A coding error at UC Berkeley mistakenly shrank Middle Class Scholarship awards for roughly 8,000 students this month, saddling some with sudden charges on their billing statements before the campus caught and corrected the mistake. Financial aid officials say about 7,890 of the campus's 10,120 scholarship recipients were affected when automated census-date adjustments misfired, cutting awards and leaving students scrambling to figure out what had happened to their aid.
The glitch surfaced as UC Berkeley updated Middle Class Scholarship awards to reflect each student's enrollment after the census date, the point at which the university locks in final course loads based on dropped or added classes, according to the Daily Californian. Adam Ratliff said a coding error caused incorrect award reductions during those census adjustments, and the campus is required to update Middle Class Scholarship awards every semester so they align with students' actual enrollment. The university notified students of the error in their awards after the mistaken cuts had already posted to some accounts as charges of up to several hundred dollars.
Students Describe Scrambling to Cover Surprise Charges
Student Scott Wei got notice on the morning of Oct. 6 that his financial aid package had changed, the outlet's report notes. His Middle Class Scholarship award dropped from $159 to $121, and he ended up paying a $38 charge caused by the accidental reduction. As of the report, Wei had not received a refund and said he was unsure whether the $38 would be refunded or applied to his next semester's bill.
Another student, Isaac Zepeda, had his award reduced by more than $700. He said he first learned of the reduction from a Reddit post rather than from a campus email, and he chose not to pay the charge that posted to his account. Zepeda eventually received his full award back after the university corrected the error, but his account was then hit with a new $75 late fee tied to waiving UC Berkeley's student health insurance plan.
Why a Routine Enrollment Check Spiraled Into Chaos
The requirement driving the mix-up is not unique to Berkeley. Campuses report changes in a student's course load, cost of attendance, or other financial aid to the California Student Aid Commission, which recalculates Middle Class Scholarship awards, according to the UC Santa Barbara Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. Berkeley's financial aid office posted estimated awards to student packages and said eligible awards would be converted in time for fall disbursement on August 17, per the UC Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office — setting the stage for the October recalculation that went wrong.
Adam Ratliff advised students experiencing payment issues to contact Cal Student Central as soon as possible.
State Budget Cuts Shrank Awards Before the Error Hit
The coding mistake landed on top of a far larger reduction in the scholarship's value. California's enacted 2026-27 state budget slashed state funding for the Middle Class Scholarship program from about $1.1 billion to $531 million, according to the Senate Republican Fiscal Office. That cut the program's target coverage rate from 35% to 17.5% of an eligible student's remaining unmet cost of attendance, meaning this fall's base awards were already far smaller than in prior years before the campus error subtracted further.
State budget legislation funds the scholarship in arrears, meaning lawmakers appropriate money for 2026-27 awards only during the following fiscal year, a structural quirk that adds another layer of financial timing pressure on campuses and students alike.
A Pattern of Disbursement Trouble
This is not the first time Middle Class Scholarship payments have gone sideways at UC Berkeley. Students faced disbursement difficulties and delays in fall 2023, with some receiving their scholarship money only after tuition was already due, the Daily Californian reported. The program has also seen statewide instability: in March 2025, the California Student Aid Commission temporarily paused spring disbursements after it projected that expenditures would exceed its $926.2 million budget for that fiscal year, while it assessed funding, according to the Institute for College Access and Success.
For now, UC Berkeley's Financial Aid and Scholarships Office says the mistaken reductions have been corrected, restoring awards for the thousands of students affected. But for students like Wei, still waiting to find out whether his $38 overpayment will be refunded, the fallout from a routine census-date recalculation has yet to fully resolve.
