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UC Davis scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$46,764per year · 2025-2026 · ResidentNon-resident $84,366
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

UC Davis 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 May 2026
4 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 Scholarship$7,500 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Regents Scholarship

    $7,500 per year

    Published 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 Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Invitation-only. Approximately 150 freshmen and transfers selected annually from the full UC application pool. Both California residents and non-residents eligible. UC Application due November 30 (December 2 final deadline in some published sources). Auto-considered through the UC application — no separate application.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to 4 years (or remaining undergraduate terms for transfers) with a minimum 3.25 cumulative GPA and continued full-time good academic standing.

    Worth knowing

    Regents Scholars receive priority registration and guaranteed on-campus housing for the first two years, plus access to dedicated Regents events. Students with demonstrated financial need may receive a need-based stipend supplement layered on top of the $7,500 honorarium.

  2. Provost AwardNot publicly disclosed in a tier tableNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Provost Award

    Not publicly disclosed in a tier table

    Published award termsNot 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 Provost Award

    Who qualifies

    Auto-considered through the UC Application. Announced at the time of admission alongside Regents notifications. Minimum 3.25 cumulative GPA required across all UC Davis campus scholarships.

    Worth knowing

    Second-tier campus merit award. UC Davis does not publish the dollar amount or stat profile on the main scholarships page. Confirm specifics in writing if offered.

  3. UC Davis Campus Scholarship Pool$100 - $15,000 per academic yearNot automatic
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    UC Davis Campus Scholarship Pool

    $100 - $15,000 per academic year

    Published rangeNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    Minimum 3.25 cumulative GPA for any UC Davis-based scholarship
    Open award details for UC Davis Campus Scholarship Pool

    Who qualifies

    Auto-considered through UC Application for entering students. Continuing students complete the Undergraduate Scholarship Application beginning October 1; deadline January 7 for the next academic year. Open to national, international, undocumented, and AB540 students.

    Renewal terms

    Most UC Davis scholarships are limited to one academic year; recipients must reapply each year.

    Worth knowing

    The campus pool totals more than $7 million annually but is fragmented across hundreds of donor-restricted awards. Most are one-year awards that require an annual reapplication, so even a strong recipient should plan to apply each cycle.

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The fine print

Renewal ruleRegents Scholarship: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out

Renewable up to 4 years (or remaining undergraduate terms for transfers) with a minimum 3.25 cumulative GPA and continued full-time good academic standing. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

What makes UC Davis different

Northern California UC with the system's typical thin merit ladder — the $7,500 invitation-only Regents Scholarship plus a campus scholarship pool ranging $100-$15,000/year — but one of the cleanest published displacement orders in higher ed (outside scholarships hit unmet need first, then self-help, then grants last).

Merit tiers3See who qualifies
First-year students with school awards3%First-year students, CDS 2024-2025
Research checkedMay 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 Davis'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. The Regents Scholarship is $7,500 per year. The UC out-of-state supplemental tuition is roughly $35,000+ on top of in-state tuition. Even a Regents recipient still pays substantially more out-of-pocket as a non-resident than as a resident. Non-resident families should model UC Davis on the full out-of-state COA minus $7,500, not on the in-state number.

  2. UC Davis campus scholarships are mostly one-year awards. Continuing students must reapply annually starting October 1, with a January 7 deadline (including at least one letter of recommendation) for the next academic year's awards. Many recipients miss this window after freshman year and lose access to the campus pool entirely.

  3. UC Davis emphasizes that merit is the primary basis for scholarship awards and that FAFSA filing is not required for most consideration. However, a 'small number' of merit scholarships have a financial need component that is only verified through FAFSA or CADAA, and the Regents Scholarship's optional stipend supplement is need-based. File the FAFSA/CADAA by California's March 2 deadline to keep every option open.

  4. Only the Regents Scholarship is structured as a multi-year renewable award (with 3.25 GPA renewal). The majority of UC Davis campus scholarships are one-year awards. Build the four-year budget around the Regents (if offered), in-state Cal Grant/Pell if eligible, and the assumption that the campus pool may or may not repeat year over year.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Strong students who picked UC Davis on academic fit and are not relying on merit to close the cost gap; California residents whose budget already works with in-state COA, and non-residents who understand the Regents alone does not offset the OOS surcharge.

Cost of attendance$46,764–$84,366 for 2025-2026Each 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$84,366
In-state, on-campus$46,764
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Health insurance
  • Books
  • Personal
  • Travel

On-Campus Residence Hall budget. Tuition & fees combines Systemwide Tuition and Fees ($14,934), Campus-based Fees ($2,417) and Document Fee ($150). Nonresident adds Systemwide Nonresident Supplemental Tuition ($37,602).

