My parents made a combined income of a little bit more than $126,500. This is $1500 higher than the $125,000 bracket for college-free tuition at CUNY and SUNY schools. Will they still provide financial aid close to the full cost of tuition or will I not qualify for much of anything?
I’m currently stuck between Stony Brook SUNY and Stevens Institute of Technology and would apply to which one provides more aid.
Have you used the Net Price Calculator for these schools? Would you qualify for merit at Stony Brook ( there are several different awards) or at any other SUNY school such as Buffalo (UB)? What can your parents contribute?
That income is too high to qualify for any need based tuition assistance. Run the NPC for each school to see if you qualify for any merit aid.
Darn $1500 over and I would of gotten free tuition 
@sybbie719 is the excelsior based on AGI?
If so…would it help this student for NEXT year if the parents contributed to an IRA or TSA in 2018 tax year. I believe that will reduce the AGI…right? It won’t help for this year…but it might help for next.
What is Federal Adjusted Gross income{wikipedia)
The challenge is the you must file the FAFSA which adds back in the contributions that you make to your IRA/TSA, in addition, they cross reference NYS taxes. You must also apply for TAP because if you are eligible for TAP, it will reduce the Excelsior scholarship.
But the AGI wouldn’t include the 401k or IRA contributions, right?
I agree with @mommdc
While the retirement contributions are added back in for computing the FAFSA EFC, they do NOT change the AGI at all anywhere.
So @sybbie719 does NY add these contributions in some other way when computing eligibility for excelsior…because the AGI would not change.
All op could do is apply and appeal. I doubt if s/he will get the Excelsior with an income over 125. It would be something that Op’s family needs to discuss with HESC.
IRA contributions or any other above the line deductions would get you under the $125k maximum. It may be worth it to look at the 2017 taxes and see if you missed any deductions that would make an amended return worthwhile. Probably too late, but look into it.
And yes, for 2018 make sure your parents are taking advantage of an IRA contribution.
So how does this grant work? Is it a hardline income figure? Or does it graduate down?
I do NOT think this poster can get the excelsior based on the 2017 tax return AGI.
What I WAS suggesting is that the parents make a contribution to tax deferred retirement accounts for 2018…to bring their AGI below the amount needed to qualify for the excelsior. They need to look into this now as it could help for the 2020-2021 academic year.
If my parents do that, will I be eligible for Excelsior? Do they base it off of 2017 or 2018 tax returns? They told me their salary is less this year, but not for 2017.
Families whose income is under the $125k cap can get an Excelsior Grant of ~$7k/year making tuition at SUNY schools free. (They still pay the fees, though, and that can be a couple thousand dollars).
If they get TAP (I think the income cut off for that is $80k), which is also a tuition grant, the Excelsior will be reduced by that amount. So a $5k TAP Grant would reduce a $7k Excelsior Grant to $2k, making a total of $7k. I don’t believe families with incomes over $125k qualify for either grant.
The 2019-2020 excelsior is based off of the AGI from the 2017 tax return. That ship has sailed…long ago. You are not eligible for the excelsior for 2019-2020 because your parent AGI in 2017 is too high.
What I’m suggesting is that they make sure their AGI for 2018 is below the threshold AGI by putting money into a tax deferred retirement account. The 2018 AGI will be used for your SECOND year in college…2020-2021.
BUT that’s ONLY if NY state doesn’t somehow add those contributions to your AGI when determining eligibility for excelsior.
OR will their AGI for 2018 be lower than $125,000 anyway…since you say their income was lower. Find out.
This is NOT for the 2019-2020 school year which DOES use 2017 AGI.
OP said their parents made a combined $126,500. To me, that sounds like that is their gross income and not their AGI, which means that there could be eligibility for Excelsior. The family should file the application and see what happens.
just curious; what exactly is AGI? what all does it include? Is it a line item on tax forms?
AGI is gross income reduced by certain allowed above the line deductions (i.e. deductions that can be taken without having to itemize). It’s the last line on the first page of the 1040 and 1040A (at least until they come out with the new 2018 forms).
It stands for…Adjusted Gross Income.