Excelsior Scholarships offer free tuition to state schools

Excelsior Scholarship application for students to attend state schools tuition-free for the spring semester opened Oct. 30 and will run until Dec. 4.

Recipients of the Excelsior Scholarship’s spring awards will join more than 210,000 students already attending a public college or university in New York State tuition-free, and the 45,000 students deemed eligible for the Scholarship in the fall.

The Excelsior Scholarship is being phased in over three years. For the 2017-18 academic year, New Yorkers with household incomes up to $100,000 are eligible, increasing to $110,000 in 2018-19, and reaching $125,000 in 2019-20.

Students must be enrolled in college full-time and complete 30 credits per year (including summer and January semesters) in order to receive the funding. However, the program has built-in flexibility so that any student facing hardship is able to pause and restart the program, and all recipients can take fewer credits one semester than another in completing 30 credits per year.

Students are required to maintain a grade-point average necessary for the successful completion of their coursework, and scholars will be required to live and work in-state after graduation for a duration equal to the number of years an Excelsior Scholarship was received.

To apply, students must also have completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASA) and the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) application. Students currently receiving an award do not need to apply for a spring award.

 

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