<p>i've just recently registered for my spring 2011 classes. i am taking 5 class that does not pertain to my major (because i dont have one at the moment). By reviewing the awards on esims, i noticed that i did not received any money from TAP. this really worries me because last semester (fall 2010), i pell was able to cover my tuition and i was able to bring home 2000$ left from Tap. now i wont be able to because i only receive money from PELL.</p>
<p>above tap it has the symbol 1
below it, 1 means non-major courses</p>
<p>does taking non-major courses affect my TAP. have anyone experience this? what can i do to fix it.</p>
<p>my question is.... how do i approach this situation ** step by step **</p>
<p>however, i did not select a major last year, yet, i was able to receive money from both pell and tap. dont college give students a year to decide their major?</p>
<p>if i select my major, do i just go over to my financial adviser & tell them my major and my tap money should be available?</p>
<p>You have to be matriculated to receive TAP. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have selected a major - you could just be in general studies.</p>
<p>TAP has been held hostage by the politics of the state this year, and I don’t know if the funds have been disbursed. Call the FA office and ask them your TAP questions.</p>
<p>If you are at a community college and did not declare a major at the beginning of sophomore year, this could very well be the reason that you are not eligible for TAP. You probably need to see your advisor/counselor/registrar and go through the process of declaring a major.</p>
<p>Hopefully they should be able to clear you with the FA department.</p>
<p>The thread title indicates you’re studying at a CUNY. At my D’s SUNY, students can enter/change their major for FA and scheduling purposes very simply, via a drop down box on their student profile page. This does not mean that they’re accepted into that major, that requires a formal application to the department, but it does allow FA and advising to see that the courses they register for are appropriate for their anticipated degree program.</p>
<p>doesn’t a full time student (12 credit) already qualify me for TAP?
my family does have a relatively low income & i am aiming to get a degree if that plays any significant role.
i did not declare my major as of yet but does it really matter during this early stage of my freshman semester? if it does hinder me from receiving tap, do i just head to my financial aid department & request a major just like that?</p>
<p>Yes, being a full time student qualifies you for full TAP. IF you received TAP last term and you achieved the minimum satisfactory academic progress, then you will most likely get TAP in the spring term.</p>
<p>If you’re a second semester freshman, you don’t have to have declared a major but you must have earned 6 credits with a minimum gpa of 1.5. If you meet that criteria and HESC is showing an estimated TAP award for you, please email your FA dept and ask them why it’s not listed in your awards for spring. Let us know, okay?</p>
<p>ok, i took a visit to the hesc website to view my status on tap and my tap award is indicated. However, the award status is only estimated and have not been certified by the school. i read that it will only be certified by the school after the drop/added period. is this true?</p>
<p>im not sure if esims only applies to Cuny students but i’ve noticed that in my schedule/grades for spring 2011, i got a Red “N” underneath degree which indicates the course does not satisfy the degree requirements and is ineligible for State Aid. what does it mean? should i re-select my classes?</p>
<p>i remembered on my application to the school, i’ve listed accountacy as my major. now, i’m not sure i want to persue that degree anymore. if the major i’ve declared hinders me from selecting the courses that i want to take, how can i switch to a different
majors/program/degree? who do i turn to?</p>
<p>question is in Bold</p>
<p>@sybbie719- i am in fact in my second semester of my freshman year. It seems my initial major i’ve declared in my application (accountacy) is preventing me to take non-major classes like 101 psychology, race ethic relations etc</p>
<p>kaws, I don’t think that not having the TAP award listed on esims (yes, that system is specific to your school though every school has something similar) necessarily indicates that there’s a problem…but we really don’t know what the red N means to them! You really do need to call or email your FA office to find out if the N means they will have an issue certifying your TAP award…they’re really the only ones who can help you with school-specific questions.</p>
<p>My D is at UB and her TAP award for spring is also uncertified and is similarly not listed on their version of the school FA system. But an email to the FA office confirmed that they will certify it after the drop/add period (they check at that point to make sure students are still enrolled in enough credits to be full-time) and it is in their system. Perhaps your school did this last semester too and you simply didn’t notice that your award wasn’t listed on the electronic system?</p>
<p>perhaps. thank you for the comforting news.
one more question tho. since you’ve mention, no major needs to be declared for me at this point, does it mean i am able to take ANY class i desire? </p>
<p>or does this need to be discussed with my adviser?
