Financial Aid FAQ

Students do not have to be registered full-time to receive financial aid. Pell grants are based on enrollment status, while full time students can receive the maximin Pell award if they are financial eligible. Students who register less than full-time will receive a prorated award.

Full-time students may be eligible to receive TAP, and part-time students may be eligible receive Part-Time TAP, or Aid for Part-Time Students (APTS).

Students who are registered for a minimum of two courses (6 credits) may qualify for Federal Direct Student Loans.

Hunter College and CUNY Scholarships are usually awarded to full-time students; however, certain exceptions may apply.

All financial aid-related documents, including those needed to complete FAFSA verification and/or Work-Study related forms, may be submitted through your CUNYfirst account using the CUNYfirst Document Uploader.

1. Log into your CUNYfirst account.
2. Select Campus Solutions.
3. Click Self Service, then To Do List.
4. Click the link for Document Upload.

Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for processing. Our office is diligently working to ensure that all student documents are processed.

Please visit our Federal Work-Study page to see if your question is answered there. If not, or if you would like to contact someone, you may contact our Federal Work-Study team at fwsjobs@hunter.cuny.edu.

You can find all our available financial aid forms at our Policies and Forms page.

You may check the status of your application at the Federal Student Aid website. In addition, after your application is processed, review your “To-Do List” in CUNYfirst.

The amount of TAP, PELL and other government grant aid that you are eligible for varies depending on your family’s income and size of household. Each year, students must reapply for financial aid with information for the current year. If your family’s financial circumstances change, the aid that you are eligible for will change as well.

Generally, grants and scholarships that do not exceed tuition, fees, books, and required supplies are not considered income. Student aid is considered income when it is taxable student grant and scholarship aid, such as fellowships and assistantships which are reported to the IRS in your parents or your adjusted gross income.

Your school must have your information by your last day of enrollment.

The electronic record (ISIR) that has been processed by the Department must have an official SAI. Once the school receives your information, it will use your SAI to determine the amount of your federal grant, loan, or work-study award, if you are eligible. The FAA will send you a letter explaining the aid the school is offering.

If you do not receive your Student Aid Report (SAR) acknowledgement within two weeks, or SAR within four weeks after submitting your application, call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243). You can use the automated system to find out whether your application has been processed or to request duplicate copies of your report.

You will need to provide your Social Security Number and the first two letters of your last name.

You can also check the status of your FAFSA and print a copy of your SAR online at Federal Student Aid.

NOTE: If you fill out your FAFSA online, you will get a confirmation notice after you click on Submit.

Your FAFSA will be processed in two to four days.

If you do not get an email within a week you can check the status by going to Federal Student Aid to view your Student Aid Report (SAR).

You can also contact the Federal Student Aid Information center at 1-800-4-FED-AID.

It’s a federal regulation. There are basic requirements a student must meet to be considered an independent student. If you do not meet these requirements but you still believe you are truly independent of your parents, you may appeal for a “dependency override” in the financial aid office at your school. In unusual cases, the financial aid administrator can change your dependency based on adequate documentation of special circumstances you may have.

Whenever you have problems or questions about your financial aid, you can come and speak to a counselor in the Office of Financial Aid, located in 241 North.

Any change in your family’s circumstances, such as loss of employment, loss of benefits, death or divorce, should be reported so that we can help you adjust the data elements used to calculate your Student Aid Index (SAI). The adjustment might increase your eligibility for student aid to help you pay for your Hunter education.

You may check the status of your TAP application at www.HESC.ny.gov

In addition to the FAFSA application, you must also file a TAP application every year.

For an associate degree, you may receive TAP for up to 6 semesters. You will be limited to 6 semesters of TAP even if you change majors or transfer to another community college.

When you enroll in a 4 year college program at a senior college, you will become eligible for an additional 2 full-time semesters of TAP bringing your undergraduate total to 8 semesters.

If you are enrolled in SEEK, you may receive up to 10 semesters (or the equivalent) of TAP as an undergraduate.

Not all students are eligible for TAP. To be eligible you must be a legal NY state resident and be enrolled in at least 12 credits, all of which must count toward the completion of your Hunter degree.

The first place to go to determine whether you can use TAP funding toward your current course of study is your FACTS (Financial Aid Eligibility & Certification Tracking System) account.

When you log in, click on “Current Eligibility” on the menu bar and select “Details”. This will give you an explanation of how much TAP money you are eligible for, and if you are not, why not.

