Financial Aid FAQ

Generally, you are required to be registered full-time for the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). You may still be eligible for the Federal Pell Grant if you are not full-time.

All financial aid related documents can 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.
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 www.FAFSA.ed.gov. 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’s 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.

You report the parent with whom you lived the most during the 12 months preceding the date you completed the FAFSA. It does not make a difference which parent claims you as a dependent for tax purposes. If you did not live with either parent or lived equally with each parent, the parental information must be provided for the parent from whom you received the most financial support during the preceding 12 months or the parent from whom you received the most support the last time support was given. If the parent you receive financial support from was a single parent who is now married, or the parent was divorced or widowed but has remarried, your stepparents financial information is required on the FAFSA. This does not mean your stepparent is obligated to give financial assistance to you, but his or her income and assets represent significant information about the family’s resources.

You should provide the SSN and last name of the same person or people for whom you are reporting financial information. In this case, provide the SSNs and names of your mother and stepfather.

If you are a dependent student and your parent is remarried, the stepparent’s information must be included or you will not be considered for federal student financial aid. If you believe that your situation is unique or unusual other than the stepparent’s simple refusal to provide the requested information, you should discuss the matter further with a member of the Office of Financial Aid staff.

Anyone in the immediate family who receives more than 50% support from a dependent student’s parents or an independent student and spouse may be counted in the household size. For example, a sibling who is over 24 but still receives the majority of his/her support from the parents can be included. Siblings who are dependent (as defined by the FAFSA) as of the date you apply for aid are also included, regardless of whether they receive more than 50% of their support from the parents. Any other person who resides in the household and receives more than 50% support from the parents may also be counted, as long as they will continue to reside with your parents and the support is expected to continue through June 30 2016. An unborn child who will be born during the award year may also be counted in the household size. Household size and tax exemptions are not necessarily the same. Exemptions look at the previous year or tax year and household size refers to the school year for which the student is applying for aid.

Report only your mother’s income and asset information because you lived with her the most during the past 12 months. Use a W-2 Form or other record(s) to determine her share of the income reported and taxes paid on the tax return.

You should give only your portion of the exemptions, income, and taxes paid.

Any person (other than your parents) who is counted in the household and will be attending any term of the academic year at least half time. The person must be working toward a degree or certificate leading to a recognized education credential at a postsecondary school eligible to participate in the federal student aid programs. You (the student) need not be enrolled half time to be counted in the number in college.

Your school must have your information by your last day of enrollment. If your school has not received your application information electronically, you must submit your paper SAR to the school by the deadline. Either the electronic record (ISIR) or the paper SAR that has been processed by the Department must have an official EFC. Once the school receives your information, it will use your EFC to determine the amount of your federal grant, loan, or workstudy 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 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 at https://fafsa.ed.gov. If you apply on FAFSA on the Web, you will get a confirmation notice after you click on Submit.

Your FAFSA will be processed in two to four days. If you do get an email within a week you can check the status by going to https://fafsa.ed.gov. You can also check by contacting 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 HN 241. Any change in your family’s circumstances (i.e. 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 EFC. The adjustment might increase your eligibility for student aid to help you through 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.

Remedial courses may be counted towards either full-time or part time enrollment for TAP purposes. However, to qualify for TAP, you must always be registered for a certain number of degree credit courses.

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 could also reach them on the web by going to www.HESC.ny.gov.

Yes. You never know if your plans will change and having the TAP application on file will speed up the process if you decide to attend college in New York State.

Yes. You must wait until you receive either an email or a postcard with the web address of TAP on the Web. You can then set up a PIN number which will allow you to access the TAP on the Web site and you can complete your TAP application and have it submitted to HESC.

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

Hunter College can accept paper-based loan applications and an online application via CUNYfirst. The paper based application can be found in the Forms and Resources link on the Financial Aid 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

It takes at least four 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. While 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 of 6 months and the Perkins loan a grace period of 9 months 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, however, when you graduate you will have to begin repaying your loan immediately. 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”. Federal Perkins Loans- the grace period is nine months. 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.

No, 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 EFC

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.

Visit our Office of Financial Aid page for our office hours and ways you can reach us during remote instruction.

Yes, we are currently offering virtual appointments via Zoom.

If you are a currently enrolled and matriculated student, you may be considered for the Coronavirus Emergency Assistance Fund.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides emergency grants from the U.S. Department of Education to eligible students to help cover education-related expenses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This grant may apply to full-time and part-time undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students in credit bearing- degree seeking programs. Based on an economic need based formula, determined by CUNY Central Office of Student Financial Assistance, select students were awarded the emergency grant. The CARES Act directs recipients to use the funds they receive for unexpected expenses, unmet financial need, or expenses related to the disruption of campus operations resulting from the coronavirus. These include expenses for food, housing, course materials, technology, health care or childcare.

No. Eligible students will receive an email notifying them that they meet the emergency grant criteria based on their FAFSA and academic information and that their grants will either be deposited directly into their bank accounts or sent to them by check.

This grant may apply to full-time and part-time undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students in credit bearing, degree seeking programs. The University used a number of factors in calculating individual grant amounts. These factors centered on:

• Financial need based on the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) calculation that students reported in their FAFSA filings
• Whether they are enrolled as full-time or part-time students
• Whether they claimed dependents on their FAFSA.

The base amount of a student’s grant varies depending on their financial need, as defined by the FAFSA.

Each qualifying student’s information can be found on their CUNYfirst Student Center by following these steps:

1. 1. Log in to CUNYfirst.
   2. Go to the Student Center.
   3. In the Finances section, click the View Financial Aid link.
   4. On the Select Aid Year to View page, you may see listings for multiple years and multiple colleges. Click the Aid Year link for the college and aid year you wish to view.