Skip to content

University of Connecticut · Connecticut

UConn scholarships and merit aid

Connecticut's flagship public with a deep automatic merit ladder for first-year admits, two CT-only full-cost-of-attendance awards (Nutmeg, Day of Pride), and a Stamps Scholarship that adds $12,000 in enrichment on top of full COA.

Verified Jul 20262 months ago· CC-1

The short answer

Is UConn worth a closer look?

UConn is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 9 published awards, and 6 are based on those numbers.

Merit tiers96 based on grades or scores
First-year students with school awards23%First-year students, CDS 2024-2025 (school-estimated)
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

Free Merit Check

See what UConn's published rules mean for your student. Takes 30 seconds.

Checking merit aid at UConn

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.

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.

Fixed annual award plus a $2,500 En…Fixed annual award plus a $2,500 Enrichment Award

Presidential Scholars Award

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Restricted to Connecticut residents who rank number one or two in their high school graduating class. No separate application — automatic with admission.

How to keep it

Renewable for four years (8 semesters) with continued academic eligibility.

Notes

UConn does not publish the precise dollar amount for the Presidential Scholars Award on its public scholarship page; the figure appears in the admission offer.

Source

Fixed annual amount…Fixed annual amount (not publicly disclosed)

Academic Excellence Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Automatic consideration with admission for students with a very competitive high school academic average. Open to in-state and out-of-state applicants.

How to keep it

Renewable for four years with continued academic eligibility.

Source

Fixed annual amount…Fixed annual amount (not publicly disclosed)

Husky Achievement Award

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Automatic consideration with admission for students with a very competitive high school academic average.

How to keep it

Renewable for four years.

Source

Fixed annual amount…Fixed annual amount (not publicly disclosed)

Leadership Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Very competitive academic profile plus demonstrated commitment to opportunity, access, and growth programs.

How to keep it

Renewable for four years.

Source

Fixed annual amount…Fixed annual amount (not publicly disclosed)

STEM Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Storrs campus, in-state or out-of-state. Requires a very competitive academic average, declared STEM major, and extraordinary involvement in a STEM field.

How to keep it

Renewable for four years.

Source

Fixed annual amount…Fixed annual amount (not publicly disclosed)

UConn Award

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Automatic consideration with a very competitive high school academic average.

How to keep it

Renewable for four years.

Source

Full cost of attendance plus a…Full cost of attendance plus a $12,000 enrichment award

Stamps Scholarship

Apply separatelyCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Storrs campus only. Requires a supplemental Stamps Scholarship application after admission.

How to keep it

Four-year (eight-semester) award with continued academic and program eligibility.

Notes

UConn's largest single individual award. The $12,000 enrichment can fund research, study abroad, or leadership development on top of full COA.

Source

Full Scholarship…Full Scholarship (Includes direct and indirect cost of attendance)

Nutmeg Scholarship

Apply separatelyCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Connecticut residency, graduation from a Connecticut secondary school, exceptional academic ability. Storrs only; up to ~20 recipients per year.

How to keep it

Renewable per program terms; verify in award letter.

Source

Full Scholarship…Full Scholarship (Includes direct and indirect cost of attendance)

Day of Pride Scholarship

Apply separatelyCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Connecticut resident, proven academic ability, documented financial need. Storrs only; up to ~20 recipients per year.

How to keep it

Renewable per program terms; verify in award letter.

Notes

Distinct from need-based aid because it covers full direct + indirect COA, while typical need-based aid does not.

Source

See what could change an award

What families often miss

  1. Both full-COA awards are explicitly restricted to Connecticut residents who graduated from a Connecticut secondary school. Out-of-state families targeting full-ride UConn aid should focus on the Stamps Scholarship instead, which is the only full-COA award open to non-residents.

  2. Out-of-state tuition ($39,678) plus fees, housing, food, and indirect costs pushes UConn's total to $67,108 for 2026-27 — comparable to many private universities. Without Stamps or a strong automatic award, out-of-state UConn is rarely the cheapest 'public' option.

  3. The Stamps adds $12,000 of enrichment funding on top of full COA — money for research, study abroad, and leadership development that no other UConn award provides. Even strong Storrs applicants should submit the supplemental application; opportunity cost of skipping is high.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Top-of-class Connecticut residents who can win Nutmeg, Day of Pride, or Presidential Scholar money, plus out-of-state and international students with very strong academic records willing to weigh UConn's automatic merit against the $67K out-of-state cost of attendance.

