What Is Cal Grant B? Eligibility, Award Amounts, and How to Apply

Cal Grant B is California’s need-based college grant for students from low-income families, providing a $1,648 annual access award for living costs in the first year and adding tuition coverage in later years. Awards can reach $16,582 per year at a University of California campus once the tuition portion kicks in.¹ The program is run by the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) and is aimed at students who need help with the everyday costs of attending college before tuition even enters the picture.

Cal Grant B is the sister program to Cal Grant A, which covers tuition from day one. Where A is built around tuition, B is built around access, with tuition added on later.

Who Qualifies for Cal Grant B

Cal Grant B is written into California Education Code Section 69435, which limits the grant to students in programs lasting at least one academic year and directs that first-year recipients receive only the access award, with tuition coverage added in later years.² On top of that statute, CSAC enforces a handful of concrete rules.

You need to be a California resident attending a Cal Grant–eligible school in California. Students who qualify for the nonresident tuition exemption under AB 540 can apply using the California Dream Act Application in place of the FAFSA.³ You must be pursuing your first undergraduate degree or certificate; if you already hold a bachelor’s or professional degree, you’re out.⁴ You must be enrolled at least half-time, which generally means six or more units per term, and your school has to certify that you’re meeting its Satisfactory Academic Progress standards.

GPA

The minimum cumulative GPA is 2.0, whether you’re applying through the high school entitlement path or the competitive pool.⁵⁶ If you’re transferring from a California community college, the floor is 2.4 based on at least 24 completed units.⁷

Income and Assets

CSAC publishes new income and asset ceilings every year. For the 2026–27 academic year, a dependent student in a family of four must have household income below $76,100 to qualify for Cal Grant B. The asset test is separate: dependent students and independent students with dependents face a $111,900 ceiling, while independent students without dependents are capped at $53,300.⁸ Assets include savings and investments but not the family’s primary home.

How Much Cal Grant B Pays

Every Cal Grant B recipient gets the $1,648 annual access award, meant to cover books, supplies, transportation, and living costs. In year one, that access award is almost always the whole grant. Starting in year two, a tuition and fee payment is added on, and the size of that second piece depends on where you go to school.¹

The statute caps first-year tuition coverage at 2 percent of new Cal Grant B recipients, with priority going to those with the lowest expected family contribution.² For nearly everyone else, plan on access-only for year one.

From sophomore year on, the full annual award looks like this:¹

University of California: $16,582 ($1,648 access + $14,934 tuition and fees)
California State University: $8,098 ($1,648 access + $6,450 tuition and fees)
Private nonprofit school: $11,006 ($1,648 access + $9,358 tuition and fees)
Private for-profit school, WASC-accredited: $9,704 ($1,648 access + $8,056 tuition and fees)
Private for-profit school, not WASC-accredited: $5,648 ($1,648 access + $4,000 tuition and fees)
California Community College: $1,648 access award only, since community college tuition is often covered by the California College Promise Grant

If you’re starting at a community college and plan to transfer, know that every year you use at a community college still counts against your total Cal Grant B eligibility. For some students it’s worth considering whether to save those years of eligibility for when meaningful tuition charges appear.⁹

Awards also scale down with part-time enrollment. Full-time (12+ units) pays 100 percent of the term’s award, three-quarter time (9–11 units) pays 75 percent, half-time (6–8 units) pays 50 percent, and anything below half-time means no payment for that term.¹⁰

The Three Ways to Get Cal Grant B

Cal Grant B comes through one of three paths. Which one applies to you depends on where you are in school.

High School Entitlement

If you’re a current California high school senior or graduated within the past year and you meet the income, asset, and GPA requirements, you qualify for the high school entitlement track. Entitlement means guaranteed: everyone who qualifies and applies on time gets the award.¹¹

Transfer Entitlement

Community college students moving on to a four-year school have a dedicated entitlement path, with its own rules:⁷

You must transfer from a California community college to a bachelor’s-granting institution with no gap in enrollment.
You must be under 28 by December 31 of the award year.
You need a 2.4 GPA based on at least 24 completed community college units.
You must have graduated from a California high school after June 30, 2000, or been a California resident on your 18th birthday if you didn’t graduate from high school.
You must submit your FAFSA or California Dream Act Application and your community college GPA by March 2.

