USA Scholarships
UoPeople Scholarships 2027 - Tuition-Free US Degrees
UoPeople scholarships in 2027 do something unusual: they pay fees at a university that already charges no tuition. University of the People is an accredited American online institution based in Pasadena, California, and it charges nothing for instruction, textbooks or course materials. The costs that remain are a one-time, non-refundable application fee of $60 across all programmes, and an assessment fee at the end of each course. For students who saved their spot on or after 7 June 2026 for the 2026-27 academic year, that is $180 per undergraduate course, $430 per M.Ed. course and $490 per MBA or MS-IT course. Totalled up, an associate degree runs to $3,660, a bachelor's in business, computer science or general studies to $7,260, a health science bachelor's to $7,080, an MBA or MS-IT to $5,940 and an M.Ed. to $5,650. Scholarships exist to cover exactly those fees, and they come from partners including SAP, Intel and the Algorand Foundation, plus named funds like the Simone Biles Legacy Scholarship Fund, the Botari Women's Scholarship Fund, the Catalyst Scholarship for Refugees and country-specific funds for Afghanistan, Gaza, Haiti, Myanmar, Syria and Vietnam. The mechanics matter more than any deadline here, because there is no scholarship deadline at all. You apply for admission, get accepted, then request funding from the Student Portal, and grants are made first-come, first-served and applied to your assessment fees until the money runs out. UoPeople runs five nine-week terms a year, so the next intakes close on 22 October 2026, 7 January 2027, 18 March 2027 and 27 May 2027.
What are UoPeople scholarships?
UoPeople scholarships pay fees at a university that already charges no tuition, which sounds like a contradiction until you look at the fee schedule. University of the People is an accredited American online institution run out of Pasadena, California, and it charges nothing for instruction, nothing for textbooks and nothing for course materials. Two costs survive that model. There is a one-time, non-refundable application fee of $60 that applies to every programme, and an assessment fee at the end of each course you take. For students who saved their spot on or after 7 June 2026 for the 2026-27 academic year, that assessment fee is $180 for an undergraduate course, $430 for an M.Ed. course, and $490 for an MBA or MS-IT course.
Multiply those out and the real number appears. An associate degree comes to $3,660 over 20 courses. A bachelor's in business administration, computer science or general studies is $7,260 over 40 courses, and health science is $7,080 over 39. An MBA or MS-IT totals $5,940, an M.Ed. $5,650. Set against roughly $100,000 for four years at a private American university, that is a rounding error, but it is not zero, and for a student in Kampala or Karachi $7,260 can be as impossible as $100,000. Scholarships exist precisely to close that last gap, and they come from a long list of partners: SAP, Intel and the Algorand Foundation among the corporates, alongside the Simone Biles Legacy Scholarship Fund, the Botari Women's Scholarship Fund, the Catalyst Scholarship for Refugees, a US Embassy Burkina Faso fund, and country-specific funds for Afghanistan, Gaza, Haiti, Myanmar, Syria and Vietnam.
The process runs in a fixed order and catches people who try to shortcut it. You cannot apply for a UoPeople scholarship first. You submit the admission application, you get accepted, and only then does the funding page open inside the Student Portal, which is the single route to requesting money. Granted funds land in your account and are applied to your course assessment fees until they are exhausted, which is the phrase to sit with: a scholarship here is a pot, not a promise covering all 40 courses. And because there is no closing date, timing works differently from every other award on this site. Funds go out first-come, first-served, so asking early in the cycle genuinely beats asking well.
For the 2027 study year the dates you need are admission dates rather than scholarship ones. UoPeople runs five nine-week terms annually, and for the 2026-27 academic year Term 2 closes 22 October 2026, Term 3 on 7 January 2027, Term 4 on 18 March 2027 and Term 5 on 27 May 2027, each with an early admissions deadline about ten days earlier. Admission itself is open rather than selective: sixteen or over, high school completed or 24 college credits, and English proficiency unless you study in Arabic. Everyone begins with UoPeople Foundations before enrolling in a degree, and your proof of high school completion is due before that step rather than at application, which buys time if your documents are slow. One correction worth making if you are reading older write-ups: UoPeople ended its DEAC accreditation relationship on 31 December 2025 and is now solely accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission. If you are collecting genuinely free study options, the Columbia University free online courses guide and the HP Social Media Marketing course guide cover two that cost nothing at all, though neither ends in a degree. The full list of funds sits on the UoPeople scholarships page.
Eligibility
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✓Accepted to UoPeople firstScholarships are not an entry route. You complete the admission application, receive acceptance, and only then can you open the funding page in the Student Portal to request a scholarship. Applying for money before you have a place is not possible.
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✓Aged 16 or over with high school behind youUndergraduate applicants must be at least 16 and have completed high school or a home-school equivalent, or hold at least 24 college credits. Everyone starts with the UoPeople Foundations courses, and proof of high school completion is required before you can enrol in the degree itself.
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✓Genuine financial needUoPeople says anyone struggling to afford higher education can apply, and that scholarships are made available in select cases to help students in need cover assessment fees and the application fee. No income threshold is published, so the funding request is where you make the case.
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✓English proficiency, unless you study in ArabicProgrammes taught in English require proof of English proficiency. The exception is written into the rules: proof of English proficiency is not a requirement for students who want to study in Arabic.
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✓A named fund you actually match, if you want oneBeyond general scholarships, more than twenty named funds exist with their own criteria, covering refugees and displaced students, women, and applicants from Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Gaza, Haiti, Myanmar, Syria and Vietnam among others. Check which of these you fit before submitting a general request.
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✓Early enough in the term cycleFunds are distributed first-come, first-served rather than judged against a closing date. In practice that makes timing part of eligibility: requesting early in a term cycle puts you ahead of students who wait, since money is granted until a fund is exhausted.
