Hi, I have a friend going to Stony Brook, and they say that since her TAP and Pell aid amount to more than $5500, she is not eligible for the Excelsior scholarship. It seems to say something similar on the Excelsior website, “An Excelsior Scholarship recipient can receive up to $5,500, minus any amounts received for TAP (New York Tuition Assistance Program), federal Pell grant or other scholarships. The remainder of your tuition charge will be covered through a tuition credit paid through SUNY or CUNY.” It’s not that clear though and I don’t really know what this means.
Is this true? I have always heard that Excelsior will cover up to $5500 of the remaining tuition after TAP and Pell. If so, applying for Excelsior would be pointless for a lot of people. It basically means that the people who might need it most, the ones who get the largest TAP and Pell grants due to their financial situation, won’t be able to get Excelsior.
Yes, it is true. The State has always been up front about the fact that the Excelsior is a last payer scholarship.
It means that if your family is in the range where they would receive $1000 in TAP and 2000 in Pell, the excelsior scholarship would kick in the other $2500. Then they will get a SUNY tuition credit.
Students who are getting full TAP $5165, will not get the excelsior scholarship because they are also getting Pell, and a SUNY tuition credit covering all of their tuition. Excelsior an TAP can only be used for tuition. Yes, there is a part of me that would have love to see excelsior cover the $1300 difference between TAP and tuition, but it would mean raising the scholarship for all.
They are both funded by New York State (taxpayers).
The program was designed for you to get tuition. Unfortunately, it is not designed for students to have a residential experience.
IMHO the scholarship is really designed for families making 50-100k (this year’s cap) who would be either not be eligible for TAP/Pell or would receive very little TAP pell.