Hello! I got a certificate of merit from the Comonwealth of Pennsylvania and I applied for a state grant from PHEAA, as I am a Pennsylvania resident. If I am going to college at Cornell in NY, can I still use this grant or is it only applicable for in-state colleges? (Crossing my fingers that it still applies to out of state universities)
"Only schools located in reciprocal states are approved for participation in the Pennsylvania State Grant Program.
A reciprocal state is one that permits its own state grant funds to be used by students attending schools in Pennsylvania. States that continue to support students attending schools in Pennsylvania include Delaware, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia. Students attending institutions in all other states are ineligible. With certain limited exceptions, institutions in Maryland and New York are not eligible. Please refer to the Program Manual (PDF) for additional information."
Source: https://www.pheaa.org/funding-opportunities/state-grant-program/state-grant-faq.shtml
Aforementioned program manual: https://www.pheaa.org/funding-opportunities/state-grant-program/pdf/2017-2018/Program-Manual.pdf
@bodangles that sucks so much…
@twoinanddone so for sure, Cornell will not accept them?
I’m sure Cornell would accept the funds. State of PA will not pay them!
@twoinanddone @bodangles I apologize, this still confuses me even though it seems quite obvious. Since New York is not a reciprocal state, wouldn’t Cornell NOT participate in the Pennsylvania State Grant?
It says in the links in post #1 that NY schools are generally not in the program. There is a list of OOS schools where PHEAA students ‘usually’ go, and Cornell is not on it. Really, ask PHEAA but I think the answer is not. It is most common for states NOT to allow grants and scholarship money to leave the state. My daughter gets grants that can only be used in Florida. If you don’t go to school in Florida, you forfeit the money.
It may not make any difference for you at Cornell. They meet all your need with their grants, so if you get a grant from another source, they will reduce the Cornell grants.
Even for the reciprocal states like Ohio, you don’t get the full PHEAA grant, only a fraction, about $500. That’s one of the reasons why we look at instate schools.
In some rare instances, state money can follow students out of state when the major is an usual one that is not offered anywhere in the state system. If that is possible with PHEAA, then surely PHEAA maintains a list of approved orphan majors.
The 2017/18 PA grant manual answers your question, part III E on page 7 says:
NY is not a reciprocal state. Unless you attend Jamestown CC you won’t be able to use a PHEAA grant at a NY school, and even then the maximum amount would be $600.
We are all still waiting for the OP to talk to Cornell’s financial aid office regarding her situation…the $64K question is…why hasn’t she done so?