Excelsior Scholarship Information for Advisors

Eligibility

An applicant must:

• be a resident of NYS and have resided in NYS for 12 continuous months prior to the beginning of the term;
• be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen;
• have either graduated from high school in the United States, earned a high school equivalency diploma, or passed a federally approved “Ability to Benefit” test, as defined by the Commissioner of the State Education Department;
• have a combined federal adjusted gross income of $125,000 or less;
• be pursuing an undergraduate degree at a SUNY or CUNY college, including community colleges and the statutory colleges at Cornell University and Alfred University;
• be enrolled in at least 12 credits per term (imputed credit does not count) and complete at least 30 credits each year (successively), applicable toward his or her degree program;
• be in a non-default status on a student loan made under any NYS or federal education loan program or on the repayment of any NYS award;
• be in compliance with the terms of the service condition(s) imposed by a NYS award that you have previously received; and
• execute a Contract agreeing to reside in NYS for the length of time the award was received, and, if employed during such time, be employed in NYS.

The Excelsior Scholarship covers any remaining gap in tuition expenses, after other federal and state grants and scholarships are applied, up to $5,500.

Catching Up on Credits

A student who is not on track to complete an Associate’s degree in two consecutive years or Bachelor’s degree in four consecutive years (which requires completion of the equivalent of 30 credits each academic year) can catch up on missing credits to become eligible for an Excelsior Scholarship. If they successfully earn additional credits during a term or academic year and get back on track to completing their degree on time, they will be eligible to receive an Excelsior Scholarship for the remainder of their undergraduate degree program.

Excelsior scholarship eligibility is updated weekly on RPAAWRD in Banner 9.

Students sign a contract to receive Excelsior.  Ask a student if they plan to use Excelsior to pay their tuition bill.  If yes, make sure they are enrolled in 12 “real” credits that count towards their program each semester and that they will have 30 “real” credits by the end of the academic year.

Non-credit and credit-bearing pre-requisites do not count towards Excelsior compliance, unless the credit-bearing pre-requisite can count as an open elective or other program requirement.

Dual credit, AP courses and other transfer credit can be “banked” and used towards the 30-hour requirement (as long as it can count in the program).

Posting the Excelsior scholarship to the tuition bill is a coordination between Financial Aid and Student Accounts.  Questions regarding Excelsior – contact Jeffrey Ferrara (jferrara16@monroecc.edu), Financial Aid, (585) 292-2285.

Updated 12/2022

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