FAQ

Once your award eligibility is determined, an award letter will be emailed to all students via the College's NCC email. All students can also view their financial aid awards, read messages, accept or decline loan offers on the MyNCC portal.

Here you can also view your SUNY financial aid award letter by clicking Print SUNY Award Letter PDF.

The financial aid awards are estimated and based on your expected full-time enrollment. If you attend less than full-time, your award will be adjusted. Additional changes to your award may result from:

• The federal verification process (applicants are randomly selected for this review process),
• Receipt of additional awards other than federal or state,
• Failure to maintain the standards of satisfactory academic progress,
• Not being enrolled as a matriculated student in an approved degree or certificate program.

 

The income tax information of the custodial parent (and stepparent, if custodial parent has remarried).

Note: If parents are not married, but live together as a family, then both parents must report their income on the fafsa.  

The FAFSA results are for one academic year. NCC's Fall semester begins the academic year each September. The FAFSA is available as early as October for the following Fall semester.  Apply online. Our school code is 002873. Remember, there is no fee involved in completing the FREE Application for Federal Student Aid!

IMPORTANT: when completing a FAFSA, the award offered is for the academic year; Fall , Spring & Summer*.  *if you have not used your full aid award between fall and spring, you may be eligible to receive federal aid for summer session of that award year.

A system used by the federal government to verify the information you provide on your FAFSA. If your FAFSA is selected, you may be asked to submit a tax transcript for you and your parent (if applicable). Tax transcripts are free and must be requested from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This request can take 10-12 days for you to receive. You may also be asked for other documents to complete the financial aid process. Once the verification process is complete, your financial aid awards may be adjusted. All NCC students who are selected for verification must submit the required documents in order for Federal aid, such as Direct Loans, Pell and SEOG, to be processed and applied to your bill.  

We’ve made submitting your financial aid documents a whole lot easier.

• Submit required documents from phone, tablet or computer
• Securely upload documents from any device
• E-sign documents – for student and parent
• Accessible via MyNCC portal

All you have to do is log into your MyNCC Portal.  In the MyFinancialAid folder click on the “VerifyMyFAFSA” link.

If it is your first time, you will be asked to create an account. Important, when confirming student information, the student’s name, date of birth and SSN you enter must match the information on your FAFSA exactly. You will then be brought directly to the list of items the Financial Aid Office needs you to complete.

These requested documents can only be submitted through this process.  Printed forms will no longer be accepted at the Financial Aid Office.

IMPORTANT: A student selected for verification must complete the process by the published date in the Federal Register, 34CFR668.60(c), or 120 days after the last day of the student’s enrollment, whichever is earlier.  If the student does not provide the necessary documents within this time, the federal aid award is forfeited.  

There are several possibilities:

• You did not use the IRS data retrieval tool when completing the FAFSA
• You used the IRS Data Retrieval Tool but changed some of the data on the FAFSA afterwards
• You were randomly selected for verification by the Federal Government
• The FAFSA you submitted had estimated, incomplete or contradictory data

Establish a profile, create a user name & password, request a Return Transcript.  Be sure to request a TAX RETURN TRANSCRIPT. An Account Transcript is NOT acceptable. Nassau Community College will not accept a signed copy of a 1040, 1040ez, 1040a federal tax return to complete the verification process.

If you, or your parent, filed an amended tax return and you have been selected for verification you need to also provide us with "Record of Account" transcript. This is in addition to submitting to us the Tax Return Transcript.

If using the Get Transcript by Mail service, allow 5-10 days for transcript to arrive at the address on file with the IRS.

Set by a federally mandated formula, the EFC is a number that helps your NCC financial aid counselor determine if you are eligible for federal financial assistance, including Pell Grant, Stafford Loan, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) and Federal Work-Study (FWS).

Courses that are not applicable to your degree requirements are not financial aid eligible. It is important for you to run a Degree Evaluation each time you register or update your schedule to ensure you are taking appropriate courses toward your program of study.

Remedial courses do not count in program, but can be eligible for aid.  A maximum of 30 credit hours of remedial coursework can be used in the credit load for federal aid eligibility.  After a student has attempted 30 credit hours of remedial coursework, the student may no longer receive federal aid for remedial coursework. 

Remedial courses may be counted toward full-time study requirements for Federal and NY State Aid. However, for NY State aid, the student must also be registered for at least 6 credit-bearing/non-remedial courses.

You must first have a FAFSA on file and all required documents satisfied. Then you can submit an Income Adjustment Request form which can be found on our financial aid forms page. Submit that completed form and the supporting documentation for a financial aid counselor to consider. If there are any questions or requests, they will be sent to your NCC email by the counselor.

The Federal Work-study program is a federally funded need-based financial aid employment program.  To be eligible a student must be matriculated and enrolled in a minimum of 6 credits.  Eligibility is based on need as determined by the FAFSA and the availability of funds.  Recipients of this program must be making satisfactory academic progress.  Students that have indicated an interest in being considered for work-study on their FAFSA will be sent an email directing them to visit www.ncc.edu/fws to learn more about the steps to take to secure a position.

For non-FWS jobs, check with SPD Employer Services Office in Nassau Hall.

Nassau Community College has a Bookstore Credit Program with our Campus Bookstore. This program allows students receiving Federal Student Aid to purchase books and required supplies from the College bookstore using their expected financial aid in the form of a bookstore credit.

 Criteria to receive a book credit:

1. You must be eligible to receive Federal Title IV funds,
2. Your total estimated federal award must exceed tuition and fees charges by at least $100,
3. You have submitted all requested documents to the Financial Aid Office. 
4. You must be making satisfactory academic progress,
5. You must be enrolled in at least 6 credits toward your program,
6. Your student account must be current (no prior outstanding balances).

