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State University of New York at Fredonia · New York

SUNY Fredonia scholarships and merit aid

SUNY Fredonia awards a published, fully automatic high-school-average merit grid — $2,000-$5,000/year (President's Award of Excellence, Fredonia Scholar, True Blue Scholar) — but every award is residency-tied and targets non-tuition costs, not the already-low $7,070 NY-resident tuition.

Verified Jul 20262 months ago

The short answer

Is SUNY Fredonia worth a closer look?

SUNY Fredonia is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 9 published awards, and 4 are based on those numbers.

Merit tiers94 based on grades or scores
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

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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.

$5,000/year

President's Award of Excellence

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
GPA
95+ high school average
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

Must live on campus (campus residency requirement = Yes); targeted to non-tuition expenses

How to keep it

Renewable for up to 4 years; requires a 3.0 GPA for renewal and continued campus residency.

Notes

Automatic — students do not apply separately; recipients are notified on a rolling basis from time of acceptance until May 1. The award supports 'non-tuition' costs (fees, room and board, books, personal, travel), not tuition itself. Deposit deadline: May 1 for Fall, Dec 1 for Spring.

Source

$4,000/year

Fredonia Scholar Award

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
GPA
90-94 high school average
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

Must live on campus (campus residency requirement = Yes); targeted to non-tuition expenses

How to keep it

Renewable for up to 4 years; requires a 2.8 GPA for renewal and continued campus residency.

Notes

Automatic on the high-school-average grid — no separate application. Targets non-tuition costs. Deposit deadline: May 1 for Fall, Dec 1 for Spring.

Source

$2,000/year

True Blue Scholar Award

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
GPA
80-89 high school average
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

Must live on campus (campus residency requirement = Yes); targeted to non-tuition expenses

How to keep it

Renewable for up to 4 years; requires a 2.8 GPA for renewal and continued campus residency.

Notes

Automatic on the high-school-average grid — no separate application. Lowest tier of the three-tier merit grid. Deposit deadline: May 1 for Fall, Dec 1 for Spring.

Source

$10,000/year

Yunghans-Mirabelli Science Achievement Award

Apply separatelyCan continue
GPA
Renewal: 3.25 GPA
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

High-achieving student majoring in biology; entering as a first-year student in the Fall

How to keep it

Renewable up to three additional years for a full-time student maintaining a 3.25 GPA.

Notes

Largest single named award found. Biology majors only; awarded to a high-achieving incoming first-year student (selective — page says 'for a high achieving student'). Considered automatically through the admission application; no separate scholarship application referenced.

Source

$5,000

Kelly Family Scholarship Endowment

Apply separatelyCan continue
GPA
Renewal: 3.25 GPA
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

Biology or chemistry major; entering as a first-year student in the Fall; offered to a limited number of students

How to keep it

May be renewable up to three additional years for a full-time student maintaining a 3.25 GPA.

Notes

Departmental science award for biology/chemistry majors. Page wording is hedged ('is may be renewable').

Source

$1,000

James J. Kaminski Scholarship Endowment

Apply separatelyCan continue
GPA
Renewal: 3.25 GPA
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

Chemistry major; entering as a first-year student in the Fall; offered to a limited number of students

How to keep it

May be renewable up to three additional years for a full-time student maintaining a 3.25 GPA.

Notes

Departmental chemistry award.

Source

$5,000

Dennis and Jan Hefner Presidential Scholarship

Apply separatelyCan continue
GPA
Renewal: 3.0 GPA
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

Academically high achieving WITH high financial need (Pell eligible); entering as a first-year student in the Fall

How to keep it

Renewable for up to three additional years provided the student remains full-time and maintains at least a 3.0 GPA.

Notes

Merit-plus-need hybrid: requires both high achievement and Pell eligibility. Not pure merit — flagged because eligibility is gated on financial need.

Source

$1,500 one-time…$1,500 one-time ($375 over four semesters)

Honors Program Scholarship

Apply separately
GPA
92+ high school average (first-year invitation threshold); 3.3 cumulative GPA to maintain Honors
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

Requires completing the Honors application including a multimedia response to a prompt; new first-year and new transfer applicants only

Notes

NOT automatic — an application/essay is required. First-year applicants with a 92+ HS average are invited to apply. Honors also gives priority course registration. Suggested deadline: Tuesday, February 17, 2026 (by 11:59 p.m.).

Source

$2,000/year

Fredonia Transfer Scholar Award

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
GPA
3.0 GPA with at least 12 credits from an accredited college
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

Full-time enrollment; must live in university housing; annual FAFSA (and TAP for NY residents)

How to keep it

Maximum 3 years of eligibility; must maintain a minimum 2.8 GPA to retain the award and continue residing in university housing.

Notes

For incoming TRANSFER students (not first-year). Automatic on transfer GPA/credits. Deadline: June 1 for Fall, December 1 for Spring.

Source

See what could change an award

Rules that could change the answer

These are the rules we would flag for your family. Each comes from SUNY Fredonia's published information.

