The Middle Class Scholarship provides undergraduate students with a scholarship to attend the University of California or California State University. Families with incomes up to $226,000 and a maximum household asset amount of $226,000 are eligible for the Middle Class Scholarship. In order to receive the Middle Class Scholarship, students need to complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the California Dream Act Application by March 2nd each year.
The award is determined after you are awarded any Federal Aid, State Aid and Institutional Aid. If you are selected to receive a Middle Class Scholarship, you will be notified by the California Student Aid Commission. The final award amount will also be based on the number of students that are eligible for the Middle Class Scholarship and the amount of funding allocated by the State Budget. The number of recipients and the dollar amounts for this scholarship will vary.
When determining eligibility, the California Student Aid Commission takes into account all sources of grant funding and tuition paying scholarships or waivers (including the UCSB scholarship and health insurance grant) already awarded to the student, the student's amount of tuition/fees and the parents' total income. Eligibility is calculated on a tier system so as the parents’ total income increases, the percentage of eligibility decreases. The maximum award will be up to 40 percent of the mandatory system-wide tuition/fees and the minimum is 10 percent. If the student’s combined grant funding from federal, state and institutional sources is already greater than or equal to the amount of their Middle Class Scholarship eligibility, the student will be ineligible for the scholarship.