After a preliminary award, transfer applicants complete the Transfer Entitlement Certification form (G-6) through the WebGrants for Students portal.¹²

Competitive Awards

Students who miss the entitlement window, generally those more than a year out of high school and not transferring from a community college, compete for a limited pool. The state awards no more than 13,000 competitive Cal Grants per year across both A and B combined, with recipients ranked by a scoring formula that weighs GPA, family income, household size, and whether a parent attended college.⁶ Applying early and accurately matters more here than on the entitlement tracks.

How to Apply

Applying for Cal Grant B takes two pieces: a financial application and a verified GPA. Both must reach CSAC by March 2 for the high school entitlement and transfer entitlement paths. Community college students on the competitive track get an extended deadline of September 2.¹³

File the FAFSA if you’re a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or eligible non-citizen. If you qualify under AB 540, file the California Dream Act Application instead.⁴ Either application feeds your household income and asset information into CSAC’s system. Have your Social Security number or ITIN, W-2s, signed federal tax returns, and current asset values on hand before you start.

Most California high schools submit student GPAs to CSAC electronically in bulk. If yours doesn’t, you’ll need the paper GPA Verification Form, completed and signed by school staff.¹⁴ Ask your counselor’s office in the fall which method applies.

Once you’ve applied, track your status through WebGrants for Students, which also lets you change your school of attendance, update your address, and submit leave-of-absence requests.¹⁵

Keeping the Award

Cal Grant B is renewable for up to four years of full-time attendance, with limited exceptions for mandatory five-year programs and teaching credential programs.⁴ You don’t resubmit your GPA every year, and you don’t refile against the original application deadlines. You do need to keep meeting the income, asset, and other eligibility rules, maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress, and have a valid payment on file for every required term in the year, meaning both semesters at a semester school or all three quarters at a quarter school. You also need at least 10 percent of your total Cal Grant eligibility remaining to renew for the following year.¹⁰

If You’re Denied

Where the denial comes from determines what you can do about it. If you’re over the income or asset ceiling, your college’s financial aid office is the right contact; the office has professional judgment authority to adjust your financial data if your circumstances have changed. If you believe CSAC made an eligibility error, call the student support unit at 1-888-224-7268 for an account review. Other appealable issues go through the G-18 form.¹³

A few things can’t be appealed. Missing the FAFSA or California Dream Act Application deadline is generally fatal under state law. If you applied on the competitive track and your score fell short of the cutoff, CSAC can’t reconsider, and changes you make to your application after the filing deadline won’t move you up.¹³

Is Cal Grant B Taxable

Not entirely. Under IRS rules, grant money spent on tuition, fees, and required books, supplies, and equipment is tax-free for a degree-seeking student at an eligible school. Money spent on room and board is not a qualified education expense, so the $1,648 access award, which is designed for exactly those living costs, is generally taxable income. The tuition portion added in year two and beyond is tax-free.¹⁶ If your total income including the taxable portion stays under the standard deduction, you may not owe anything, but you should still report it and keep records of how you used the funds.

1
California Student Aid Commission. What Are the Cal Grant Award Amounts
2
California Legislative Information. California Code EDC 69435
3
California Student Aid Commission. California Nonresident Tuition Exemption
4
California Student Aid Commission. Cal Grant Programs
5
California Student Aid Commission. What Is a Cal Grant Award
6
California Student Aid Commission. Cal Grant Competitive Awards
7
California Student Aid Commission. Cal Grant Transfer Entitlement Award
8
California Student Aid Commission. 2026-27 Cal Grant Program Income and Asset Ceilings
9
California Student Aid Commission. Can I Get a Cal Grant if I’m Going to a Community College
10
California Student Aid Commission. 2025-26 Cal Grant Handbook
11
California Student Aid Commission. Cal Grant High School Entitlement Award
12
California Student Aid Commission. Student Forms
13
California Student Aid Commission. Cal Grant Appeals
14
California Student Aid Commission. Cal Grant GPA Verification Form
15
California Student Aid Commission. WebGrants 4 Students
16
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 970 – Tax Benefits for Education