There are two types of scholarships at UCI: UCI Distinguished Scholarships and UCI Campuswide Scholarships. The UCI Distinguished Scholarships are the Regents’ Scholarship and Chancellor’s Excellence Scholarship. There is no application needed for these two scholarships, as the UCI Admissions Office automatically considers all new students based on their UC common application.

The UCI Campuswide Scholarships are separated into four categories: Community Leadership Scholarships, Innovation Scholarships, Academic Scholarships, and Anteater Scholarships.

Continuing students can apply online for Campuswide Scholarships during the open application period from January to the end of February for the upcoming academic year.

Entering students are considered for the Campuswide Scholarships as long as they complete the online scholarship application. To be eligible for UCI Scholarships, please submit your 2020-2021 FAFSA or CA Dream Act Application by January 31, 2020. Once you submit your online application, you may be asked to provide verification. Once the evaluation is complete, recipients will be notified.

Continuing students are considered for scholarships by completing the online scholarship application. To be eligible for UCI Scholarships, please submit your 2020-2021 FAFSA or CA Dream Act Application by January 31, 2020.  Once you submit your online application, you may be asked to provide verification. Once the evaluation is complete, recipients will be notified from June-July.

You do not need to submit a Letter of Recommendation for most scholarships. For the scholarships that require a Letter of Recommendation, students will be asked to provide them after the scholarship application period has closed.

No, you may apply to all scholarships with the same online application. The UCI scholarship application has 12 short answer questions.

The minimum GPA requirement varies by scholarship. The absolute minimum GPA to qualify for scholarships is 2.5.

Scholarship awards are considered as financial assistance toward the cost of attendance. The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships typically reduces a work study offer or an offered loan to accommodate a scholarship in a student’s budget. When it is not possible to reduce work study or an offered loan in a student’s budget, an adjustment to the financial aid package may be considered.

Scholarship awards are like any other items in the financial aid package. They are disbursed and distributed equally each quarter into a student’s account.

Please ask the institution responsible for your scholarship to make the check payable to “UC Regents” and mail both the award letter and check to:
ATTN: Office of Financial Aid, Fiscal Unit
102 Aldrich Hall
Irvine, CA 92697-2825

Scholarships are not taxable, with the exception of International Students from countries that have a tax treaty with the US.

Some scholarships may require a certain residency or immigration status for applicants to be considered eligible. However, UCI has multiple scholarships available for most residency and immigration statuses, including U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, eligible non-citizens, dreamers, DACA/Non-DACA.

Yes. International students may complete the online scholarship application to be considered for certain scholarships at UCI.

Most scholarships require students to be enrolled full-time at UCI and maintain a minimum number of units to stay eligible. In cases of withdrawal, scholarship recipients must submit an appeal to the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships. The Scholarships Appeal Committee will review and evaluate student appeals on a case by case basis.

No. UCI scholarships will only be awarded to students enrolled full-time at UCI.