Outside Scholarships
Did you know that UC Berkeley students receive more than $15 million per year in outside scholarship aid?
Outside scholarships are scholarships awarded to students by external sources and not by university, federal, or state sources. Outside scholarships help contribute to a student’s self-help aid, which can also be covered by work-study employment and student loans.
Managing Your Outside Scholarships
Congratulations on being awarded an outside scholarship! The following resources provide guidance on how to manage your outside scholarships, as well as answers to frequently asked questions.
If you receive a scholarship from an outside scholarship provider, please make sure you follow these steps:
- Request that outside scholarship checks are made payable to “UC Regents.”
- Give your scholarship provider your UC Berkeley student identification number (SID) and ask them to include it on the check.
- Ask your scholarship provider to include an award letter indicating the academic term(s) for which the payment is intended (e.g. Fall semester). If no term is indicated, we will split the payment evenly between the Fall and Spring semesters.
- Make sure to report any outside scholarships using the Report Outside Resources Link under Awards for Gift Aid in CalCentral. If you are having trouble with the Report Outside Resources Link, please contact us at outsidescholarships@berkeley.edu and provide the scholarship amount and scholarship provider information.
Please note that federal financial aid regulations require that the financial aid awards you receive cannot exceed your student budget. It is possible, therefore, that outside scholarships could reduce a component of your package of financial aid awards. We may need to reduce your financial aid awards by the amount of the outside resources received to ensure that your total awards do not exceed your student budget. In these cases, the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office attempts first to reduce loan or work aid; fellowships, grants, or scholarships are only reduced as a last resort.
Submitting Outside Scholarships to Berkeley
By Mail
Outside scholarship checks and any related documentation can be mailed to the following address:
University of California, Berkeley
Financial Aid Lockbox
Post Office Box 744988
Los Angeles, CA 90074-4988
Electronic Payments
Scholarship funds can be sent through a Wire Transfer or Automated Clearing House (ACH) Transfer following the instructions found here. Link: https://controller.berkeley.edu/financial-operations/cash-handling-and-banking-services/electronic-payments/incoming-wire-transfers.
Scholarship providers who send a payment through wire or ACH transfer should also email an award letter to both outsidescholarships@berkeley.edu and bankwires@berkeley.edu to ensure timely and accurate processing. The award letter should include the recipient’s full name, the recipient’s Berkeley’s student identification number (SID), and the academic term(s) for which the payment is intended.
In Person
Outside scholarship checks and any related documentation can be dropped off in person at Cal Student Central located in 120 Sproul Hall during their regular business hours.
Scholarship Certification Forms
If your outside scholarship requires a financial aid advisor to complete a certification form, please submit the form to Cal Student Central either by opening a case or by visiting in person at 120 Sproul Hall.
Search for Outside Scholarships
Researching and applying for outside scholarships takes time and consideration. Please check our Outside Scholarships Search page for tips and resources.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, all outside scholarships should be reported to the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office on CalCentral, including those that are paid to you directly.
Once the outside scholarship check is processed, you will get an email explaining the conditions that need to be met for the funds to be disbursed to you. You can track the status of the payment on CalCentral.
It can take up to three weeks for an outside scholarship check to be received by mail. Once the check is received, processing times can vary from two business days to three weeks depending on the time of year.
Checks sent to the University are usually co-payable to the University and the student. In those cases, the student does not need to sign the check. If there is something that needs to be signed, our check processing team will contact you directly.
The total of your financial aid awards, including your outside scholarships, cannot exceed your Cost of Attendance. If you have a financial aid package and receive an outside scholarship, your financial aid awards may be adjusted depending upon the conditions of the scholarship.
Generally, need-based loans and work-study awards are reduced first to “make room” for an outside scholarship. To ensure an outside scholarship helps you as much as possible, it is our policy to replace your need-based loans and work-study awards first. If the amount of your outside scholarships exceeds the amount of need-based loans and work-study in your package, then other gift aid may be reduced.
Outside scholarship awards are split evenly between the Fall and Spring semesters unless the scholarship provider’s instructions state otherwise.
You can try to increase your Cost of Attendance by submitting a Cost of Attendance Adjustment Request Form. Review the instruction page of the form for a list of allowable expenses.
Our scholarship provider database contains thousands of scholarship providers, and the list below is a small representation of the generous foundations and private entities which have provided scholarship funding to our talented students:
National Merit Scholarship Program
Ronald McDonald House Charities