Skip to content

City College of New York (CUNY) scholarships and merit aid

The short answer

City College of New York (CUNY) awards automatic merit on admission. City College of New York (CUNY) does not publish a GPA or test chart, so you cannot self-calculate the dollars.

Where does your student land?

Verified Jul 2026
5 school sources to explore

Published rules, with the school sources close at hand. Confirm the details before you count on an award.

Step 1 of comparing your list

Check the rules that could cut this.

Check City College of New York (CUNY) free in 30 seconds. Then see how it ranks against the rest of your list.

Checking merit aid at City College of New York (CUNY)

We’ll email you this result and a few short merit-aid pointers. We store score ranges only, never your student’s name. Unsubscribe anytime. See our privacy policy.

The award collection

Published scholarships

These amounts and requirements come from the school’s own published pages. Open an award to see who qualifies and how to keep it.

Where does your student land?

  1. Macaulay Honors College — Tuition ScholarshipFull tuition for New York State residents (fees and expenses not covered)Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Macaulay Honors College — Tuition Scholarship

    Full tuition for New York State residents (fees and expenses not covered)

    Published coverage or packageNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Macaulay Honors College — Tuition Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Admission to the Macaulay Honors College (selective; separate honors admission). Tuition scholarship available only to New York State residents as defined by CUNY; must complete the FAFSA and a NYS TAP application.

    How to keep it

    Covers four years of undergraduate study; also covers a limited number of summer/winter classes between the start of year one and the end of the 8th semester. Does not include fees. Renewal/GPA terms are set by Macaulay and not stated on this page.

    Worth knowing

    This is the single largest merit award available through CCNY, but it is gated on competitive Macaulay admission, not on a published GPA/test cutoff. Non-NY-residents do not get the tuition scholarship. The package also includes a Cultural Passport and access to the Opportunities Fund (study abroad / internships / experiential learning).

  2. Peter F. Vallone Academic Scholarship Program$700 per year ($350 per semester)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Peter F. Vallone Academic Scholarship Program

    $700 per year ($350 per semester)

    Published award termsAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    Graduate from a NYC high school with at least an 80 (B) GPA; maintain at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA in college
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Peter F. Vallone Academic Scholarship Program

    Who qualifies

    US Citizen / Eligible Non-Citizen; resident of New York City; enroll at a CUNY college full-time within one year of graduating high school; attend CUNY before any other postsecondary institution

    How to keep it

    Must maintain continuous full-time (12 credits) enrollment within CUNY and a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0, calculated once a year at the end of the Spring semester. Maximum 6 semesters for an associate degree, 8 semesters for a bachelor's degree.

    Worth knowing

    Genuinely automatic merit award — no separate application; students are considered when they apply for admission to CUNY. State-funded NYC residency award (administered system-wide), not a CCNY-specific competitive scholarship. The 80(B) requirement is a high-school admission threshold, not a stat that scales the amount.

  3. Tuschman Family Scholarship (Ambassador Program)$5k per year over four yearsNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Tuschman Family Scholarship (Ambassador Program)

    $5k per year over four years

    Published award termsNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Tuschman Family Scholarship (Ambassador Program)

    Who qualifies

    Promising incoming students with financial need who can serve the college as admissions ambassadors. Not pure merit — financial need is a stated criterion and there is a service requirement.

    How to keep it

    Described as '$5k per year over the course of 4 years.' Service obligation as an admissions ambassador; specific renewal GPA not stated on the page.

    Worth knowing

    Mixed merit/need plus a service obligation. Incoming students submit an interest form after being admitted to CCNY. Note the general admissions-scholarship eligibility rules: submit FAFSA and TAP each year, enroll in at least 12 credits/semester, and students already receiving Excelsior or other 'last-dollar' awards are NOT eligible for additional admissions scholarships.

  4. Grove School of Engineering (GSOE) Merit Scholarship$6,000 total, paid over three years ($1,000 year 1, $2,000 year 2, $3,000 year 3)Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Grove School of Engineering (GSOE) Merit Scholarship

    $6,000 total, paid over three years ($1,000 year 1, $2,000 year 2, $3,000 year 3)

    Published award termsNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    Maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 at the end of each academic semester
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Grove School of Engineering (GSOE) Merit Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Matriculated undergraduate in a Grove School of Engineering major; recipient must accept the offer by the stated deadline

    How to keep it

    Must maintain full-time enrollment (minimum 12 credits) as a matriculated GSOE-major undergraduate making satisfactory progress, with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 at the end of each semester. Funding is forfeited for withdrawing from a semester, dropping below full-time, or taking a semester off (absent an approved medical/family emergency), and for academic-integrity or disciplinary violations.