ty in advance</p>
<p>I would certainly discuss your planned courses with your advisor as they will be in the best position to make sure you stay on track and make recommendations for courses, seminars, internships, clubs, etc. to help you find where your true interests lie. </p>
<p>Does your school have a system whereby you can enter a planned major yourself and then run a report to see what classes you’ll need in order to graduate? If not, at least make sure that your planned classes will fulfill most of your gen-eds in the first few years and then add one or two other classes each semester in areas that interest you. If you take only special interest classes without satisfying graduation requirements, you run the risk of not being able to graduate on time! Remember, except for a few 5-year programs, TAP is awarded for a maximum of 8 semesters of full-time study and you don’t want to run out of aid while you’re still trying to get your gen-eds finished!</p>
<p>i see. is graduation requirement different for every school? is it the same for every cuny schools?
i’ve went online and i came across hunter college. it is not the school i attend but it is classified in the cuny system. their requirements are general classes, electives, minor, major etc</p>
<p>i am still relatively new to the whole thing and like you said, i dont want to waste my 8 semester free tap on classes that will be treated as electives and not count towards my major. i am also deciding to transfer after next year, hopefully to a SUNY school so i dont want to waste time taking classes that wont benefit me.</p>
<p>i should really speak with an adviser but …where can i find one?</p>
<p>appreciate all the help you been giving & taking time to actually answer them throughly</p>
<p>You’ve never received an email from your advisor? Perhaps with your first freshman schedule? If not, please search their website for “advising”…undeclared students probably use the general undergrad advising office, while students in a major should have a departmental advisor. </p>
<p>NYS has gen-ed requirements that apply to all of the SUNYs, and probably the CUNYs too. If I knew which CUNY you were at, I’d link you to them but since you’re planning to transfer to SUNY, here are the SUNY gen-ed requirements (note: they all use this, as a minimum, but may have a few additional gen-ed type requirements that are school-specific):</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think the min. requirement changed for your class and now requires Math and Communications and any 5 of the other 8 areas. If you search suny.edu for “general education requirements” and choose the word doc that comes up second, you can see a memo regarding that. In any case, you’ll want to be careful to take the specific school-designated courses that actually will be equivalent to those fulfilling SUNY requirements. You really do need to find an advisor to work with on this.</p>
<p>In addition to the gen-eds, most SUNY majors have defined sets of pre-requisite classes. These are the foundation courses that you would need in order to be accepted into the major(s) you’re considering. They may be courses you’re already taking as gen-eds, such as psych, stats, calculus, etc. Most students formally apply to their major after the end of their third semester, or sometime during their sophomore year, and it can be challenging to get all of the pre-reqs and gen-eds finished, or close to finished, in two years. It’s usually okay to have a few courses pending, but you’ll want to be able to focus on your major coursework and related electives during your junior/senior years. Having a minor would entail taking a smaller number of designated courses in another subject area and would also impede your ability to finish on time if your gen-eds and prerequisite courses are not finished in the first 2 years.</p>
<p>Hope that helps clarify things for you…if you can’t find the info you need on the website, you can post or PM your CUNY and intended SUNYs and we’ll try to steer you in the right direction. Good luck!</p>
<p>good news is… im glad i was able to solve the red “N” and was able to retrieve my full Tap award. it was because the system did not recognize that i will be taking 12 credits (full time student) ty all for your help especially sk8rmom who devoted her time to assist me.</p>
<p>bad new is… i still need to speak with an adviser for future classes and i am unable to find one at the moment. will talk with my school the day after tomm (martin luther king)</p>
<p>one last question: **how do i join an extracurricular activity and how does it work?
by that, i mean, will it conflict with my school time schedule? you know in highschool, everyone leaves at the same time and extracurricular activities usually takes place afterschool. since college is different and students gets to select their own class time whether it’ll be 8 at night or 8 in the morning, where do extracurricular activities fill in? **</p>
<p>Glad to hear it worked out! Your advisor should be able to help you with most of your other questions as well - or at least put you in touch with the right people. For now, you could search the school website for whatever club/EC you’re looking to join. Most of them schedule their meetings/events at a time that members find convenient…I can almost guarantee that none will be at 8 am unless it’s a Saturday trip or volunteer opportunity!</p>