I live in NYC and am 100% eligible for the Excelsior Scholarship. I know that that the excelsior scholarship kicks in after pell grants and merit scholarships.I realized that if the pell grant is applied to my housing ONLY, then my EOC would be significantly lower. If my pell grant was applied before, the excelsior scholarship wouldn’t change my eoc much at all. So basically, is there a way to direct all of my pell grant towards room and board/books/supplies?
No, excelsior applies the Pell grant to tuition first and then it pays anything uncovered.
Did you get TAP? How much is your TAP?
If you have not applied for TAP, apply immediately. Go into your HESC account and change your school to Albany so that they can accurately credit your TAP.
Excelsior is a last payer award that kicks in after everything else has been applied. TAP (NYS Aid) will kick in first, then any other NYS scholarships and Pell. If there are any monies remaining then Excelsior will kick in.
IIRC, you got a $4300/year merit scholarship at Albany. If you are eligible for TAP (and you will get some TAP, if you got PELL), the TAP will kick in first, then you should use the Albany Merit Scholarship. This should cover your tuition still leaving some PELL to cover your room and board.
While you are eligible for Excelsior, you will not get an excelsior scholarship because your tuition is already covered, minimally through federal and state aid.
Your best bet would be apply TAP, then the merit scholarship toward tuition (which is a qualified educational expense, making the portion of your scholarship used for tuition non-taxable). If there is any left over tuition, it will be offset by PELL. Any room and board expenses will be offset by Pell.
If you are getting FULL TAP and FULL PELL based on a 0 EFC, it does not make sense to even apply for Excelsior.
you will have
4300 merit
5165 TAP
1435 SUNY Credit
5960 Pell
$16860 in “free” money
If you take your 5500 Loan, pretty much all of your cost will be covered.
Although you may be eligible You won’t get the scholarship (because your tuition is already covered). You will still have the freedom to live where you want after graduation because you wont be bound by the working in NYS requirement.
Based on your TAP, you should get a SUNY credit, which will offset some of the fees.
If you get a summer job along with taking the loan, you can close some of the gap for your room/board Misc. expenses.