| Application deadline | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Cost | Last year's cycle (2026): $5,518; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Last year's cycle (2026): $6,450–$9,950; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Financial aid | Last year's cycle (2026): 2026 need-based application and program assistance: Up to $5,564. Could assist with the $46 application fee and $5,518 program cost based on family income, family size and available funds; actual award not guaranteed.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Last year's cycle (2026): 2026 need-based tuition discount: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. 10-80% discount online or 10-50% San Francisco; no full rides; parents' prior 12 months of income statements required. 2027 availability TBC.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Last year's cycle (2026): Stone Lab scholarship assistance: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. Requirements and awards vary. The 2026 non-OSU/high-school deadline was March 31 and has passed; non-degree admission and the application fee or approved waiver were required by the deadline.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Expenses and aid conditions | Last year's cycle (2026): 2026 COSMOS application fee: $46. Nonrefundable; pending fee-waiver review could change when or whether payment was required.; Credit-card transaction fee on program payments: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. Approximately 2.5% when paying program costs by credit card; application fee exempt.; 2026 need-based application and program assistance: Up to $5,564. Could assist with the $46 application fee and $5,518 program cost based on family income, family size and available funds; actual award not guaranteed.; Full-financial-aid attendance deposit: $200. Required only for admitted students offered full aid and refunded to the legal guardian after successful completion.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Last year's cycle (2026): 2026 enrollment deposit: $700. Nonrefundable, credited toward tuition, and due within 14 days of acceptance.; 2026 need-based tuition discount: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. 10-80% discount online or 10-50% San Francisco; no full rides; parents' prior 12 months of income statements required. 2027 availability TBC.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Last year's cycle (2026): Ohio State non-degree admission application fee for a new non-OSU/high-school credit student: $60. Ordinarily applies if the accepted student has never enrolled at Ohio State and is required for scholarship consideration; confirm waiver and applicant-specific billing.; Stone Lab laboratory or course fees: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. The 2026-27 registrar table lists an $80 Stone Lab lab fee for specified courses, but fee applicability and other course charges vary.; Stone Lab room charges: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. Course- and stay-specific; billed separately where applicable.; Stone Lab meal charges: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. Course- and stay-specific; billed separately where applicable.; Stone Lab scholarship assistance: Amount: Unconfirmed — check official site. Requirements and awards vary. The 2026 non-OSU/high-school deadline was March 31 and has passed; non-degree admission and the application fee or approved waiver were required by the deadline.; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Stipend or pay | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Eligibility | Grades 9–12 (provider uses rising grades) | Grades 9–12; Grade timing: Unconfirmed — check official site | Up to grade 12; Grade timing: Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Additional eligibility | Residency: Attend high school in person in California; Requirement: Be rising into grade 9, 10, 11 or 12 for the program fall year; Requirement: Attend high school in person in California; Requirement: Demonstrate academic excellence and preparation for the selected STEM cluster; Requirement: Complete cluster-specific course prerequisites; Requirement: Live on the host UC campus for the full program; Requirement: Be a first-time COSMOS participant; Exclusion: Students not attending a California high school in person; Exclusion: Students who previously attended any COSMOS program; Exclusion: Applicants outside the rising-grade 9-12 range; Exclusion: Applicants unable to live on campus for the full program; Exclusion: Late application, supporting, payment or admission materials; Exclusion: Assuming a 3.5 GPA is an absolute statewide minimum rather than the published typical profile | Requirement: Be a high-school student/teen applicant; Requirement: Commit full time to the four-week program and team startup work; Requirement: Show interests, passions, initiative, drive, problem solving, and collaboration in the application; Requirement: No prior business or coding knowledge is required; Requirement: Residential students must live in program housing; no commuter option was offered in 2026; Exclusion: The current pages do not publish an exact age range, grade-by-grade rule, citizenship restriction, visa service, English-proficiency standard, or 