 Note: If you are NOT a Nassau County resident, you must have already submitted your Certificate of Residency to Student Financial Affairs.

Winter session is now considered as part of the spring semester for federal financial aid purposes. This means that if a student is registered for three credits during winterim, and nine credits during spring, they would be considered a full-time student and their Federal financial aid would be packaged as such.  Also, if a student is only enrolled in winterim session and not spring, the student may be eligible to receive federal aid.  To receive the aid for the winterim session the student must complete the winterim course.

IMPORTANT: All students are responsible to pay their winterim tuition bill by the assigned due date. All winterim and spring financial aid will be disbursed together as spring aid and will be disbursed in the spring semester only.

Please note: New York State aid such as TAP and Aid for Part Time Study is not available for Winterim. Please be aware that all awards are contingent upon funding and your remaining aid eligibility.

First you must have completed a FAFSA.

If your award package reflects a loan offer, you can accept it online or complete a Loan Request form. All new borrowers must sign an electronic promissory note and complete an Entrance Counseling session at studentaid.gov

In order for your Federal Loan to be deducted from your bill you must complete these steps:

Step 1: “Accept” your loan award. You can do this on MyNCC or by completing a Loan Request form, found on the forms page at www.ncc.edu/financialaid. (Note: The web accept function on MyNCC is not available during the spring semester.)  

Step 2: Complete an MPN (Master Promissory Note)

Step 3: Complete an Entrance Counseling Session

Step 4: Complete an Annual Loan Acknowledgment 

Complete steps 2,3 & 4 at studentaid.gov (make sure you receive a confirmation) All steps must be completed at least 3 business days before the BILL DUE DATE to allow for system updates. The Office of Financial Aid cannot accept paper confirmations to satisfy this requirement.

IMPORTANT: Student must be enrolled for at least 6 credits toward your degree/certificate program to receive loans.

All students who have borrowed a Federal student loan are required by law to complete an Exit Counseling Session; it is sometimes referred to as an “Exit Interview”. This requirement comes into effect at the point of completion of their educational program or if the student leaves school, or when their enrollment status drops below half time (6 credits). This process helps students to understand their rights and responsibilities with regard to their student loan repayment.

To fulfill your federal requirement to complete a Student Loan Exit Counseling Session at studentaid.gov.

Your Federal Pell Grant depends on the Expected Family Contribution amount you received when you filled out the FAFSA. The maximum Federal Pell Grant amount is $6,495 effective for the 2021/2022 academic year.

TAP, the New York State tuition assistance grant, depends on the amount of your net taxable income from the previous year. 

Pell and TAP are grants and do not need to be repaid.

Before you officially withdraw, you’ll want to visit with a counselor. Withdrawal from individual courses or from the entire semester can affect your financial aid award for that semester and/or future semesters. Students receiving aid for their educational costs are required to maintain an acceptable cumulative GPA, while at the same time completing a specified percentage of the credits for which they register within a certain time frame. Withdrawals (noted as a “W” on your academic record) may affect the status of your “Satisfactory Academic Progress.”

NCC is happy to assist students and their families by offering an installment plan. Please contact the Bursar's office for more details.

While we make every effort to speak with you in a timely manner, Financial Aid awarding is unpredictable and some situations are more time-consuming than we could have anticipated. High call volume and long lines during peak periods may make it difficult to get through on the phone. Many students have found that communicating electronically to be convenient and successful. Email financialaid@ncc.edu from your NCC email account. Remember to include your N# in all correspondence.

Important: We will not discuss a student account with a non-NCC email.

A student that does not utilize their initial Pell award in fall and spring, may still use any remaining funds from the initial award. For example, student attends full-time in the fall and 9 credits in the spring. If the student enrolls in one course in the summer, the remaining Pell funds from the initial award would be used.  To receive an additional Pell award, the student must add an additional 6 credits to the summer.

The New York State STEM scholarship is an award that covers SUNY or CUNY undergraduate resident tuition.  If your school district identified you to the NYS Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) as being in the top ten percent of your NYS high school graduating class, you may meet initial eligibility requirements to complete the STEM scholarship. Find out if the STEM scholarship is for you.

This new scholarship covers tuition costs for SUNY and CUNY students from families with annual incomes up to $125,000.  You can be electronically notified when the application is open to apply for the Excelsior Scholarship.

Repeating a course may affect your NY State and/or Federal financial aid.

Courses in which a student has already received a passing grade are not eligible for state-sponsored aid, such as TAP.  Repeated courses may be counted if a student repeats a failed course or when the grade earned is passing at the institution but not considered passing in a particular curriculum.

Federal regulations allow a student to repeat a previously passed course once and be eligible for federal-sponsored aid, such as Pell or Direct Loans.

It is important for you to run a Degree Evaluation each time you register or update your schedule.

Year-round Pell allows a student to receive a Federal Pell Grant for three semesters; fall, spring, and now an additional Pell payment in the summer in each award year. There is criteria a student must meet before they can receive this additional award:

1. Student must be matriculated in a degree program
2. Student must meet Federal academic standards
3. Student must have received all of the initial Pell award
4. Student must enroll for a minimum of 6 credits* and can receive the additional payment up 12 credits

  * A student that does not utilize their initial Pell award in fall and spring, may still use any remaining funds from the initial award. For example, student attends full-time in the fall and 9 credits in the spring. If the student enrolls in one course in the summer, the remaining Pell funds from the initial award would be used.  To receive the additional Pell award, the student must add an additional 6 credits to the summer.

Never attending a class reduces your enrolled credits, but your tuition charges remain the same. Changes in your enrollment status may lower or cancel your financial aid award, making you responsible for any outstanding balances. Withdrawal from the class is not permitted for classes that have never been attended. If the course utilizes Brightspace, access will be deactivated if your professor reports you as never attending the class.