Financial Aid Course Eligibility (FACE)

Federal and state regulations require students to be enrolled in courses that count toward their degree in order to receive financial aid.

Financial aid is awarded on both State and Federal levels and is available to full and part time students.

Federal Aid = Pell Grants and Loans

Pell eligibility is based on the number of credits a student is registered for that are required in their program (i.e. financial aid eligible).

Students are packaged under four tiers:

  • ¼ time = 5 credits or less
  • ½ time = 6 – 8 credits
  • ¾ time = 9 – 11 credits
  • full time = 12 credits

Funding is based on student need.

Students receiving student loans need to have at least 6 credits that count toward their degree or prerequisites.

State Aid = Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) / Aid to Part Time Study (APTS) / Part Time Scholarship (PTS) / Excelsior Scholarship

TAP = Students need to be enrolled in 12 credits of financial aid eligible courses (courses that count toward their degree) to receive TAP.

APTS = Part time students registered for 3-11 credits that are financial aid eligible may apply for APTS (Aid to Part Time Study). There is a separate application form for this. Refer students to the Financial Aid Office.

PTS = Part time students registered for 6-11 credits and meet other criteria may qualify. This is a separate application. Refer students to the Financial Aid Office.

Excelsior = Students need at least 12 credit-bearing credits (ex. not TRS) a semester and must meet other criteria. Refer students to the Financial Aid Office.

Students registered for 12+ credits with FEWER than 12 credits that are financial aid eligible are not eligible for TAP or APTS.

TAP/APTS funding is based on student need.

Repeat Rules

Federal (Pell/Loans)

  • Federal aid (Pell/loans) will only allow a student to repeat a course one time after the student has received an acceptable grade. A “W” does not count as their one time allowed repeat after an acceptable grade.
  • Students can repeat an F grade if they have never earned a higher grade.
  • Students can repeat W grade after they earned an acceptable grade.
  • Federal aid will not pay for a course to be repeated more than one time after a student successfully completed the course, D- or above (withdrawing does NOT count as your one time repeat).
  • Students CANNOT repeat a course with a grade of D- or higher more than once even though the program or a prerequisite in the program specifically requires a higher grade.
  • To summarize, once a student has 2 graded attempts of a course, after receiving an acceptable grade D- or above, federal aid will not pay for the course to be repeated again. Again, a “W” does not count as a grade for repeat rules.

THE KEY: The repeat rule becomes effective once the student receives an acceptable grade in a course.

State (TAP/APTS/PTS/Excelsior)

  • The repeat rules come into effect as soon as the student receives an acceptable grade (D- or above).
  • Students can repeat F grades if they have never earned a higher grade.
  • Students can repeat W grades if they have never earned a higher grade.
  • Students can repeat courses that require a minimum grade, if specifically required in their program.
  • NYS aid will not cover a repeat course if the student received a D- or higher and a higher grade is not required by the MCC program.

Review The Basics…

  • Every full-time student needs to be enrolled in 12 credits of financial aid eligible courses to be aided full-time.
  • Full-time students can register for courses outside of their program as long as they have 12 financially eligible hours for both Federal (Pell/loans) and State (TAP/APTS/PTS).
  • For full-time New York State Aid Programs (TAP), students are required to be enrolled in a minimum of 3 credit bearing hours during their first semester of enrollment, and a minimum of 6 credit bearing hours during their second and subsequent semesters of enrollment.
  • FACE only determines course eligibility for financial aid – it cannot tell a student whether he/she, as an individual, is eligible to receive aid (this is a financial aid question).
  • Imputed Credit = AKA – non-credit courses such as TRS, MTH 096, MTH 098, etc…
  • The FACE process ALWAYS shows imputed credit as aid eligible regardless of any other factors. However: The Financial Aid Office runs a process to find students who have ATTEMPTED 30 or more hours of imputed credit and makes the course INELIGIBLE for Federal aid (Pell/loans). This does not apply to NYS (TAP/APTS) eligibility.

Prerequisite Courses

  • Federal aid (Pell/loans) will pay for prerequisite courses up to a maximum of 30 imputed/prerequisite credits. These prerequisite courses will count in the 30 credits allowable for the imputed credit rule reviewed above.
  • State aid (TAP/APTS) will no longer pay for credit bearing prerequisites that DO NOT meet a requirement in a student’s program.

Advise for ‘Major’ but Verify Financial Aid for ‘Program’

  • Financial Aid is calculated based on MCC Program requirements.
  • Problems can occur when a student registers for a course in their Major, but when Degree Works is run against the Program, the requirement is filled by other courses.
  • Student may need a course in their Major, but there is no room for it in their Program. Then the course is not aid eligible.

Re-include Courses with Passing Grades

  • In the past, MCC students had courses with grades (C- or lower) excluded from their GPA after they completed a program change. This was done automatically.
  • Financial aid includes these courses despite them being excluded from the GPA. Therefore, these courses need to be re-included in the students Degree Works audit BEFORE you can say that a registered course meets a requirement.
  • Look in the “Insufficient: F/W/U/Repeated/Excluded” in their Degree Works. Are there courses listed with acceptable grades (D- and above)? These may be excluded for the reason of program change. These need to go back into the Degree Works audit before a registered course can be made eligible for financial aid. (You can also view these courses on the transcript – the course will be indicated by “E” (Excluded) due to program change).
  • Look for excluded courses due to program change with passing grades that could count toward degree requirements.
  • Can these excluded courses with passing grades be used somewhere else in the program?

Graduation Exception – for State Aid Only

  • Allows a student to take courses that do not apply to their program as long as they have at least 1 credit that does apply to their requirements AND they are in the last term (semester) before graduation.
  • This is now only allowed for NYS aid (TAP/APTS).
  • Students need to apply to graduate and choose to use the “Last Term Exemption” (LTE) when prompted on the application.
  • This is not an automated process and may take a week to be applied.
  • This is a one-time exemption only.
  • Students can repeat a course that they previously passed in their last term when using LTE.  The repeat can be for any reason (does not need to be an approved state repeat) for the course/credits after the one in-program course in the last semester.

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