<p>IMPORTANT - NYS residents </p>
<p>To NYS residents, I just received this urgent message from an other University that my son is considering and thought that I should share it with you.</p>
<p>I am not aware (probably should be!) of how many credit hours a semester a U of R student typically earns but if it is under 15 credit hours, there is reason for concern.</p>
<p>Last week, the Governor (Pataki) cut $119 million from the state's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). One of the most troubling changes requires college students to take 15 credits, instead of the current 12, each semester in order to qualify for full financial aid. </p>
<p>Urgent action in the form of communication to elected officals is needed to return to things to 12 credit hours. Please visit the following site for more action
<a href="http://capwiz.com/cicu/state/main/?state=NY%5B/url%5D">http://capwiz.com/cicu/state/main/?state=NY</a></p>
<p>The Legislatures support for student aid programs has been critical in the past, and is again today. Legislators need to hear from students, parents, alumni, faculty, staff and others during the next three weeks before finalizing a complete State Budget.</p>
<p>The New York State Senate and Assembly on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week overrode a number of Executive vetoes relating to higher education. The Legislature restored $119 million in funding for the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and $1 million for the Liberty Partnerships Program. This new fiscal plan includes a $98 million increase in TAP for part-time
students in both the independent and public sectors and an increase
(10%) in Direct Institutional (Bundy) Aid.</p>
<p>Thank you to all of you who engaged in advocacy efforts. Our contacts in
Albany have said that your voices were heard and made a big difference.</p>
<p>Thanks! That's quite important.</p>
<p>As a referance for others, in order to be considrered full time you need to take 12 credits. However as that is only 3 courses and you probobly won't be able to graduate with 3 courses per semester, you will need 4 courses; Which translates to 16 credit hours. </p>
<p>So NYS residents read away! This is important, but at the same time, you probobly won't be taking that fewer than 4 courses (16 credit hours). </p>
<p>Science majors probobly will not have to worry since courses are actually 5 credits including lab. </p>
<p>But this seems radically unfair to those who need the aid and may want to take a semester off or want to study abroad, this could affect your TAP. So do read!</p>