Is anyone out there going to be taking advantage of the free tuition/studying stem/top 10% of his/her graduating class program? We are trying to weigh the pro’s and con’s of this. I appreciate any input and/or experience with this new offer.
is there any downsides or cons?
The biggest drawback is you are required to work for five years in New York State following graduation. Depending on one’s life circumstances, agreeing to stay in New York for that period of time could be just fine. Arguably, it could also be quite limiting. It’s got to be pretty hard for many/most students to know for sure before they even start college where they will be heading after they graduate.
I did do an online chat with HESC (http://www.hesc.ny.gov/pay-for-college/financial-aid/types-of-financial-aid/nys-grants-scholarships-awards/nys-science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem-incentive-program.html) about six months ago that shed very little light on my open questions. I was advised to call the office with questions, and haven’t followed up yet.
I believe (but have not confirmed) that:
- If you break your agreement (i.e., leave before graduating or before completing your five years in NY, leave stem, etc.), you have to pay back your tuition. I assume you will have to pay interest as well.
- It's only tuition, not fees or room and board. So for UB, that's about $6200/year, or about $25k for four years.
- You can put your five years temporarily on hold if you go to grad school.
Before signing up, we’ll want to know all of the reprecussions and ins and outs, but $25k is certainly worth looking at closely.
Also…
An open question I have is what impact scholarships have on the amount that’s covered by HESC. Suppose, for instance, you have a Provost Scholarship of $2,500/year (not uncommon if you’re top 10% of your class). That’s $10k for four years, and if that is applied to tuition then it reduces the amount the HESC program funds from $25k to $15k, though you’ll still get $25k.
Or does your Provost cover your other costs and then the STEM program covers the tuition, in which case you get $25k from HESC plus the $10k from the Provost (totalling $35k rather than $25k)?
Not sure if that makes sense, but it’s something we’ll ask UB Financial Aid and/or HESC.
Just listening… Thank you for your reply. I called HESC yesterday and got some answers to my questions as well. I think we re going to go ahead and take the offer. Worst case scenario is he pays it back (in the form of a student loan). We re going to hedge our bets bc you can’t ask for it later. I did call UB and was told that this would be in addition to his provost award of 3k per year. There for he ll get the 6200 AND the 3000 total per year. Worth the risks in our opinion.
I’m hoping the option is around for awhile. My expectation would be even if my D decides to move out of state after graduating, it would be for a job. Since the engineering jobs are good paying, she could afford to repay the money if needed (and since its might not have to be paid back, it’s a good gamble IMO). I like that the minimum GPA to keep it isn’t as high as I’ve seen on scholarships for other places as well. It seems reasonable for me for an engineering major.
I totally agree with both of your comments!! We’ve also said that if our son moves out of state that hopefully his job would be high enough paying so that paying back the money isn’t too much of a hardship. I also agree about the GPA requirement. We’re going to take the offer…it seems like a good idea to us!
Thanks for the info.
I agree the offer is compelling. We’ll huddle around our spreadsheets to double check, but I believe we’ll pursue the offer as well.
Interest starts accruing the day funds are disbursed, I believe, and is capitalized (added to principle) when you “violate” the contract. If that occurs say 3 years you have left college because you change jobs, the accrued interest from a loan you took out freshman year could add up. Something to consider.