Graduate Division

Promoting Graduate Education

Fee Waivers

Financial Hardship fee waiver requests for the 2025-26 application period will open at 8:00 a.m. PST on October 1, 2024.

All fee waivers must be approved and applied to your online application prior to submission. Do not pay the application fee to submit your application prior to receiving a response from our office regarding your fee waiver request. We are unable to waive or refund the application once it has been paid. 

Who is Eligible?

US Citizens, Permanent Residents, and Undocumented applicants who:

  • Demonstrate financial need/financial hardship  OR 
  • Be a current or recent participant in certain graduate preparation programs that qualify for a fee waiver 

Waiver Deadlines

  • Waiver requests need to be submitted a minimum of 5 business days prior to the graduate program’s posted application priority deadline. Complete requests will be processed within 2-3 business days by our office. 
  • The Graduate Admissions Office will be closed December 23, 2024 - January 1, 2025. Any requests received on or after December 19, 2024, will not be processed until the week of January 2, 2025. 

Financial Hardship

Financial hardship fee waivers for the 2025-26 academic year will open at 8:00 a.m. (PST) on October 1, 2024. Complete the Financial Hardship Fee Waiver form to waive the $135 application fee. A limited amount of fee waivers are available and processed on a first-come, first-served basis. A fee waiver can only be applied to one application. 

For the 2025-26 application cycle, the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) will be replaced by the Student Aid Index (SAI). 

  1. Federal Aid - U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and Dream Scholars with a Student Aid Index (SAI) of $4,000 or less. 
  2. Financial Hardship - Not exceeding the Gross Income Maximum based on your Household size provided in the below table. Household size is determined by the number of people you report or claim on your income tax forms for the previous year. If you are claimed as a dependent, your household size is determined by the total number of people claimed on your tax form (IRS 1040). A copy of this form must be submitted for eligibility verification. If you are independent and have no earned income, you must document how you supported yourself for the past year and why you do not have sufficient funds to pay the application fee. 

Household Size

Gross Income Maximum
1 $26,355
2 $35,770
3 $45,185
4 $54,600
5 $64,015
6 $73,430
7 $82,845
8 $92,260
  1. Federal Aid - Provide a copy of your letter from a financial aid officer at the institution you are currently attending or a 2024-25 Student Aid Report (SAR) generated from your current FASFA. The document must include your Student Aid Index (SAI).
  2. Financial Hardship - Attach a copy of your most recently filed Federal Income Tax Return. Please provide IRS Form 1040 if you are not claimed as a dependent or a copy of the Federal Income Tax Return on which you are listed as a dependent. Please remove your Social Security Number by blacking the numbers before providing these forms to our office. 

Graduate Preparation Program

If you are a current or recent participant in any of the eligible graduate preparation programs, you may qualify for an application fee waiver to one graduate program at UC Riverside. For those who visited our booth at ABRCMS and SACNAS, you will receive an email with further instructions on how to request your application fee waiver.

Only U.S. Citizens and U.S. Permanent Residents may request a waiver for the application fee. If you are currently in a graduate program or recently completed one and your graduate preparation program participation was from your undergraduate program, you are not eligible for a fee waiver.

  1. Complete the first three sections of your online application.
  2. Complete and submit the fee waiver request form. Further instructions on proof of participation required are provided in the that form.

Please refer to your online application for the required deadline submission or program's noted priority deadline posted on their website. Make sure to submit the Application Fee Waiver Request form a minimum of 5-7 business days prior to the appropriate deadline. Our office will not be able to process a fee waiver without the submission of the request form and saved application.

  • Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) 
  • American Political Science Association Ralph Bunche Summer Institute Program (APSA RBSI Scholars) 
  • Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD-NIH)
  • CAS Summer Research Program for Underrepresented Minorities and Women
  • Cal Poly Pomona Bridges to Doctorate Program
  • California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) Bridge Program in Physics, Astronomy, Computer Science, and Computer Engineering (Cal-Bridge) 
  • California State University (CSU) Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholars Program 
  • California Diversity Forum (The California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education) - For 2024 attendees, you will only receive a $40 discount on the application fee.  
  • California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) 
  • College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) STEM Pathway Program 
  • Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT)  
  • Gates Millennium Scholars Program (GMS)
  • The National GEM Consortium (GEM) 
  • Guardian Scholars Program
  • Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) - NIH Programs 
  • Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT) Fellows
  • Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) 
  • Math Alliance: F-Gap
  • Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) 
  • Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) 
  • Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF) 
  • McNair Scholars Program 
  • Mentoring Summer Research Internship Program (MSRIP) 
  • National Association of African-American Honors Programs (NAAAHP) 
  • NIH Bridges to Doctorate Program (CSU Fresno or Northridge) 
  • NIH Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) 
  • Northwestern Causeway Postbaccalaureate Certificate Program
  • Questbridge Scholars
  • Research Initiative for Science Enhancement (MBRS RISE) 
  • Rutgers Summer Institute for Diversity in Philosophy
  • Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders (SIEML)
  • Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) @ UC Irvine
  • UC Historically Black Colleges and Universities Initiative (UC-HBCU) 
  • UC Leadership through Advanced Degrees (UC LEADS) 
  • UC Education Abroad Program (UCEAP) Reciprocity

If you don't see your program, please contact grdadmis@ucr.edu to see if the program is eligible. At this time, we do not offer fee waivers for AmeriCorps or Peace Corps.