The College of California’s Blue and Gold Alternative Plan covers systemwide tuition and costs for California residents with household incomes below $100,000 who qualify for monetary assist.
For college kids getting into UC in 2026-27, that’s value $15,588 a yr, made up of $14,202 in tuition and a $1,386 scholar providers price, in accordance with UC’s 2026-27 price schedule.
The plan applies at each undergraduate UC campus, together with Berkeley and UCLA, and places UC on the record of faculties providing free tuition beneath set earnings limits.
Why It Issues
Blue and Gold covers tuition and the coed providers price, however not room and board, books or transportation. UC says eligible college students obtain “a median assist package deal together with as much as $22,000 in grants and scholarships,” which might go towards a few of these different prices, in accordance with the Blue and Gold web page.
Households ought to take a look at the total web value of faculty quite than the tutoring line alone.
Households incomes greater than $100,000 nonetheless have state assist obtainable. California’s Center Class Scholarship served households with earnings and property as much as $234,000 in 2025-26, in accordance with a UC monetary assist presentation for counselors.
That program is determined by state funding annually, and a latest California price range proposal would have decreased middle-class monetary assist.
The Tremendous Print
Eligibility guidelines come from UC Merced’s Blue and Gold web page and UC Admissions, and most of them overlap with the Cal Grant utility course of:
- Residency: College students should be California residents
- Revenue: Below $100,000, utilizing guardian earnings for dependent college students and scholar plus partner earnings for impartial college students
- Want: College students should present monetary want and meet UC’s primary grant necessities
- Functions: File the FAFSA or California Dream Act Software and the Cal Grant GPA Verification Kind by March 2, with no separate utility
- Time restrict: Protection lasts 4 years for freshmen and two years for switch college students
- Award label: It received’t seem as “Blue and Gold” on an assist provide, since grants present up below the campus’s personal grant identify
How This Connects
UC’s $100,000 cutoff sits effectively beneath the thresholds at rich non-public universities. Harvard covers tuition for households incomes below $200,000, and UChicago raised its free tuition threshold to $250,000.
Public universities are inclined to set decrease bars, and Pitt’s new program covers Pennsylvania households incomes below $75,000.
What’s Subsequent
Households making use of for fall 2027 want the 2027-28 FAFSA or Dream Act Software and the Cal Grant GPA type in by March 2, 2027 to be thought of. Checking your Pupil Support Index now provides a fast learn on whether or not you’ll present monetary want.
Editor: Colin Graves
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