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Community-college Pell-grant share in New York

Community colleges in New York ranked by Pell-grant share — the percentage of undergraduates who received a federal Pell Grant in the most recent reporting year. Pell share is a useful proxy for the share of the student body from lower-income households and for the institution's experience serving students who depend heavily on need-based federal aid.

  1. Mandl School-The College of Allied HealthNew York, NY86%
  2. Plaza CollegeForest Hills, NY85%
  3. AMG School of NursingBrooklyn, NY78%
  4. Swedish Institute a College of Health SciencesNew York, NY75%
  5. Bais Binyomin AcademyMonsey, NY74%
  6. Beth Hamedrash Shaarei Yosher InstituteBrooklyn, NY73%
  7. Island Drafting and Technical InstituteAmityville, NY70%
  8. Bryant & Stratton College-BuffaloBuffalo, NY69%
  9. Finger Lakes Health College of Nursing & Health SciencesGeneva, NY66%
  10. CUNY Stella and Charles Guttman Community CollegeNew York, NY63%
  11. CUNY Hostos Community CollegeBronx, NY63%
  12. Bryant & Stratton College-AlbanyAlbany, NY62%
  13. Arnot Ogden Medical CenterElmira, NY62%
  14. Bryant & Stratton College-Syracuse NorthLiverpool, NY62%
  15. Bryant & Stratton College-GreeceRochester, NY60%
  16. CUNY Bronx Community CollegeBronx, NY60%
  17. SUNY MorrisvilleMorrisville, NY60%
  18. Mesivta of Eastern Parkway-Yeshiva Zichron MeilechBrooklyn, NY59%
  19. Ohr Hameir Theological SeminaryPeekskill, NY57%
  20. CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community CollegeNew York, NY57%
  21. Maria College of AlbanyAlbany, NY56%
  22. Monroe UniversityBronx, NY55%
  23. Elyon CollegeBrooklyn, NY55%
  24. Yeshiva of OceanGreenfield Park, NY54%
  25. Yeshivath Zichron MosheSouth Fallsburg, NY52%
  26. St Paul's School of Nursing-Staten IslandStaten Island, NY51%
  27. St Paul's School of Nursing-QueensRego Park, NY51%
  28. Beth Medrash Meor YitzchokMonsey, NY51%
  29. Monroe Community CollegeRochester, NY50%
  30. Trocaire CollegeBuffalo, NY50%
  31. Bais Medrash of Dexter ParkChestnut Ridge, NY50%
  32. Vaughn College of Aeronautics and TechnologyFlushing, NY50%
  33. New York Conservatory for Dramatic ArtsNew York, NY45%
  34. SUNY College of Technology at AlfredAlfred, NY45%
  35. Cochran School of NursingYonkers, NY45%
  36. Yeshivat Hechal ShemuelBrooklyn, NY45%
  37. CUNY Queensborough Community CollegeBayside, NY44%
  38. Helene Fuld College of NursingNew York, NY44%
  39. Elim Bible Institute and CollegeLima, NY43%
  40. Yeshiva Derech ChaimBrooklyn, NY41%
  41. Yeshiva of the Telshe AlumniRiverdale, NY41%
  42. Herkimer County Community CollegeHerkimer, NY39%
  43. Saint Elizabeth College of NursingUtica, NY39%
  44. Samaritan Hospital School of NursingTroy, NY39%
  45. Nassau Community CollegeGarden City, NY39%
  46. North Country Community CollegeSaranac Lake, NY39%
  47. Erie Community CollegeBuffalo, NY38%
  48. CUNY LaGuardia Community CollegeLong Island City, NY38%
  49. St. Joseph's College of NursingSyracuse, NY36%
  50. Mirrer Yeshiva Cent InstituteBrooklyn, NY36%

How to interpret Pell share

The federal Pell Grant is the largest need-based grant program in U.S. higher education. Eligibility is determined by the FAFSA and is based primarily on family income and assets relative to the cost of attendance. A community college with a high Pell-grant share is, by construction, an institution whose student body skews toward lower-income households. That is not a quality signal in either direction on its own — many of the strongest community-college transfer pipelines in New York run through institutions with high Pell shares — but it does indicate where institutional services such as emergency aid, child-care subsidies, food pantries, and need-based scholarships are most likely to be developed and well-resourced.

If you are eligible for the Pell Grant, the practical implication is that several of the community colleges on this list will be tuition-free for you after the grant is applied, with state aid and institutional aid often covering most of the remaining cost of attendance. File the FAFSA as early as possible in the academic year — it determines eligibility for all major federal need-based programs, and many state aid programs in New York use the FAFSA as their qualifying application as well.