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College of Staten Island scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$6,930per year · 2025-2026 · cost of attendance
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

College of Staten Island may be worth checking, but its awards do not follow a simple grades-and-scores chart. Start with the published scholarships below.

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.

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. CSI Scholarship (single annual application — all institutional awards)Varies — amounts not publishedNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    CSI Scholarship (single annual application — all 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.

    GPA
    Minimum 3.0 GPA (some exceptions); matriculated students only; Macaulay Honors College students excluded
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for CSI Scholarship (single annual application — all institutional awards)

    Who qualifies

    One application per year; the scholarship office automatically considers the applicant for every scholarship for which they are eligible. Scored by a Faculty Review Committee on academic merit and College/community service, also weighing financial need.

    How to keep it

    Renewal terms are not published on the scholarship pages. Most named awards are described as endowed funds where 'the available balance is awarded each year,' so amounts vary by fund and year.

    Worth knowing

    This is the central pathway for CSI institutional scholarships and is NOT a stats-automatic award — it is a competitive, faculty-reviewed application that explicitly blends merit, service, and need. Categories include Nursing, Engineering, Business, International Travel/Study Abroad, and General Academic Excellence. No per-award dollar amounts are published. Deadline: last business day of February (next cycle opens October 2026).

  2. Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship$7,500, $9,000 and $10,000 over three years, plus a $2,000 Discovery FundNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship

    $7,500, $9,000 and $10,000 over three years, plus a $2,000 Discovery Fund

    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 Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship

    Who qualifies

    Undergraduates with at least four full-time semesters of academic work remaining; U.S. citizens or permanent residents no older than 21; competitive selection.

    How to keep it

    Three-year fellowship; stipend escalates each year ($7,500 / $9,000 / $10,000) contingent on continued participation.

    Worth knowing

    A competitive, application-and-nomination fellowship administered through CSI (not an automatic award). Funds career-building summer internships. Next cycle Fall 2026; contact Michele Callahan, michele.callahan@csi.cuny.edu.

  3. CUNY Pipeline Program (CSI participants)Stipends totaling $6,000Not automatic
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    CUNY Pipeline Program (CSI participants)

    Stipends totaling $6,000

    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.

    Open award details for CUNY Pipeline Program (CSI participants)

    Who qualifies

    Undergraduates from underrepresented groups pursuing Ph.D.s and college-level teaching; competitive selection.

    Renewal terms

    Program-bounded stipend, not a renewable annual scholarship.

    Worth knowing

    A research-pathway stipend (graduate-prep), not a tuition merit scholarship. Listed among the Verrazzano School grant opportunities; administered via the CUNY Graduate Center.

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The fine print

Outside awardsNo published displacement order

College of Staten Island's policy doesn't specify whether outside scholarships hit loans, grants, or only the COA ceiling. Get a written aid-office answer before chasing private awards.

What makes College of Staten Island different

CSI is a low-cost CUNY senior college (~$6,930/yr resident tuition) with essentially NO automatic stats-based merit award — every institutional scholarship flows through one annual, faculty-reviewed CSI Scholarship application that blends academic merit, service, and financial need.

Merit tiers3See who qualifies
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

Selection beyond grades and scores

Start with the selection process.

These awards are not recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read each award's selection rules, application steps and dates. Meeting a minimum is not an award offer.

  1. Read the selection rules

    Look for the school's stated criteria and whether an additional application is needed.

  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 College of Staten Island's decision sheet

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

See what could change an award

Straight from the aid office

What College of Staten Island's aid office says

Per the Office of Student Financial Aid, College of Staten Island (CUNY), August 2026. How we verify

CSI Scholarship inquiries contact

Who should I contact with questions about the CSI Scholarship?

Questions about the CSI Scholarship should be directed to the college's Scholarship Office.

“If you have questions about the CSI Scholarship, please reach out to our Scholarship Office”
FAFSA/TAP filing help

How can I get help completing my FAFSA/TAP application?

Students needing help completing the FAFSA/TAP application can sign up for the Filing Lab to work with a representative from the office.

“Need help completing your FAFSA/TAP Application? Please sign up for out Filing Lab, where you can complete the application with a representative from our Office.”
CSI FAFSA school code

What is CSI's school code for the FAFSA application?

The FAFSA application should be completed using CSI school code 002698.

“Complete FAFSA Application - CSI school code 002698; Entrance Counseling, Sign electronic Master Promissory Note (e-MPN), Exit Counseling at www.studentaid.gov”
CSI TAP/Excelsior school code

What is CSI's school code for the NYS TAP or Excelsior application?

