Must complete the FAFSA and TAP application or Dream Act application each year for payment.
2 years for students pursuing their associate degree full-time.
4 years for students pursuing their bachelor’s degree full-time.
5 years for approved five-year degree programs.
Any award payment received may have tax implications. Please direct any questions to a tax professional, the Internal Revenue Service, or the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance.
Undocumented and other immigrant students: before submitting your application, apply for eligibility under the NYS DREAM Act.
To receive the Scholarship, you must meet the following residency requirements:
Not a citizen or eligible noncitizen? Learn more about the NYS DREAM Act application.
High School, GED, or Ability to Benefit
College & Program
Once in college, you must meet the following requirements:
Opportunity Programs
If you are in an opportunity program, the Excelsior Scholarship allows five years to complete your bachelor’s degree and requires completion of 24 credits each academic year.
Scholarship recipients must be continuously enrolled, full-time, at a SUNY or CUNY college. A pause in enrollment is only allowable for the following reasons:
If you meet any of the above conditions, please reach out to your school to have your eligibility reviewed. Your school will notify HESC if it is determined that you are eligible to receive your award.
Circumstances other than those indicated above will not allow you to retain your award.
Credit Requirement
An applicant who is not on track to complete an associate degree in two consecutive years or a bachelor's degree in four consecutive years (which requires the completion of an average of 30 credits per year) can catch up on missing credits to become eligible for an Excelsior Scholarship. Students initially deemed ineligible due to insufficient credits who then caught up on credits must reapply for the scholarship once they meet the credit requirements.
Has your income been adversely affected due to a disability, divorce, or separation of the applicant, parent, or spouse or the death of a parent or spouse?
If you were notified that you are ineligible because your household federal adjusted gross income (AGI) is greater than $125,000, but your income was adversely affected due to a disability, divorce or legal separation of the applicant, parent or spouse or the death of a parent or spouse, you may be eligible to use your current income to establish income eligibility.
To request a review of your eligibility, complete the Income Eligibility Determination Form and upload it here.
Recipients must agree to:
For example, if you received the award for four years, you will be required to live and work in New York State for four years.
If you move out of New York State before you complete your residency requirement, all or part of your award will be converted to a no-interest loan.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, students with disabilities can take longer to complete their associate degree or bachelor’s degree and retain their Excelsior Scholarship eligibility if their disability requires them to attend less than full-time (30 credits per year, or its equivalent) or if they need to pause their studies due to their disability.
Students with qualified disabilities who attend less than full-time must register with their college office for students with disabilities.
Please note that neither students with disabilities nor students without disabilities can receive or retain an Excelsior Scholarship if they take longer to complete due to a change of majors or transfer to another college unless such change is a direct result of functional limitations resulting from the impairment that impacts the student’s ability to continue at the college or in the major. Specifically:
For individuals who have lost college credits due to a change in major or transfer of college, consideration for an award will only be given to students who provide medical documentation that clearly specifies that they (1) both (i) transferred to another college due to their disability or medical condition (e.g., the student must be cared for at home and, therefore, transferred to a college near their home) and (ii) changed majors, if applicable, because their previous major was not offered at their transfer college; or (2) were first diagnosed with their disability or medical condition after entering college/selecting their major, and their capacity to continue at that college or in pursuit of that major is or was limited by their disability or medical condition, resulting in the loss of credits.