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✓Able to cover what the scholarship does not reachA grant covers your assessment fees until the funds run out, not necessarily to the end of your degree. Plan for the possibility of paying some of the $180 per course yourself rather than assuming the award carries you through all 40 courses.
Benefits
- Tuition Free, UoPeople charges none
- Textbooks and course materials Free, included in the model
- Scholarship against assessment fees Applied to your account until funds run out
- Application fee help Scholarships can cover it in select cases
- Application fee $60 one-time, non-refundable, all programmes
- Undergraduate assessment fee $180 per course
- M.Ed. assessment fee $430 per course
- MBA and MS-IT assessment fee $490 per course
- Living costs, laptop and internet Not covered, this is an online degree
- Associate, Business Administration $3,660 across 20 courses
- Associate, Computer Science $3,660 across 20 courses
- Associate, Health Science $3,660 across 20 courses
- Bachelor, Business Administration $7,260 across 40 courses
- Bachelor, Computer Science $7,260 across 40 courses
- Bachelor, Health Science $7,080 across 39 courses
- Bachelor, General Studies $7,260 across 40 courses
- MBA or MS-IT $5,940 in total
- M.Ed. $5,650 in total
Document checklist
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✓The online admission applicationA short form where you pick your programme and admissions pathway. Complete this before anything else, because the scholarship request lives behind acceptance rather than alongside the application.
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✓Proof of high school completionYour high school certificate or home-school equivalent, or evidence of at least 24 college credits. UoPeople lets you begin the Foundations courses first and supply this before you enrol in the degree, which helps if your documents are slow to arrive.
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✓Proof of English proficiencyRequired for programmes taught in English, and waived if you are studying in Arabic. Check the accepted forms of evidence on the admissions page rather than assuming a particular test is needed.
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✓The $60 application fee, or a fee scholarship requestOne-time and non-refundable across all programmes. Scholarships can cover the application fee in some cases, so if the $60 itself is the barrier, say so rather than abandoning the application.
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✓Your scholarship request in the Student PortalOnce accepted, the funding page in the Student Portal is where you ask. Granted funds go directly to your account and are applied against course assessment fees until they are exhausted.
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✓Evidence for a named fund, where one appliesRefugee, displacement, gender or nationality-based funds each carry their own criteria. Have whatever documents support your case ready, since a general request will not automatically consider you for a specific fund.
How to apply
Deadline and timeline
FAQ
Is UoPeople really free?
Tuition is genuinely free, and so are textbooks and course materials. What you pay is a one-time, non-refundable $60 application fee and an assessment fee at the end of each course. For the 2026-27 academic year that is $180 per undergraduate course, $430 per M.Ed. course and $490 per MBA or MS-IT course. So a full bachelor's degree costs $7,260 rather than nothing, which is still a fraction of a traditional American degree.
What do UoPeople scholarships actually cover?
Assessment fees, and in select cases the application fee. UoPeople puts it plainly: granted funds go directly to your account and cover your course assessment fees until all funds are exhausted. That last phrase is the one to read twice, because a scholarship is a pot of money rather than a guarantee that every course in your degree is paid for.
What is the UoPeople scholarship deadline for 2027?
Scholarships themselves have no deadline. Funds are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis to accepted students who request them through the Student Portal. What does have deadlines is admission: for the 2026-27 academic year, Term 2 closes 22 October 2026, Term 3 on 7 January 2027, Term 4 on 18 March 2027 and Term 5 on 27 May 2027, with an early admissions deadline about ten days before each.
How do you apply for a UoPeople scholarship?
In three steps, and the order is fixed. Complete the admission application, receive your acceptance, then open the funding page in the Student Portal and request a scholarship there. You cannot request funding before being accepted, and there is no separate scholarship application form outside the portal.
How much does a UoPeople degree cost in total?
An associate degree in business administration, computer science or health science is $3,660 across 20 courses. A bachelor's in business administration, computer science or general studies is $7,260 across 40 courses, and health science is $7,080 across 39. On the graduate side, an MBA or MS-IT totals $5,940 and an M.Ed. $5,650. Each figure includes the one-time $60 application fee, and applies to students who saved their spot on or after 7 June 2026 for the 2026-27 year.
Is UoPeople accredited in the USA?
Yes. University of the People is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission, and its administrative offices are in Pasadena, California. One detail worth knowing if you are reading older articles: UoPeople voluntarily ended its Distance Education Accrediting Commission relationship as of 31 December 2025, so from 1 January 2026 it is solely WSCUC-accredited and graduates from that date carry WSCUC on their transcripts.
What named scholarships does UoPeople offer?
More than twenty funds sit alongside general scholarships, backed by corporate and institutional partners. They include the SAP and UoPeople Scholarship for Refugee and Displaced Students, the Algorand Foundation Scholarship, the Intel Haitian Women Scholarship, the Simone Biles Legacy Scholarship Fund, the Botari Women's Scholarship Fund, the Catalyst Scholarship for Refugees, a US Embassy Burkina Faso fund, and country funds for Afghanistan, Gaza, Myanmar, Syria and Vietnam.
Can international students get UoPeople scholarships?
Yes, and that is much of the point. UoPeople teaches entirely online, so there is no visa, no relocation and no campus, and students apply from all over the world. Several of the named funds are explicitly country-specific or aimed at refugees and displaced people. The one practical requirement beyond admission is proof of English proficiency, which is waived if you study in Arabic.
What are the admission requirements for UoPeople?
You need to be at least 16 and to have completed high school or a home-school equivalent, or to hold at least 24 college credits. English proficiency is required for English-taught programmes. Every student starts with the UoPeople Foundations courses, and proof of high school completion must be supplied before you enrol in the degree programme itself.
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