  • Renewal ruleYunghans-Mirabelli Science Achievement Award: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out

    Renewable up to three additional years for a full-time student maintaining a 3.25 GPA. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

  • Outside awardsNo published displacement order

    SUNY Fredonia'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 families often miss

  1. Fredonia's awards are explicitly 'targeted to support non-tuition related expenses' — fees, room and board, books, personal and travel. NY-resident tuition is already only $7,070; the scholarship money is aimed at the room-and-board side, not tuition.

  2. Every tier of the merit grid (President's, Fredonia Scholar, True Blue) and the Transfer Scholar Award carries a 'Campus Residency Requirement: Yes.' Moving off campus can cost you the scholarship.

  3. Renewal GPAs differ by award: President's Award needs a 3.0, Fredonia Scholar and True Blue need a 2.8, the science awards (Yunghans-Mirabelli, Kelly, Kaminski) need a 3.25, and the Hefner needs a 3.0. The grid is automatic at entry on your high-school average, but renewal is on your college GPA.

  4. The merit grid is automatic on your high-school average, but the Honors Scholarship requires a separate Honors application with a multimedia response, with a suggested deadline of Feb 17, 2026 — and it's a one-time $1,500 spread over four semesters, not an annual award.

  5. The Dennis and Jan Hefner Presidential Scholarship requires high financial need (Pell eligible) in addition to high achievement — a strong record alone won't qualify you.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

In-state (and price-sensitive out-of-state) students with an 80+ high-school average who plan to live on campus all four years; the merit grid is automatic on GPA, so it rewards solid-but-not-elite records, and biology/chemistry majors can stack a large departmental science award on top.

Published yearly cost: Approximately $24,825 for 2025-2026. Source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at SUNY Fredonia, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$9,395
$30,001–$48,000$11,327
$48,001–$75,000$16,116
$75,001–$110,000$16,302
$110,001+$20,743
All income levels (average)$15,897

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$8,831
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$19,771
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$15,897

That works out to roughly a 39% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $25,879 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

SUNY Fredonia 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
50%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
76%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$24,250 (~$257/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$54,247
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
41%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
72%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

No published institutional policy was found describing how outside (third-party) scholarships displace Fredonia's own merit awards. The one displacement rule that IS published concerns the NY Excelsior Scholarship: it is a 'last dollar' award, so all federal, state, and institutional grants/scholarships reduce the Excelsior amount. Treat outside-award displacement of the Fredonia merit grid as unconfirmed.

Fredonia's merit awards are explicitly targeted at NON-tuition costs (fees, room and board, books, personal, travel). Because they are aimed at non-tuition expenses rather than tuition, they may sit alongside need-based and tuition-focused aid, but the financial-aid pages do not state an outside-scholarship displacement rule for the institutional merit awards. The Excelsior 'last dollar' interaction is the only published displacement mechanic, and it reduces Excelsior (a tuition award), not the merit grid.

Source

Other SUNY Fredonia scholarships worth checking

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

AmountVariesEligibilityReturning and continuing students; matched by major, department, and donor criteria through the FREDscholar / Scholarship Universe matching system.

Foundation-funded named scholarships are largely for returning students and require matching/applying through FREDscholar; amounts and criteria vary by fund.

Source

AmountUp to the cost of tuition ($7,070)EligibilityEligible NY State residents meeting income and academic-progress requirements.

State 'last dollar' tuition award — NOT a Fredonia merit award. All other federal/state/institutional grants and scholarships reduce the Excelsior amount.

Source

SUNY Fredonia merit aid FAQ

  • Do I have to apply for the main Fredonia merit scholarships?

    No. The President's Award of Excellence, Fredonia Scholar Award, and True Blue Scholar Award are awarded automatically based on your high-school average through the admission application; recipients are notified on a rolling basis from acceptance until May 1. The Honors Scholarship is the exception — it requires a separate Honors application and essay.

  • What high-school average do I need for each award?

    95+ average earns the $5,000/year President's Award of Excellence, 90-94 earns the $4,000/year Fredonia Scholar Award, and 80-89 earns the $2,000/year True Blue Scholar Award. A 92+ average gets you an invitation to apply to the Honors Program.

  • What's the deadline?

    First-year merit recipients are notified from acceptance until May 1; the enrollment-deposit deadline is May 1 for Fall (Dec 1 for Spring). Transfers: June 1 for Fall, Dec 1 for Spring. The Honors application has a suggested deadline of Tuesday, February 17, 2026.

  • Will an outside scholarship reduce my Fredonia award?

    Fredonia does not publish a clear outside-scholarship displacement policy for its institutional merit awards. The one published rule is that the NY Excelsior Scholarship is a 'last dollar' award, so other grants and scholarships reduce Excelsior. Confirm displacement of your specific merit award with the financial-aid office before counting on stacking.

See sources and other schools

How SUNY Fredonia compares

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

    SUNY Fredonia 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.

    SUNY Fredonia 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.

    SUNY Fredonia 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 SUNY Fredonia’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring SUNY Fredonia merit aid