Getting the Regents scholarship is limited to only a few percent of admits at each campus, and is much more competitive than admission, of course.
For those campuses that may give increased need-based awards, UCB, UCLA, UCM, and UCSD list rather unambiguous and non-subjective/competitive criteria to get them once a student is awarded the Regents scholarship. UCD is somewhat more vague on the matter.
And is based on rather opaque criteria. At least at UCB, it is definitely not simply the applicants with the highest stats. It seems more based on âinstitutional prioritiesâ but those arenât totally clear and may vary from year to year. So not only can you not count on getting a regents, there is absolutely no way of knowing if youâd be in the running. Itâs just whatever they happen to be looking for that year and you canât really predict that.
Merit scholarships generally exist to try to lure especially attractive applicants toward the scholarship granting school away from other schools that are likely to admit the applicants and be seen as more attractive to the applicants. So it would not be surprising that the UCB Regents scholarship âinstitutional prioritiesâ are to attract top-level students who are likely be choosing between UCB and other highly selective schools that they are likely to be admitted to.
Okay, I added a paragraph about the selectivity of Regents and tried to grab the verbiage from each website regarding additional need based aid. Let me know if I missed something.
For UCSB, while Honors and Regents donât give priority registration, their College of Creative Studies does (same window as the varsity athletes). A ton of other special perks and treatment too. Itâs kind of a step up from Honors if your major is one of the few they cover.
Also, per another comment somewhere, UCSB does offer Regents to OOS admits.
I thought about adding CCS, but it isnât an honors or scholarship program. It is definitely unique and a fantastic program for students who like to learn for the sake of learning. They arenât limited to a certain number of units and can drop a class up until the last day of the quarter.
Although this isnât listed explicitly on the website UC Merced offers a âBright Beginningsâ scholarship to students admitted under the CA top 9% eligibility guarantee who didnât originally apply.
S23 was offered $1500 per year for the first two years. He hasnât submitted a FAFSA so this was not need based, just an incentive to accept their offer.
FWIW UCLAâs Alumni scholarship is $1500 per year (not need based) for most recipients, when S18 received it there was an additional competition in which a handful get higher awards. Thereâs no priority registration for Alumni scholars.
UCLA has an Honors program, which allows you to apply for some additional scholarships, but isnât as useful as departmental honors.
https://www.honors.ucla.edu/
@Twoin18 are all of what you described available to OOS students too?
At UCLA yes. I believe UCMâs Bright Beginnings is specific to the instate eligibility guarantee:
https://admissions.ucmerced.edu/bb-faq
Is that something that a student applies for or are they chosen based off of their UC app?
Since the alumni scholarships at each campus are awarded by outside entities, I didnât include them. The UCLA alumni scholarship starts at $1500/yr and can go as high as $5K/yr if a student has financial need.
As I understand it, you apply before starting but after admission (and itâs limited to L&S):
@lkg4answers An addition to your excellent summary: UC Merced has started an Honors Program beginning Fall 2024. Info here: https://honors.ucmerced.edu/
Thank you! I will add it.
Looks like it has priority registration which is nice.
Any insight into why UCSB Regents/Honors do not give priority registration (outside of College of Creative Studies)? My son received a Regents Scholarship for College of Engineering (Chemical Engineering) for F24 and this school could be a top contender, but Iâm not sure how much of a risk for graduating in 4 years it would be not having priority registration. Any insights or thoughts?
Generally, for engineering, there is a set course schedule and a student shouldnât have a hard time graduating in four years. @gauchoengineering might be able to share first hand experience. I would probably move that discussion into the UCSB thread.
Here is the Daily Nexus article from 2021
A data point to the summary: Directors scholarship at UCI is now $20k per year for two years.
@mmitzkers Hi! Iâm a current UCSB Computer Engineering student - congratulations to your son on the Regents Scholarship!
I personally have never had trouble getting an engineering class â UCSB is very, very good at pampering its engineering students. Non engineering or non-major students are not allowed to register for engineering classes until pass 3, giving all engineers priority. UCSB Engineering is very small, thereâs probably only like 40-50 ChemEs per year, which means they really shower the few engineers with tons and tons of resources. ECE for example has a student to faculty ratio of like 7:1 (same as private schools like CMU!), which makes it super easy to form close relationships with faculty/get research etc.
Graduating in 4 years will not be an issue, especially if your son has strong enough of a high school profile to get a Regents Scholarship.
Lmk if you have any questions!
@gauchoengineering Thank you so much for your response! This makes my son and me feel really good about this being one of my sonâs top options. I appreciate you taking the time to give such a detailed response.
Of course! Let me know if you have any questions 
I also highly recommend visiting, the campus is absolutely stunning (and genuinely made me fall in love with the school)
@lkg4answers UC Merced Chancellorâs Scholars Award was initial $2,000 for 2024-25 as well as $1,000 in each of the next 3 years for total $5,000. Chancellorâs Scholar has 4 year on campus housing guarantee and preferred registration beginning second semester if respective application deadlines are met. Must be enrolled full time each semester and maintain GPA needs to be 3.00. 