Hartford liberal-arts college with a three-tier published merit ladder — Presidential (full tuition), Bicentennial (half tuition), and 1823 (varies) — all renewable for four years. Distinct from Trinity University in San Antonio.
Verified Jul 20262 months ago· CC-1
The short answer
Is Trinity Hartford worth a closer look?
Trinity Hartford may be worth checking, but its awards do not follow a simple grades-and-scores chart. Start with the published scholarships below.
Merit tiers3See who qualifies
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.
Full tuition
Presidential Scholarship
Apply separatelyCan continue
See who qualifies+
Who qualifies
Trinity's highest merit honor, 'awarded to outstanding incoming students who embody academic excellence and exemplary leadership.' Competitive — not stat-driven automatic.
How to keep it
Renewable for up to four years of undergraduate education at Trinity.
Notes
At full tuition ($72,820 for 2026-27), this is one of the most generous LAC merit awards on a per-recipient basis. No published dollar cap separates this from other tiers — it's strictly tuition coverage.
Recognizes students who 'enrich Trinity through their diverse talents, perspectives, and achievements.' Variable-amount competitive award.
How to keep it
Renewable for up to four years.
Notes
Trinity's broadest competitive merit award — used to recognize a wider pool of applicants at smaller individual dollar amounts than the Presidential/Bicentennial tiers.
The two schools have similar names but completely different aid structures. Trinity in Texas runs a stat-driven automatic merit ladder. Trinity in Connecticut runs a three-tier competitive ladder — Presidential, Bicentennial, 1823. Applying based on the wrong school's policies leads to mis-modeled net price.
Trinity's Presidential covers TUITION only ($72,820/year), not the full $96,480 cost of attendance. Recipients still owe the $13,150 room + $7,180 meal plan + fees out of pocket or through other aid sources every year.
The Hillel Leadership Scholarship and Lincoln Award (Illinois) can layer on top of need-based aid. Eligible applicants who don't explicitly raise these awards in their financial aid conversation often miss them entirely — they're not awarded automatically without applicant signal.
See costs and school data+
Who this school may work for
Strong students who want a small New England LAC and can secure a Presidential or Bicentennial award to close the gap on Trinity's $96K+ cost of attendance. Particularly attractive for affinity scholarship candidates (Hillel Leadership, Lincoln Award for Illinois residents).
Cost of attendance$96,480 for 2026-27Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
On-campus$96,480
$76K
$20K
Tuition & fees
Housing & food
Source publishes billed charges only (tuition, fees, standard room, first-year meal plan); no books/personal/travel allowance is published, so the breakdown reflects direct billed costs that sum to the published total.
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Trinity Hartford, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at Trinity Hartford, academic year 2021-22
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$11,054
$30,001–$48,000
$13,599
$48,001–$75,000
$18,325
$75,001–$110,000
$24,369
$110,001+
$48,515
All income levels (average)
$34,832
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$70,770
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$34,832
That works out to roughly a 60% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $87,840 (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
84%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
90%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$23,000 (~$244/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$90,779
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
13%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
33%
See other scholarships and cost examples+
Other Trinity Hartford scholarships worth checking
These awards can be harder to find. Each one has its own rules.
AmountAmount not publicly disclosedEligibilityAffinity merit award for incoming students with demonstrated Jewish leadership involvement.
Does Trinity College in Hartford offer merit scholarships?
Yes. Trinity publishes a three-tier competitive merit ladder: Presidential (full tuition), Bicentennial (half tuition), and 1823 (amount varies). All three are renewable for up to four years of undergraduate education.
Are Trinity College's merit scholarships automatic based on stats?
No. All three named tiers are competitive merit awards — Trinity describes them in terms of 'academic excellence and exemplary leadership' (Presidential), 'remarkable promise' (Bicentennial), and 'diverse talents' (1823). Selection happens through the admission review without a separate scholarship application.
What does Trinity College's Presidential Scholarship cover?
Full tuition ($72,820 for 2026-27), renewable for up to four years. It does NOT cover the $13,150 standard room, $7,180 first-year meal plan, or roughly $3,300 in fees — recipients still owe roughly $24,000/year out of pocket or through other aid.
How much does Trinity College (Hartford) cost?
$96,480 for 2026-27: tuition $72,820 + general fee $2,900 + activity fee $430 + standard room $13,150 + first-year meal plan $7,180. Books, transportation, personal expenses, and health insurance are additional.
Is this Trinity College in Connecticut or Trinity University in Texas?
This is Trinity COLLEGE in Hartford, Connecticut — a 2,200-student liberal arts college founded in 1823. Trinity UNIVERSITY in San Antonio, Texas is a separate institution with a different merit structure. Confirm the school you're applying to before modeling aid.
See sources and other schools+
How Trinity Hartford compares
667 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Trinity Hartford is one of them. The cohort minority (82 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 Trinity Hartford’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
