2,500 - $3,000 to eligible senior-standing biology, botany, or zoology majors with an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher who intend to pursue graduate education in the biological sciences.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityDennis K. Walker Botany Award recognizes the outstanding undergraduate botany student in each year's graduating class, with selection based primarily on academic excellence.

Source

How Cal Poly Humboldt compares across our verified dataset

  • 241 of 750 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.

    Cal Poly Humboldt is in a recognizable cluster (241 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

Sources used on this page

Every claim is checked against Cal Poly Humboldt’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

  • Stanislaus State merit aid — California public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • UC Davis merit aid — California public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • UC Irvine merit aid — California public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • UCSB merit aid — California public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.

Keep exploring Cal Poly Humboldt merit aid