If you repeat a course that you previously passed, you may not count the repeated course towards full-time enrollment for TAP purposes. This means that in order to receive TAP in a semester where you may be repeating a course you passed previously that you have, in addition to the repeated course, at least 12 credits or equated credits of non-repeated courses.

If you repeat a course that you previously failed, you may include that course towards full-time enrollment for TAP purposes.

The HESC Customer Communication Center can be reached by telephone, toll-free, at 1-888-NYS-HESC (1-888-697-4372) or 1-518-473-1574. The Customer Communication Center answers general inquiries. If you are calling about your TAP grant or student loan, please have your account number ready.

You can also find more information at www.HESC.ny.gov.

For more information on how to apply for a Federal loan, please visit the Loans page.

The online application can be completed as follows:

• Log onto your CUNYfirst account and click on “Student Center”
• On the Student Center page, navigate to the Direct Loan Processing form and click the link
• Fill out the Direct Loan Processing form
• Please alert the Loan office by submitting a ticket via the Student Support Portal for processing.

It takes at least three weeks to process a loan application. If you check CUNYFirst before four weeks have passed, you won’t see evidence of your application. Please allow enough time to pass before checking the status of your application.

Ultimately, your federal student loan lender is the federal government, but loan servicers are the companies that handle the billing and other services on your loan. Once your loan application is approved, the loan servicer that will handle your loan will contact you directly, usually by mail and/or email.

Although that money is transferred directly to Hunter College, it is important that you stay on top of communication with your servicer and know everything about the terms of your loans.

Yes. Your school must notify you in writing whenever it credits your account with your loan funds. You may cancel all or a portion of your loan if you inform your school within 14 days after the date your school sent you this notice, or by the first day of the payment period, whichever is later. (Your school can tell you the first day of your payment period.)

Your parents complete a Direct PLUS Loan application and promissory note that you’ll get from your school’s financial aid office. They will have to pass a credit check. If they don’t pass they might still be able to receive a loan if they can demonstrate that extenuating circumstances exits, or if someone thy know, who can pass agrees to endorse the loan and promises to repay it if your parents don’t.

No. Parents are, however, responsible for the Federal PLUS loans. Parents will only be responsible for your educational loans if you are under 18 and they co-sign your loan. In general you and you alone are responsible for repaying your educational loans. On the other hand, if your parents (or grandparents) want to help pay off your loan, you can have your billing statements sent to their address. Likewise, if your lender or loan servicer provides an electronic payment service, where the monthly payments are automatically deducted from a bank account, your parents can agree to have the payments deducted from their account. But your parents are under no obligation to repay your loans. If they forget to pay the bill on time or decide to cancel the electronic payment agreement, you will be held responsible for the payments, not them.

Not immediately. The subsidized Stafford loan has a grace period before the student must begin repaying the loan. When you take a leave of absence you will not have to repay your loan until the grace period is used up.

If you use up the grace period, you will have to begin repaying your loan immediately upon graduation. It is possible to request an extension to the grace period, but this must be done before the grace period is used up. If your grace period has run out in the middle of your leave of absence, you will have to start making payments on your student loans.

If you’re attending school at least half-time, you have a period of time after you graduate, leave school, or drop below half-time status before you must begin repayment. This period of time is called a “grace-period”. If you’re attending less than half-time, check with your financial aid office to determine your grace period.

• Direct Stafford Loans–the grace period is six months.
• Subsidized Loan–during the grace period, you don’t have to pay any principal and you won’t be charged interest.
• Unsubsidized Loan–you don’t have to pay any principal, but you will be charged interest. You can either pay interest as you go along or it will be capitalized later.

It is possible to be eligible for a Summer Pell Grant. Students must apply for financial aid through the FAFSA application to be considered for a summer grant.

Year Round Pell does not require a separate form. It only requires that you file a FAFSA.

You can enroll for fewer than six credits and still receive a Pell award, if you:

• Have remaining Pell LEU eligibility
• Have filed a FAFSA
• Are eligible for Pell based on your SAI

Payment of a summer session Pell Grant depends on your attendance in the classes you are enrolled in. Dropping or withdrawing from classes may reduce or cancel your award and result in a tuition balance owed to the college. If you receive Pell for enrolled classes and you fail to attend, you will have to return those funds immediately to the college.

Students may be considered for a scholarship for up to $450 for the Summer session.