2027 eligibility terms; Exclusion: A priority-list signup does not confer admission; Exclusion: Admission and financial aid are reviewed separately; no full-ride aid was offered in 2026 | Requirement: Apply through the undergraduate-credit-for-high-school-student path, not a college, graduate, REU, job, or workshop path unless separately eligible; Requirement: Select a current course that explicitly permits high-school applicants and meet every course prerequisite; Requirement: Submit the course/path-specific application, required PDF documents, standardized-test fields, and recommendation forms; Requirement: If accepted and new to Ohio State, complete non-degree undergraduate admission, account activation, fee or waiver, acceptance, and registration steps; Requirement: Complete the Financial Responsibility Statement and all billed tuition and fees by the applicant-specific deadlines; Requirement: If age 16 or older, submit Ohio State vaccination documentation; Requirement: Arrange ferry travel, arrival, housing and meals as applicable, books and supplies, weather-appropriate field clothing, and all course-specific safety items; Requirement: Attend the full course and complete its lectures, labs, fieldwork, assignments, exams, projects, conduct, and academic-integrity requirements; Exclusion: Assuming every Stone Lab course or workshop accepts high-school students; Exclusion: Using REU, graduate, educator, noncredit-workshop, employment, or current-OSU application instructions for the high-school credit path; Exclusion: Treating the umbrella applications-open statement as confirmation that a selected course has seats; Exclusion: Relying on stale 2023 dates in the FAQ or assuming 2026 scholarship dates recur; Exclusion: Assuming one tuition, fee, duration, prerequisite, credit count, housing plan, meal plan, or arrival schedule applies to all courses; Exclusion: Arriving without required books, supplies, ferry planning, vaccination documentation when applicable, or enrollment completion; Exclusion: Assuming Ohio State credit automatically transfers to a high school or another college, or guarantees a grade, scholarship, recommendation, research placement, publication, admission, or job |
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| Session dates or duration | Catalog terms: 4 weeks; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Catalog terms: 4 weeks; 2027: Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Format | In person | In person / Online | In person |
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| Housing and supervision | Residential. Supervision and housing details: Unconfirmed — check official site | Residential. Supervision and housing details: Unconfirmed — check official site | Unconfirmed — check official site |
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| Location | Davis, California, Irvine, California, Los Angeles, California, Merced, California, San Diego, California, Santa Cruz, California, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Merced, UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz | San Francisco, Berkeley, San Francisco Bay Area residential program hosted at UC Berkeley in 2026, Online worldwide | Put-in-Bay, Ohio, Most courses meet at Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island/South Bass Island in Lake Erie; exact arrival and field locations vary |
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| Selection and application | Selection: Each of six campuses accommodates roughly 160-200 students, and clusters typically enroll 20-25 with a commonly reported 5:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Admissions are competitive and based on academic merit relative to the selected topic, but applicant count and statewide acceptance rate were not published. Application materials: One personal statement; One required teacher recommendation, with two recommended | Selection: Leangap reviews applicants for fit using motivation, initiative, collaboration, problem solving, skills, and impact. Each 2026 format was limited to 40 seats, but no applicant count or acceptance rate is published. Application materials: Parents' income statements for the prior 12 months when requesting need-based aid | Selection: Approval is course- and applicant-specific. Stone Lab does not publish one umbrella capacity, acceptance rate, high-school quota, or guaranteed enrollment timeline. Application materials: Recommendation forms submitted separately by the required recommenders using business email addresses; Financial Responsibility Statement, vaccination documentation for age 16 or older, billing, housing, meals, health, emergency, accessibility, travel, ferry, conduct, media, safety, and course forms as applicable |
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| Official sources | Source 1 · checked 2026-08-22Source 2 · checked 2026-08-22Source 3 · checked 2026-08-22Source 4 · checked 2026-08-22Source 5 · checked 2026-08-22Source 6 · checked 2026-08-22Source 7 · checked 2026-08-20 | Source 1 · checked 2026-08-21Source 2 · checked 2026-08-21Source 3 · checked 2026-08-21Source 4 · checked 2026-08-20 | Source 1 · checked 2026-08-20Source 2 · checked 2026-08-20Source 3 · checked 2026-08-20Source 4 · checked 2026-08-20 |
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