Cost of attendance$44,230–$67,108 for 2026-27Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
Out-of-state, on-campus$67,108
In-state, on-campus$44,230
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Books
  • Travel
  • Personal
  • Loan fees

Tuition & fees combines tuition plus university/student fees.

UConn cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at UConn, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$15,193
$30,001–$48,000$16,339
$48,001–$75,000$20,608
$75,001–$110,000$28,285
$110,001+$33,797
All income levels (average)$25,097

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$21,044
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$43,712
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$25,097

That works out to roughly a 36% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $39,426 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

UConn 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
83%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
92%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$21,500 (~$228/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$73,997
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
25%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
48%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

When total aid (including outside scholarships) exceeds Cost of Attendance or demonstrated need, UConn reduces in this published order: loans first, then work-study, then need-based grants and scholarships. Institutional grant aid is protected until self-help aid is fully removed.

UConn's Office of Student Financial Aid Services publishes the displacement order explicitly. Outside scholarships first replace federal and private loans, then work-study, and only after both of those are exhausted will need-based grants or scholarships be reduced. This is a more student-favorable order than schools that adjust institutional grants first.

Source

More school data

From the UConn Common Data Set 2024-2025 (school-estimated figures):

Merit penetrationHow likely is merit aid here?From UConn’s Common Data Set: the share of first-year students who receive institutional merit and the average dollar amount when they do.
23%of admitsget merit
Average award$12,975Covers ~19% of $67,108 cost of attendance

At UConn, roughly 1 in 4 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $12,975 — about 19% of total cost.

As filed in UConn's CDS Section H2A: of 4,471 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 1,025 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $12,975. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 4,254 of 19,476, averaging $11,802. Athletic awards are excluded per the CDS definition.

The 2024-2025 column is marked "estimated" in the school's own CDS filing — school-projected figures, not final audited counts.

Receive institutional merit23%First-year students, CDS 2024-2025 (school-estimated)
Average merit award$12,975Across recipients, CDS 2024-2025 (school-estimated)

Source: Common Data Set 2024-2025 (verified 2026-07-23)

Other UConn scholarships worth checking

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

AmountFixed annual amount (not publicly disclosed)EligibilityConnecticut residents with competitive academic averages who enroll at one of UConn's regional campuses.

A way for in-state students to receive UConn merit aid while paying lower regional-campus pricing.

Source

AmountFixed annual amounts (not publicly disclosed)EligibilityInternational applicants with exceptional academic achievement and demonstrated leadership.

Three-tier international merit ladder. Renewable for four years.

Source

UConn merit aid FAQ

  • Is UConn's merit aid automatic?

    Yes for the Presidential Scholars Award, Academic Excellence, Husky Achievement, Leadership, STEM, UConn Award, Regional Student Success, and Global Excellence/Distinction/Leader Awards — all are automatic with admission. The Stamps, Nutmeg, and Day of Pride scholarships require a separate application after admission.

  • Why doesn't UConn publish the specific dollar amount for each merit tier?

    UConn's public scholarship page describes the awards qualitatively ('fixed annual amount,' 'very competitive average') without committing to public dollar values. The actual figure appears in the admission offer letter. Families should use the Net Price Calculator to model the package before deposit.

  • What's the difference between the Nutmeg Scholarship and Day of Pride Scholarship at UConn?

    Both cover full direct + indirect cost of attendance for Connecticut residents at Storrs, with roughly 20 recipients each. Nutmeg emphasizes exceptional academic ability; Day of Pride requires documented financial need alongside proven academic ability.

  • How does UConn handle outside scholarships?

    UConn reduces aid in a published order: loans first, then work-study, then need-based grants and scholarships. That means an outside award first eliminates loan debt before it touches any UConn grant — among the most student-friendly displacement orders in public higher ed.

  • What does the Stamps Scholarship at UConn cover?

    Full cost of attendance (direct and indirect) PLUS a $12,000 enrichment award for four years, restricted to Storrs campus students. The enrichment fund is the key differentiator — it pays for research, conferences, study abroad, and leadership programming beyond classroom costs.

See sources and other schools

How UConn compares

  • 147 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.

    UConn is in a recognizable cluster (147 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

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

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

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring UConn merit aid