Connecticut College · Connecticut
Conn College scholarships and merit aid
Need-based liberal-arts college in New London where institutional aid is structured around the $89,660 comprehensive fee — the school publishes no merit ladder and states that eligibility for most financial aid is need-based.
The short answer
Is Conn College worth a closer look?
We did not find a simple published award list to show for Conn College. Read our full reasoning before spending more time here.
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What families often miss
The published Eligibility Requirements page states: 'Eligibility for most financial aid at Connecticut College is based on need.' Conn does not publish a merit ladder, and strong students without calculated need typically pay close to the $89,660 comprehensive fee.
Conn College uses the CSS Profile alongside the FAFSA, which counts home equity, business assets, and non-custodial parent income in ways federal methodology doesn't. Middle-income families often calculate lower 'need' under institutional methodology than they'd expect from the FAFSA alone.
Conn College's comprehensive fee bundles tuition, fees, housing, food, some special programs, and study-away costs into one number. Apples-to-apples comparisons require pulling the equivalent bundled costs from peer schools (Bates, Wesleyan, Trinity) — not just tuition + room.
See costs and school data
Who this school may work for
Families with demonstrated need under the institutional methodology who can leverage Conn College's commitment to meet up to 100% of need. Strong students without calculated need will not find merit-shaped discounts here.
- Tuition & fees
- Books
- Personal
- Travel
Comprehensive fee ($89,660) bundles tuition, fees, housing and food; only books, miscellaneous (personal), and transportation are itemized separately. Health insurance required but not itemized.
Cost and graduation facts
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Conn College, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
| Family income | Average net price paid |
|---|---|
| $0–$30,000 | $13,341 |
| $30,001–$48,000 | $16,892 |
| $48,001–$75,000 | $28,961 |
| $75,001–$110,000 | $29,797 |
| $110,001+ | $47,031 |
| All income levels (average) | $36,175 |
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
- Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
- $67,242
- Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
- $36,175
That works out to roughly a 57% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $84,623 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).
Outcomes for students who enrolled here
- Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
- 82%
- First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
- 90%
- Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
- $23,500 (~$249/mo on a 10-yr plan)
- Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
- $75,001
- Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
- 14%
- Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
- 34%
See other scholarships and cost examples
More school data
From the Conn College Common Data Set 2024-2025:
At Conn College, roughly 1 in 2 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $28,097 — about 31% of total cost.
As filed in Conn College's CDS Section H2A: of 451 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 206 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $28,097. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 911 of 1,935, averaging $28,349. Athletic awards are excluded per the CDS definition.
Conn College merit aid FAQ
Does Connecticut College offer merit scholarships?
Conn College states that 'eligibility for most financial aid at Connecticut College is based on need' and does not publish a named merit-tier ladder. The school is structurally a need-based aid institution, not a stat-driven merit school.
How much does Connecticut College cost?
The 2025-26 comprehensive fee is $89,660 — which covers tuition, fees, housing, food, some special programs, and study away. Adding books ($1,000), miscellaneous ($600), and transportation ($400) brings the total budget to roughly $91,660 per year.
Does Conn College meet 100% of demonstrated need?
Per the College's published commitment, Conn is 'committed to meeting up to 100% of a student's need based financial aid eligibility.' Demonstrated need is calculated using the CSS Profile and FAFSA — both required.
What is the Conn College 'comprehensive fee'?
A single bundled price covering tuition and fees, housing, food, special programs, some course-related travel, and study away. The bundling makes side-by-side cost comparisons with schools that quote tuition separately from room and board easy to misread.
How does Connecticut College handle outside scholarships?
The public financial aid pages do not document a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy. Families with material outside awards should request a written package preview from Financial Aid Services (finaid@conncoll.edu) before depositing.
See sources and other schools
Sources used on this page
Every claim is checked against Conn College’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
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