The Excelsior Scholarship, like TAP, allows students to go to college tuition-free
The program covers tuition ONLY for eligible SUNY and CUNY students. For the 2022-23 academic year, families who earned $125,000 or less in the tax year 2020 are eligible to apply. The Excelsior Scholarship will cover any remaining tuition balance that isn't covered by other federal and state grants and scholarships. The Excelsior Scholarship can also cover tuition expenses up to $5,500. As a requirement of the Excelsior Scholarship, students have to pay $225.10 out of pocket.
You are eligible to receive an Excelsior Scholarship for up to 2 years for students pursuing an Associate's degree and up to 4 years for students pursuing a Bachelor's degree. Students in an undergraduate program of study normally requiring 5 years are eligible to receive the award for 5 years.
Just like TAP/Dream Act, applying to the NYS Excelsior Scholarship is also done through the Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) website.
If the deadline for the NYS Excelsior Scholarship has passed and you were interested in applying to go to college tuition-free, you can enter your email and/or phone number for the NYS Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) to notify you of when the scholarship reopens!
You can do this on the NYS Excelsior Scholarship home page. Once the application is reopened, you will receive a reminder to apply!