Group job and career fair overhead shot

Important Updates

  • The 2025-26 Continuing Undergraduate Scholarships application is now open! Get started on your application today!
  • While awaiting your 2024-25 financial aid offer, we encourage you to utilize the UC Davis Financial Aid Estimator to estimate your potential aid.
  • The 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the California Dream Act Application (CADAA) will open on December 1, 2024.

Learning-Aligned Employment Program

News Spotlight

UCLA student at work in the Barber Lab.

Getting paid to get ahead

  • by Apollonia Morrill, UC Newsroom
Funded by the California Student Aid Commission, LAEP (the Learning-Aligned Employment Program) offers paid, career-building jobs for undergrads with financial need.

The Learning-Aligned Employment Program (LAEP) offers eligible students at UC Davis the opportunity to earn money to help offset their educational costs while gaining education-aligned, career-related employment in on-campus research. LAEP financial aid is offered through UC Davis Financial Aid and Scholarships. LAEP offers are distributed through an eligible student’s paycheck when employed in permitted UC Davis research.

  • The State of California is in a budget shortfall for 2024-25 and 2025-26. The May Revision of the budget called for a cut to many one-time programs which included the Learning Aligned Employment Program (LAEP). Therefore, LAEP aid for the 2024-25 aid year is not available and will not be offered in the foreseeable future. LAEP is no longer funding 2023-24 employment as of July 1, 2024.
     
  • Undergraduate students and staff/faculty may want to consider Federal or Institutional Work-Study to fund research employment for the 2024-25 aid year. Eligible students can receive up to $4,000 in work-study aid to subsidize student employment costs. More aid may be available on exception. Work-study subsidizes 75% of a student’s wage and the hiring department is responsible for funding the remaining 25%. 
     
  • The Undergraduate Research Center can also provide support in identifying research funding for students and faculty. We highly recommend reviewing this Undergraduate Research Program Information sheet for other funding opportunities.

Information for 2023-24 LAEP aid recipients

We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused by the budget cuts to the LAEP program. If you have any questions about your 2023-24 aid, please don't hesitate to reach out to the LAEP manager at laep-fas@ucdavis.edu.