New York’s Tuition Assistance Program Now Includes Part-Time Students

• New York’s Tuition Assistance Program is among the largest need-based financial aid grant programs in the country.
• The expansion opens the program to approximately 75,000 part-time students.
• The program includes grants of up to $5,665 annually for full-time students, and part-time awards will be available on a prorated basis.

New York this month officially expanded its Tuition Assistance Program to include part-time students, a move officials say will open the program to some 75,000 students.

With this $150 million expansion, New York’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) ranks among the largest need-based financial aid grant programs in the country, according to the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul.

"Higher education students not only hold the key for our state, but for their families,” Hochul said in a statement. “A degree changes more than just the life of its holder, it changes the lives of those all around them. Every person who calls New York home should have the opportunity to better themselves and invest in their education.”

TAP doles out grants of up to $5,665 annually for full-time students, and part-time TAP awards will now be available on a prorated basis, according to the announcement. Students will need to take between six to 11 credits per semester with no full-time prerequisite to qualify for the part-time grants.

The program included more than $700 million in tuition assistance awards to roughly 250,000 state residents during the 2020-21 academic year. This year’s TAP expansion, enacted as part of the state budget passed earlier this year, is part of a statewide effort to boost higher education affordability. That effort includes investments at the City University of New York (CUNY) and State University of New York (SUNY) systems to hire new faculty and increase enrollment.

"This unprecedented expansion of TAP to part-time students will have a transformative impact on the lives of thousands of New Yorkers, providing a pathway to upward social mobility and better-paying jobs, while simultaneously fueling New York's post-pandemic recovery, CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez said in a press release.

SUNY Interim Chancellor Deborah F. Stanley said the TAP expansion to part-time students “can be that added incentive to reach for their dream of college completion."

Students can apply for the part-time TAP by filling out the FAFSA application for the fall 2022 semester. Students who already enrolled and submitted the FAFSA for the 2022-23 academic year will have TAP awards automatically adjusted based on the number of credits they are taking.