    Worth knowing

    Small departmental award structured to escalate each year ($1,000 → $2,000 → $3,000). The 2025 cycle required accepting the offer by Friday, October 3, 2025, 11:59 PM EST — a fixed acceptance deadline that, if missed, forfeits the award. Engineering applicants should confirm the current-year version of this scholarship and its acceptance deadline.

  5. City College Honors ProgramAmount not published (priority registration, intensive mentoring, and 'scholarship')Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    City College Honors Program

    Amount not published (priority registration, intensive mentoring, and 'scholarship')

    Published award termsNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for City College Honors Program

    Who qualifies

    High-achieving students across all disciplines; selective honors admission

    How to keep it

    No renewal terms published; no dollar amount published.

    Worth knowing

    The official page lists the benefit only as 'scholarship' alongside priority registration and intensive mentoring; it does NOT publish a dollar figure. Treated as a benefit/honors track rather than a quantified merit award — ask the honors office for the actual stipend/scholarship dollar value.

  6. City College of New York Scholarship Program (general institutional awards)Varies — amounts not publishedNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    City College of New York Scholarship Program (general institutional awards)

    Varies — amounts not published

    Variable or qualified amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for City College of New York Scholarship Program (general institutional awards)

    Who qualifies

    Open to entering freshmen, transfer and continuing students; selection criteria may include academic performance, test scores, creative promise, financial need, campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities, or leadership

    How to keep it

    No amounts, GPA cutoffs, or renewal terms published on the catalog page.

    Worth knowing

    This is an umbrella description of a pool of institutional scholarships, not a single named award. No dollar amounts are published; selection mixes merit and need. Named awards listed on the admissions-scholarships page (Olinger Lindner, Nurick Lester, Tashlick, Rosenthal Walnick, Weiss, Epstein, plus high-school-specific awards such as Jack Feinstein/Brooklyn Tech, Celia Portnoy/Stuyvesant, Brodsky/Bronx Science) likewise publish NO dollar amounts.

Lights up against City College of New York (CUNY)'s published cutoffs. Not an award offer; confirm with the financial aid office.

This page covers one school.

Your playbook does this for every school on your list, sorted by what you’d pay.

Ready in under 10 minutes. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Get my playbook$79
  • Secure payment through Stripe
  • “it told me what to ask and what the renewal GPA looked like, which I was not going to find on my own”Melissa

The fine print

Renewal rulePeter F. Vallone Academic Scholarship Program: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out

Must maintain continuous full-time (12 credits) enrollment within CUNY and a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0, calculated once a year at the end of the Spring semester. Maximum 6 semesters for an associate degree, 8 semesters for a bachelor's degree. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

What makes City College of New York (CUNY) different

CCNY is a low-cost public CUNY campus where the biggest merit play is admission to the Macaulay Honors College (full New York State resident tuition for four years); most other named institutional awards are small or unpublished in dollars, and pure-merit auto-awards are limited to the $700/yr Peter F. Vallone Academic Scholarship.

Merit tiers61 based on grades or scores
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

More than one award path

Separate the two paths.

Some awards use published academic thresholds. Others have different selection criteria. A score chart does not describe every award at this school.

  1. Match the published criteria

    Use all requirements together, including residency and the entering class.

  2. Check the application dates

    Confirm the current admission and scholarship deadlines directly with the school.

  3. Know what happens next year

    Check renewal, credit requirements and how other aid affects the award.

The fine print / Three questions to carry forward

Before you count on it.

Does it apply to us? Confirm the entering year, residency and every eligibility condition.

Can we keep it? Check renewal GPA, credits and how long the award lasts.

Can we combine it? Ask how outside scholarships and other school awards change the offer.

Take City College of New York (CUNY)'s decision sheet

A printable research summary, source links and room for your questions.

See what could change an award

What families often miss

  1. The Macaulay tuition scholarship covers tuition only and explicitly excludes fees and expenses. You still owe the student activity fee, technology fee, and consolidated fee, plus living costs, books, and transportation. It is also limited to New York State residents.

  2. CCNY is a low-cost public CUNY campus. Apart from the automatic $700/yr Vallone award, it does NOT publish a stats-based merit scholarship grid — the largest merit money comes from competitive honors admission (Macaulay), not a posted score cutoff.

  3. Tuschman requires financial need AND service as an admissions ambassador. City College Honors publishes no dollar amount at all — its 'scholarship' value is unspecified. Don't budget around numbers the school hasn't published.

  4. CCNY states that students already receiving Excelsior or other 'last-dollar' awards are NOT eligible for additional admissions scholarships.

