ALEXANDRIA NIEVES
Special to The Leader
Dan Tramuta knows the Excelsior Scholarship program. He was there when it was created, and he also recognizes problems students can have with it.
“There were four [Tramuta, SUNY, New York State Higher Education Services Corporation (NYSHESC) and Cuomo’s office] of us that helped Governor [Cuomo] draft the regulations of the delivery that helped work on this program,” said Tramuta, the associate vice president for Enrollment Services.
Tramuta is someone who wants to help the students. He believes the Excelsior Scholarship “should be catered to [the students].”
He cares about students because he knows that it’s not easy, especially since NYSHESC put a registration date on the Spring semester application for incoming students.
However, students have recently been having other issues with the Excelsior Scholarship, which is the scholarship that helps students go to college tuition-free.
Tramuta said, “In 2018-19, there are 870 students who have been awarded an Excelsior Scholarship for a current total of $3,092,929.”
Junior history and political science major Hannah Dompkowski has, essentially, had to jump through hoops to keep her Excelsior Scholarship.
“[The main issue is about] the credit requirements. I’m on track to graduate on time, but if you drop a class or retake one, it really makes things difficult because you need 30 credits per [year] to stay on the scholarship,” said Dompkowski. “For example, I’m only taking 12 credits right now because one of my 15 is a retake, so next semester I have to take seven classes just to keep the scholarship for my senior year.”
When students apply for the scholarship, there are requirements to maintain it each year.
The NYSHESC sets the requirements for the Excelsior Scholarship. One of which is, “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.”
“The reason that students cancel or lose their Excelsior Scholarship is because they were given a grant that covers their tuition,” said Tramuta. “They were given a private scholarship, so they had to withdraw from the [Excelsior] scholarship, and sometimes it’s about not having the required amount of credit hours for the year.”
Students with the Excelsior Scholarship who are having difficulties with the credit hours have until the beginning of the following Fall semester to get the 30 credits to keep it.
“If you lose the scholarship for not completing the minimum (30) credits each academic year, it is forever gone. You cannot get it back,” said Tramuta.
When students take courses during the summer or J-Term, those credits are “banked.” This means that if a student has six credits from J-Term classes, they can use those credits to fulfill the required amount of credit hours to keep their scholarship.
The Excelsior Scholarship is also a “last dollar scholarship,” according to Tramuta. This means that if your average income for 2019-20, including your parents’ income, is $125,000 or less and your 2017 federal adjusted income falls below that as well, you could qualify for the scholarship.
“Since cost and affordability is a driving factor in the college going decision we work with all students — Excelsior and non-Excelsior recipients — to try to build a college financing plan that maximizes their eligibility,” said Tramuta.