UC Davis cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at UC Davis, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$9,211
$30,001–$48,000$9,966
$48,001–$75,000$11,951
$75,001–$110,000$16,294
$110,001+$31,272
All income levels (average)$14,741

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$16,774
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$50,974
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$14,741

That works out to roughly a 64% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $41,238 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

UC Davis 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
86%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
93%
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)
$80,838
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
33%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
21%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

UC Davis publishes one of the clearest displacement orders in higher education: incoming scholarships (UC Davis or outside) first cover unmet need, then reduce self-help (loans and work-study), and only reduce grants and other gift aid as a last resort. That makes outside scholarships unusually safe to layer on.

Per UC Davis Financial Aid and Scholarships, when a UC Davis or outside agency/private scholarship is credited to a student account, the dollars first cover any remaining unmet need, then replace the student's self-help expectation (loans and work-study), and only reduce grants and other gift aid as a last resort. Scholarships are typically split across fall, winter, and spring quarters.

Source

More school data

From the UC Davis Common Data Set 2024-2025:

Merit penetrationHow likely is merit aid here?From UC Davis’s Common Data Set: the share of first-year students who receive institutional merit and the average dollar amount when they do.
3%of admitsget merit
Average award$8,659Covers ~10% of $84,366 cost of attendance

At UC Davis, roughly 1 in 33 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $8,659 — about 10% of total cost.

As filed in UC Davis's CDS Section H2A: of 6,615 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 222 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $8,659. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 1,494 of 31,464, averaging $8,272. Athletic awards are excluded per the CDS definition.

Receive institutional merit3%First-year students, Common Data Set 2024-2025
Average merit award$8,659Across recipients, Common Data Set 2024-2025

Source: Common Data Set 2024-2025 (verified 2026-07-23)

Other UC Davis scholarships worth checking

These awards can be harder to find. Each one has its own rules.

AmountTuition and student services fees coverage when combined with Cal Grant and PellEligibilityCalifornia residents with demonstrated financial need; auto-considered through FAFSA/CADAA. Need-based, not merit.

Source

AmountVaries; embedded within the $7M+ annual campus poolEligibilityMajor-, geography-, or background-restricted awards administered by individual colleges and departments. Often require a brief departmental form on top of the master scholarship application.

Source

UC Davis merit aid FAQ

  • How much merit aid does UC Davis give?

    UC Davis offers limited stat-driven merit aid relative to private peers. The flagship award is the $7,500 Regents Scholarship, an invitation-only award going to ~150 freshmen and transfers annually based on the UC Application. The Provost Award is a second-tier institutional award announced at admission. Beyond these, UC Davis distributes more than $7 million annually through a campus scholarship pool with awards ranging $100-$17,000 per year — almost all are one-year awards requiring annual reapplication.

  • Do outside scholarships reduce my UC Davis aid?

    Outside scholarships are unusually safe at UC Davis. Per the published policy, when a scholarship (UC Davis or outside) is credited to a student account, the dollars first cover unmet need, then replace self-help (loans and work-study), and only reduce grants as a last resort. For students with unmet need or loans in their package, outside scholarships are effectively additive to grant aid.

  • Can out-of-state students get the Regents Scholarship at UC Davis?

    Yes. The Regents Scholarship is open to both California residents and non-residents. The $7,500 amount is the same regardless of residency. Non-residents should note this does not offset the OOS supplemental tuition, which is roughly $35,000+ on top of in-state tuition — Regents alone is not enough to close the residency gap.

  • Do I need to file the FAFSA for UC Davis merit scholarships?

    Generally no — UC Davis treats merit as the primary basis for scholarship awards and lists no FAFSA requirement for most campus awards. The exceptions: a 'small number' of merit awards have a need component that requires FAFSA/CADAA, and the Regents Scholarship's optional stipend supplement is need-based. File the FAFSA or CADAA by California's March 2 deadline to maximize eligibility.

  • When is the UC Davis scholarship application deadline?

    Entering students are auto-considered through the UC Application (November 30 priority). Continuing students apply through the Undergraduate Scholarship Application, which opens October 1 and closes January 7 with at least one letter of recommendation for the following academic year. California residents must also file FAFSA or CADAA by March 2 to be eligible for need-based grants and Cal Grant.

See sources and other schools

How UC Davis compares

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

    UC Davis 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 Davis 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 Davis’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring UC Davis merit aid

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