  5. The Grove (GSOE) $6,000 merit scholarship had to be accepted via a form by a hard date (Oct 3, 2025 for that cycle). Miss the acceptance deadline and the award is forfeited; confirm the current-year deadline.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Cost-sensitive students (especially NYC/NY State residents) who already see CUNY as affordable and want the merit upside concentrated in honors admission (Macaulay full tuition, City College Honors mentoring) rather than a published GPA/test scholarship grid. Strong NYC high-school graduates pick up the automatic $700/yr Vallone award; engineering admits can layer the small Grove (GSOE) merit scholarship.

Cost and graduation facts

Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at City College of New York (CUNY), what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.

Average annual net price by family income at City College of New York (CUNY), academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$1,251
$30,001–$48,000$2,990
$48,001–$75,000$6,811
$75,001–$110,000$9,982
$110,001+$12,806
All income levels (average)$3,776

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Total cost of attendance (sticker), AY 2021-22
$14,403
Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$7,340
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$15,290
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$3,776

That works out to an average 74% discount off the sticker price above — both figures come from the same federal AY 2021-22 Scorecard report, not a number the school itself published.

City College of New York (CUNY) is a public school; Scorecard's net price and cost of attendance figures cover in-state, Title-IV-aid-recipient payers only — there is no comparable federal figure for out-of-state students.

Outcomes for students who enrolled here

Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
57%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
79%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$11,990 (~$127/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$66,039
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
73%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
8%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.

Verified policy language (2026-07-02): Please note that accepting an external scholarship may reduce or replace other forms of financial aid. If your cost of attendance has not been fully met, the scholarship will likely have little or no impact on your aid package. However, if your accepted aid already equals your demonstrated need, we will adjust your aid package—typically by reducing loans or federal work-study—by the amount of the scholarship. If necessary, we may also reduce gift aid to ensure that your total aid, including the scholarship, does not exceed your cost of attendance.

Source

Other City College of New York (CUNY) scholarships worth checking

These awards can be harder to find. Each one has its own rules.

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityListed among CCNY admissions scholarships; criteria not detailed on the public page.

No dollar amounts published; require submitting an interest form after admission. Confirm amounts with the scholarship office.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityGraduates of specific NYC specialized high schools.

Described without dollar amounts. Pipeline awards tied to specific feeder high schools.

Source

City College of New York (CUNY) merit aid FAQ

  • Does CCNY give automatic merit scholarships based on GPA or test scores?

    Largely no. The one genuinely automatic award is the Peter F. Vallone Academic Scholarship ($700/year, $350/semester) — no separate application, you're considered when you apply to CUNY — and it requires a NYC high-school 80(B) GPA, NYC residency, and a maintained 3.0 GPA. The biggest merit money comes from competitive admission to the Macaulay Honors College (full NY-resident tuition), not from a posted stats grid.

  • What's the largest merit award and who gets it?

    The Macaulay Honors College tuition scholarship, which covers full tuition (fees and expenses excluded) for four years for New York State residents admitted to Macaulay. It's gated on selective honors admission, not a published GPA/test cutoff.

  • Do I have to apply separately for CCNY scholarships?

    The Vallone award is automatic. For CCNY admissions scholarships (Tuschman and the named/high-school awards), you submit an interest form after you've been admitted, then accept your admission offer by the listed date, and you must submit FAFSA and TAP each year and enroll in at least 12 credits per semester to keep the award.

  • Can I stack CCNY scholarships with an outside award or Excelsior?

    CCNY publishes no general outside-scholarship displacement formula. It does state that if you already receive Excelsior or another 'last-dollar' award, you are not eligible for additional admissions scholarships. Confirm with the financial aid office how a private outside scholarship affects your specific package.

See sources and other schools

How City College of New York (CUNY) compares

  • 235 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.

    City College of New York (CUNY) is in a recognizable cluster (235 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.

    City College of New York (CUNY) is one of them. The cohort minority (84 schools) only awards one-year scholarships, which means the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.

Sources used on this page

Every claim is checked against City College of New York (CUNY)’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring City College of New York (CUNY) merit aid

The next chapter

Where does City College of New York (CUNY) fit in your plan?

You have the school’s rules. Now put them in the context of your student and the rest of your list.

  1. Check your student’s numbers, free
  2. Explore another school
  3. See how the research becomes a plan

Ready to work through your whole list? Get my playbook

Inside the sample

Jordan’s playbook

Same student.
Four schools.
Four very different bills.

An illustrative student profile, with a school order, scholarship research and a to-do list. Open the sample to see how it works.

Open the sample playbook