I can’t seem to find the answer to this question anywhere. We are just above the cut-off for the Excelsior free tuition scholarship (less than 10% over the cap). Does anyone know how financial aid for SUNYs works for these borderline cases? I tried the SUNY cost calculator and that was not helpful, as it had “above 100k” family income as the highest option without any range (which also seemed odd given that the cap for Excelsior is 125k). Are there increments to how financial aid is awarded? Or is it just…if you make 124k as a family, then it’s free, and if you make 126k, you pay full tuition out of pocket?
You will find information about Excelsior under HESC, which is NY state aid. The 125k is a pretty hard cap. Like all other financial aid you would need to have some pretty serious extenuating circumstances for your income not to be considered. Remember, you must apply for financial aid annually. Should your income drop to $125k or below, you would be eligible.
For the 2025-2026 academic year, income from 2023 is used for the FAFSA…is that the income that is above the threshold.
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I have read the HESC website. My question was specific and not answered on that website. It wasn’t: “is my child eligible for the Excelsior scholarship?” because I understand how income caps work. My question was, how is financial aid determined for someone who is just above the cut-off line? Are the only two options just Excelsior for under 125k folks or full tuition for anyone over? Or: are there other tiers of eligibility for non-Excelsior aid? As I also mentioned, I did not find the expected family contribution calculator on the SUNY website useful, because it had income ranges until it reached 100k, and then it said “100k and up” – which is confusing because, among other things, that is obviously out of synch with the Excelsior cap.
I am just trying to figure out how much we would likely have to pay for a SUNY school, as that will determine whether it makes sense for S25 to apply. Because if it is full tuition, it is probably not worth it for us to apply.
Yes. I know how FAFSA works.
If your family income is above 125k, you will not get excelsior. You will most likely be full freight paying (barring any merit money for SUNY)
I really do understand that we won’t get the Excelsior with an income above 125k. I am not sure what about my post or comments gave the impression that I did not understand that.
If you (or anyone) could point me to some sort of general comprehensive information about how SUNY awards merit, I would very much appreciate that. When I look, I see a general Scholarships page, which then links to separate campuses, but when I click on the campus my son is interested in (New Paltz), it’s links to all sorts of random external opportunities, like Sallie Mae scholarships, etc.
Call admissions and ask - if there is a table or general ranges.
You can look at the CDS - below. Section H2.
If I’m reading it right, they have 1115 first year and 5564 total.
13 first years earn and 95 of the total earn - so your odds of earning are slim to none.
On average - $2100 per year.
Hope that helps.
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Yes that is super helpful! Thank you. Not sure why it didn’t occur to me to look at CDS for that.
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FIRST-YEAR
New Paltz has a very limited number of merit-based scholarships available for students with strong academic credentials. Accepted students will be selected for a merit scholarship by the Scholarship Committee based solely on academic credentials. Selected students will be notified on a rolling basis. No separate application is necessary for scholarship consideration.
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Thank you!
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