UC Davis· Renewal Rules

Keeping UC Davis’s Merit Aid for Four Years

What the financial-aid office actually requires after freshman year: minimum GPA, credit-hour pace, and the cliffs that quietly downgrade families mid-degree.

Verified May 20268 days ago· CB-1

At a glance

Renewable tiers
2 of 3
One-time tiers
1
Tiers with published renewal terms
1
Renewal risk profile
moderate

Renewal risk profile

UC Davis's renewal bar is achievable for steady students but isn't generous. Most awards require a cumulative GPA in the 3.0–3.4 band plus full-time enrollment. Audit the strictest tier on this school's list before assuming the four-year value is locked in.

  • Regents Scholarship: 3.25 GPA

Renewal terms by tier

How families lose this aid

  • Counting on the Regents Scholarship to close the out-of-state COA gap.

    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.

  • Missing the January 7 continuing scholarship application.

    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.

  • Treating UC Davis scholarships as 4-year guarantees.

    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.

Renewal questions families ask

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.
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.

Rules that bite at UC Davis

The renewal trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook, derived from UC Davis's own tier rules and not generic advice.

  • renewalRegents 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.

How UC Davis compares across our verified dataset

  • 133 of 150 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.

    UC Davis is one of them. The cohort minority (17 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 UC Davis’s own published materials.

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