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?
Presidential Scholars AwardFixed annual award plus a $2,500 Enrichment AwardAutomaticRenewable
Published awardAcademic thresholds
Presidential Scholars Award
Fixed annual award plus a $2,500 Enrichment Award
Published award termsAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.
Start with the award’s published eligibility.
RenewableCheck the conditions
Open award details for Presidential Scholars Award
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.
Worth knowing
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.
Published award termsAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.
Start with the award’s published eligibility.
RenewableCheck the conditions
Open award details for Academic Excellence Scholarship
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.
Published award termsAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.
Start with the award’s published eligibility.
RenewableCheck the conditions
Open award details for STEM Scholarship
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.
Published award termsAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.
Start with the award’s published eligibility.
RenewableCheck the conditions
Open award details for UConn Award
Who qualifies
Automatic consideration with a very competitive high school academic average.
How to keep it
Renewable for four years.
Stamps ScholarshipFull cost of attendance plus a $12,000 enrichment awardNot automaticRenewable
Published awardOther selection criteria
Stamps Scholarship
Full cost of attendance plus a $12,000 enrichment award
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 Stamps Scholarship
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.
Worth knowing
UConn's largest single individual award. The $12,000 enrichment can fund research, study abroad, or leadership development on top of full COA.
Nutmeg ScholarshipFull Scholarship (Includes direct and indirect cost of attendance)Not automaticRenewable
Published awardOther selection criteria
Nutmeg Scholarship
Full Scholarship (Includes direct and indirect cost of attendance)
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 Nutmeg Scholarship
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.
Day of Pride ScholarshipFull Scholarship (Includes direct and indirect cost of attendance)Not automaticRenewable
Published awardOther selection criteria
Day of Pride Scholarship
Full Scholarship (Includes direct and indirect cost of attendance)
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 Day of Pride Scholarship
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.
Worth knowing
Distinct from need-based aid because it covers full direct + indirect COA, while typical need-based aid does not.
Lights up against UConn's published cutoffs. Not an award offer; confirm with the financial aid office. Award terms and residency rules change; some awards differ for in-state and out-of-state students. Always confirm at the school’s source page.
Free Merit Check
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The free Merit Check shows which UConn award your student's numbers reach, and the rules that could change it. About 30 seconds.
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What makes UConn different
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.
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
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.
Match the published criteria
Use all requirements together, including residency and the entering class.
Check the application dates
Confirm the current admission and scholarship deadlines directly with the school.
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.
A printable research summary, source links and room for your questions.
See what could change an award+
Straight from the aid office
What UConn's aid office says
Per the ONE STOP STUDENT SERVICES, University of Connecticut, August 2026. How we verify
Combining Merit Scholarships with other aid
Can a merit scholarship be combined with other aid like departmental or honors program money?
Merit Scholarships can be combined with other aid.
“Yes, Merit Scholarships can be combined with other aid.”
Effect of outside/private scholarships
If he wins a small outside scholarship, does that lower loans or lower UConn's own award?
An outside/private scholarship will be applied to the aid package and may lower loans, depending on what other aid is awarded.
“If he receives outside/private scholarship it will be applied. It may lower loans, depending on what other aid is awarded.”
Basis for Merit Scholarship eligibility
What determines whether a student gets a Merit Scholarship?
Merit Scholarships are not determined by GPA alone; the Admissions Counselor reviews the entire application to determine eligibility.
“Merit Scholarships are not just determined by GPA. The Admissions Counselor will review the entire application documents to determine if the student is eligible for a Merit.”
Requirements to keep the scholarship
What GPA or requirements are needed to keep a merit scholarship after freshman year?
There are requirements the student needs to meet to keep the Merit Scholarship.
“There are requirements he needs to meet to keep it.”
What families often miss
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.
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.
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
$44K
$17K
In-state, on-campus$44,230
$22K
$17K
Tuition & fees
Housing & food
Books
Travel
Personal
Loan fees
Tuition & fees combines tuition plus university/student fees.
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 income
Average 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.
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, Common Data Set 2024-2025 (school-estimated)
Average merit award$12,975Across recipients, Common Data Set 2024-2025 (school-estimated)
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.
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
145 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.
UConn is in a recognizable cluster (145 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.
UConn 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 UConn’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