The NYS TAP or Excelsior Application should be completed using CSI school code 1417.

“Complete NYS TAP or Excelsior Application - CSI school code 1417 at www.hesc.ny.gov”

What families often miss

  1. CSI publishes no GPA/SAT merit grid that pays you automatically on admission. Every institutional scholarship runs through one faculty-reviewed CSI Scholarship application that also weighs community service and financial need.

  2. Verrazzano admission carries no automatic dollar award. The honors program's own page tells admitted students they are 'strongly encouraged to submit a CSI Scholarship application' — the money is a separate, competitive process.

  3. The CSI Scholarship application is due the last business day of February each year; the next cycle opens in October 2026. Miss it and you forfeit consideration for the entire pooled set of institutional awards for that year.

  4. Awards are scored on academic merit AND College/community service AND financial need together, so a high GPA alone does not guarantee an award.

  5. Most CSI affordability comes from low CUNY tuition plus NY State TAP and the Excelsior Scholarship (free tuition for residents with family income up to $125,000), not from institutional merit money.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Cost-conscious New York students who want a very low published tuition (CUNY resident rate ~$6,930/yr) and are willing to file one merit-plus-need scholarship application; not a fit for students seeking a guaranteed automatic stats-based merit scholarship.

Published yearly cost: Approximately $6,930 for 2025-2026. Source

Cost and graduation facts

Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at College of Staten Island, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.

Average annual net price by family income at College of Staten Island, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$3,903
$30,001–$48,000$4,473
$48,001–$75,000$7,364
$75,001–$110,000$9,923
$110,001+$13,444
All income levels (average)$5,579

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$7,490
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$15,440
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$5,579

That works out to roughly a 62% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $14,795 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

College of Staten Island is a public school; Scorecard's net price figure covers 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
34%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
76%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$14,350 (~$152/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$53,501
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
62%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
10%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

No outside-scholarship displacement or stacking policy is published on CSI's financial-aid pages. The Office of Student Financial Aid page describes federal, NY State, and Excelsior aid but says nothing about how an outside scholarship reduces or coordinates with institutional aid.

CSI's financial-aid page does not state whether a third-party outside scholarship displaces grant, loan, or institutional aid, nor the order of reduction. Because CSI/CUNY institutional awards are largely need- and review-based rather than automatic merit grids, the standard CUNY over-award/packaging rules likely apply — but no public CSI page states this. A family with an outside award must ask the aid office directly.

Source

Other College of Staten Island scholarships worth checking

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

AmountStipends totaling $2,000EligibilityFirst- or second-year undergraduates who are U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or eligible for full-time off-campus internships.

Two-year fellowship with career workshops and internship access; competitive, not automatic. Next cycle Fall 2026.

Source

Amount$500 (summer/winter CSI-sponsored program) or $1,000 (semester-long CSI-sponsored program)EligibilityVerrazzano School Honors Program members in good standing for at least two semesters who complete their yearly VELA and community-service requirements.

One-time award; tied to a CSI-sponsored study-abroad program, not a general merit scholarship.

Source

AmountUp to $1,000EligibilityBaccalaureate (or associate continuing to baccalaureate) students proposing future-oriented faculty-guided research.

Competitive research stipend (applied late fall for spring funding); not a tuition merit award.

Source

College of Staten Island merit aid FAQ

  • Does CSI give automatic merit scholarships to freshmen?

    No. There is no published automatic stats-based merit grid. All institutional scholarships are awarded through one annual CSI Scholarship application reviewed by a Faculty Review Committee that weighs academic merit, College/community service, and financial need.

  • When is the CSI scholarship deadline?

    The CSI Scholarship application is due the last business day of February each year. The next application cycle is expected to open in October 2026.

  • What GPA do I need to be considered?

    A minimum 3.0 GPA (with some exceptions). Applicants must be matriculated; Macaulay Honors College students are excluded from this scholarship pool.

  • Does getting into the Verrazzano School come with money?

    Not automatically. Verrazzano admission has no dollar award; admitted students are encouraged to file the separate CSI Scholarship application. Verrazzano does offer small study-abroad scholarships ($500/$1,000) and research stipends (up to $1,000).

  • How does an outside scholarship affect my CSI aid?

    CSI does not publish an outside-scholarship displacement policy. Confirm directly with the Office of Student Financial Aid how a private award is packaged before you count on it.

See sources and other schools

How College of Staten Island compares

  • 133 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.

    College of Staten Island is in a recognizable cluster (133 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 133 of 749 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.

    College of Staten Island is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.

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

    College of Staten Island 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 College of Staten Island’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring College of Staten Island merit aid

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