Building Belonging Program
The Building Belonging program at UC Santa Cruz is designed to foster student success, increase engagement, and build a greater sense of belonging for undergraduate students through faculty mentored service-learning and research projects.
The program is offered through the Institute for Social Transformation in the Division of Social Sciences. The institute awards up to 100 Building Belonging undergraduate scholarships each academic year. Faculty apply to the program, and if selected, can choose to mentor up to 4 students per academic year. Student fellows receive $1500 per quarter and are expected to contribute approximately 80-90 hours per quarter to the project. Making these opportunities paid rather than volunteer opens them up to students with limited financial means.
Since the program launched in 2020, we have awarded over 560 student scholarships–totalling more than $840,000 going directly to students–and supported over 187 faculty research projects.
The Building Belonging program was developed to enable and expand engagement between students and faculty, and also give students a firmer sense of belonging and acceptance at a research university. We thank the generous donors who fund this program.
Applications are now open for 2025-2026
Applications are due September 1, 2025
Application Information
This program is open to all Social Sciences faculty and lecturers, including faculty affiliated with the Coastal Science and Policy program and the Global and Community Health program.
Faculty submit the initial application. If selected, they will have the opportunity to recruit and select undergraduate students to participate in their research or community-engaged scholarly project.
By applying, faculty commit to mentoring undergraduate students through a meaningful research or community-based academic experience.
Faculty may apply to mentor up to 4 student-quarters per academic year maximum. The students can work individually with faculty or as part of a group. Faculty are expected to meet regularly with the student researchers. If faculty need help identifying students they can work with the institute and the EOP office.
Student Eligibility
This program is open to all students consistent with state and federal law, the UC Nondiscrimination Statement and the Nondiscrimination Policy Statement for University of California Publications Regarding Student-Related Matters.
We encourage students who have EOP status or come from historically disadvantaged backgrounds including: first-generation, low income, undocumented, or students who have experienced foster care, homelessness, or incarceration, to apply for this program.
As the goal is to build a sense of belonging among current students, participating students must be enrolled in at least 6 credits at UCSC for the term requested (except summer). Students can not participate in the program post-graduation. We encourage faculty members to recruit students who are not in their final year for these mentoring opportunities.
Please note that if the proposed research project is connected or related to a class or independent study where students receive credit, the research must be separate and distinct from the class work. In other words, students cannot receive a Building Belonging scholarship payment for work where they are also receiving course credit.
All student fellows will be required to participate in the Building Belonging Research Symposium in the spring (summer fellows can participate the following year).
Meet the student fellows and faculty mentors who have participated in our program >>
2025-2026 Program Timeline
Faculty interested in participating must submit an application by September 1, 2025 for the 2025-2026 academic year. Selected faculty will be notified in mid-September and will then recruit and select students to join their research projects.
If selected, faculty must submit the names and student IDs of student fellows to IST by the following deadlines:
- Fall Quarter: September 26, 2025
- Winter Quarter: December 12, 2025
- Spring Quarter: March 20, 2026
- Summer Quarter: June 11, 2026
All students selected for the program will be required to participate in a research symposium in May (summer students can participate the following year).
Scholarship Payments
Students selected for the program will receive a $1500 scholarship award per quarter and are expected to contribute approximately 80-90 hours per quarter to the project. In the application, faculty will need to indicate in which quarter the research will be conducted. Student scholarship awards will be processed by the institute and disbursed as a scholarship to the student’s financial aid account per quarter awarded. Please note that these are not posted as jobs in the Handshake System. The award will be incorporated into the student’s financial aid offer and the amount received as a payment/refund will depend on each student’s specific financial situation, including any unpaid university fees and other awards or aid they may have. If students have questions about this they can contact the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office or click here for frequently asked questions about scholarship payments.
Please contact the Institute for Social Transformation with any questions at transform@ucsc.edu.
