The Enhanced Tuition Awards program provides tuition awards to students who are New York State residents attending a private college located in New York State. Recipients will receive $6,000 through a combination of their TAP award, ETA award and a match from their private college.

A recipient of an Enhanced Tuition Award is eligible to receive award payments for not more than two years of full-time undergraduate study in a program leading to an Associate’s degree or four years of full-time undergraduate study, or five years if the program of study normally requires five years in a program leading to a Bachelor’s degree.

You must live in New York State for the length of time you received the award. Failure to meet these requirements will result in the conversion of your award to a no-interest loan.

What you need

To complete the application you will need:

Copies of your family’s 2018 New York State income tax return(s)

Application Deadline: August 31, 2020

Applying for the Enhanced Tuition Award

In order to apply, students must meet eligibility requirements, including:

  • be a resident of NYS and have resided in NYS for 12 continuous months prior to the beginning of the term;
  • be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen;
  • have either graduated from high school in the United States, earned a high school equivalency diploma, or passed a federally approved “Ability to Benefit” test, as defined by the Commissioner of the State Education Department;
  • have a combined federal adjusted gross income of $125,000 or less, as reported on your family’s 2018 tax return;
  • be pursuing an undergraduate degree at a participating private college or university located in New York State;
  • be enrolled in at least 12 credits per term and complete at least 30 credits each year (successively), applicable toward his or her degree program;
  • if attended college prior to the 2019-20 academic year, have earned at least 30 credits each year (successively), applicable toward his or her degree program prior to applying for an Enhanced Tuition Award;
  • be in a non-default status on any student loan(s) made under any NYS or federal education loan program or on the repayment of any NYS award;
  • be in compliance with the terms of the service condition(s) imposed by any NYS award(s) that you have previously received; and execute a Contract agreeing to reside in NYS for the length of time the award was received, and, if employed during such time, be employed in NYS.

More information can be found on the New York State’s Higher Education Services Corporation website here