More than halfway through the Fall semester, some CUNY community college students are still waiting on financial aid awards from the state — weeks after officials said the problem was being solved.
The delayed funding is from the New York State Opportunity Promise Scholarship, the state-supported component of the City University’s Reconnect program, and covers tuition, fees and books for students at community colleges pursuing certain degrees. Last month, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced an expansion of the program to include new degree pathways and campuses.
One student at Kingsborough Community College told The City Reporter they had been reaching out to their university’s financial aid office about the funds since they first noticed the delays. The office told them the money had not yet been disbursed by CUNY’s central office.
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The student included a screenshot of an email from the office saying they “still do not have confirmation” of when the money will be disbursed.
Students have taken to online message boards to complain about the missing funds — and the stress of not knowing when it will arrive. The money is a “last dollar” scholarship, meaning it makes up for shortfalls after other sources of aid have been exhausted.
A CUNY spokesperson echoed last month’s promises that the funds were one their way.
“NYSOP funds were distributed to campus accounts in the University’s Student Financial Aid system over the past month and will begin appearing in students’ accounts starting Monday,” Noah Gardy, CUNY press secretary said in a statement.
The university did not say how many students are still affected by delays in disbursements. Last month, a university official said hundreds of students had not received their scholarships.
“Nope, I called my Financial Aid office again today and was told that they still don’t have a date they can give me and that they actually haven’t heard ANYTHING from CUNY since the 7th last month,” one student wrote in a Nov. 5 Reddit post. “This entire situation is a joke.”
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A Queensborough Community College student shared emails from their financial aid office from Nov. 10, saying they do not have a date for NYSOP disbursement yet but “expect it to be soon.”
Gardy said the university was working to prevent additional hold-ups. “While these delays will not affect registration, we regret any stress or uncertainty they may have caused,” he said. “We are reviewing our internal processes to prevent such delays in the future.”
CUNY Reconnect received $18.8 million from the most recent state budget. The program covers the cost of enrollment in 220 high-demand associates degrees at community colleges for adults between 25 and 55. It serves 10,000 students across the seven CUNY community colleges.
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The post ‘A Joke’: Missing State Aid Leaves CUNY Students Stressed appeared first on The City Reporter.
