Federal Pell Grant

The amount of this federal grant, which need not be repaid, is determined by a student's need and the cost of attendance at a particular school. Need is determined by a formula consistently applied to all applicants for the grant. The formula is developed by the Department of Education and reviewed annually by Congress.
 

Students must:

  1. Be a matriculated undergraduate student enrolled/accepted for study, who does not have a prior bachelor's degree
  2. Be enrolled for at least 1 credit each term
  3. Maintain good academic standing
  4. Be a citizen, national or permanent resident alien with a valid social security number; students must verify their eligible noncitizen status upon request
  5. Not be in default on any federal loan borrowed while attending any institution at any time
  6. Not owe a refund on a Federal Pell grant, FSEOG or federal Perkins loan (formally NDSL) to any institution
  7. Have a high-school diploma or a general education development (G.E.D.) certificate, pass a test approved by the U.S. Department of Education, or meet other standards your state establishes that are approved by the U.S. Department of Education
  8. Have financial need as determined by the federal Pell grant SAI (Student Aid Index) in coordination with the university's cost of attendance, your enrollment status and whether you attend school for a full academic year, or less
  9. Not have reached the federal Pell lifetime eligibility limit (the equivalent of 12 full-time terms)

To qualify for Pell, you must submit a valid Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The Student Aid Index (SAI) on the FAFSA Submission Summary document determines eligibility based on federal regulations. Valid federal data must be received while the student is enrolled for the award year. Students may receive a Pell grant at only one school per financial aid term.

Regulations define an undergraduate as one who is enrolled in an undergraduate course of study and who has not earned a bachelor's degree or its equivalent, or a first professional degree. (By "professional degree," we mean degrees offered by professional programs, such as pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary programs, or chiropractic programs.) Occasionally, a student will complete the requirements for a bachelor's degree but will continue taking undergraduate courses without accepting the degree. The school must decide at what point it considers the student to have completed the bachelor's degree course of study, when the student completes the requirement for the degree, or when the student actually receives the degree. If the school considers the student to have completed the bachelor's degree course of study, the student is no longer eligible to receive a federal Pell grant or a FSEOG.

If the student receives a Pell grant at another institution and then transfers to Empire State University during the same financial aid year (summer, fall and spring), the amount of the Pell grant that the student received at the other institution must be subtracted from the total annual maximum federal Pell grant for which the student qualifies. In order to ensure that students do not owe a refund of federal Pell grant funds and/or tuition and fees, students who attend another institution during the same financial-aid year and then transfer to Empire State University must contact the financial aid office at financialaid@sunyempire.edu before they accept any refunds of federal funds.

Students may only receive up to 12 terms of full-time Pell, or the equivalent. The Department of Education tracks the number of terms a student has used Pell. Once a student has reached that limit, they are no longer eligible for Pell at any institution. An award may be reduced if the student is nearing that limit, or cancelled if a student has reached that limit.

 

Special Financial Circumstances

 

Application Completion

 Empire State University's federal code is 010286.

Deadline for Submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)

The 2025-2026 School Year (enrollments beginning on or after May 2025):

  • FAFSA applications must be submitted by midnight CDT, June 30, 2026.
  • Corrections must be submitted by midnight CDT, Sept. 14, 2026.

Note: Your school must have your complete and correct information by your last day of enrollment in the school year.

The 2024-2025 School Year (enrollments beginning on or after May 2024):

  • FAFSA applications must be submitted by midnight CDT, June 30, 2025.
  • Corrections must be submitted by midnight CDT, Sept. 14, 2025.

Note: Your school must have your complete and correct information by your last day of enrollment in the school year.

 

The Department of Education considers an application's receipt date and time to be when the application/correction has been successfully submitted. The last page of the online application/correction submission process is, therefore, the confirmation page. It contains a 22 - (if an application) or 30 - (if a correction) character long confirmation number, which contains the exact date and time (CST) the form was received. It is recommended that you print this for your records.

Note: Transactions must be completed and accepted by midnight to meet the deadline. If transmissions are started before midnight, but are not completed until after midnight, those transmissions will not meet the deadline. In addition, any transmission picked up on the deadline date that gets rejected may not be able to be reprocessed because the deadline will have passed by the time the user gets the information notifying them of the rejection.

The Office of Financial Aid must receive the output document of the FAFSA application process, with an official SAI while the student is enrolled and eligible, but not later than Sept. 14, 2026 for 2025-2026, and no later than Sept. 14, 2025 for 2024-2025.

  • To give a Pell grant to a student, a school must have a valid submission summary document (one with a SAI computed from correct data) while the student is still enrolled for the award year, or within the timeframe the student qualifies for a late disbursement under 34 CFR 668.164(g)(4)(i), but no later than Sept. 14, 2026 for 2025-2026 and Sept. 14, 2025 for 2024-2025.
  • For students selected for verification (both ED-selected and school-selected), the school must have verification documents, and for Pell recipients a valid submission summary document, no later than 120 days after the last day of enrollment or Sept. 14, 2026 for 2025-2026 and Sept. 14, 2025 for 2024-2025, whichever is earlier.

For the deadlines above, the date the FAFSA Processing System processed the ISIR transaction is considered the date the institution received the ISIR. On the FAFSA submission summary document, and ISIR printout, the processed date is above the SAI on the first page.

New York State Student Financial Aid Deadlines

Due to New York State Higher Education regulation, the application deadline for New York state financial aid programs is now June 30, consistent with the FAFSA. State forms do not replace filling out the FAFSA. You must fill out the FAFSA to receive federal student aid. Note: "Date received" means received by the U.S. Department of Education.

New York 2025-2026 June 30, 2026-date received

New York 2024-2025 June 30, 2025-date received

Deadline Information

The priority deadline for applying for federal campus-based aid including the federal supplemental educational opportunity grant (FSEOG) and Empire State University grants and scholarships is April 1 prior to the start of the award year.

The priority deadline for applying for Pell, TAP, student loans and submission of the federal appeal form and/or New York state waiver request form with dean's approval and appropriate documentation to the financial aid office is six weeks before the start of the term.

Financial aid files completed after the financial aid priority deadline date will be reviewed. However, the Office of Financial Aid cannot guarantee that financial aid will be processed before the payment due date. A federal financial aid file is complete when the university has received valid FAFSA data from the federal processor and all other documentation requested by financial aid. Completed files are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.

 

Students should receive the FAFSA result data immediately after filing the FAFSA, which gives the Student Aid Index (SAI) as determined by the standard Department of Education formula.

Students should check the information on the FAFSA submission summary for the information's accuracy and correct the information per the instructions provided by the federal processor.

Students who currently list Empire State University (010286) as the school of record on the FAFSA will have their ISIR automatically received by the Empire State University Office of Financial Aid. Students who do not list Empire State University (010286) as the school of record on the FAFSA must submit a correction to add Empire State University's school code in order for Empire State University to access the records.

Corrections to the FAFSA

The Office of Financial Aid utilizes FAFSA Partner Portal to make corrections to student FAFSA/ISIRs. Students can make corrections online by following the federal processor's instructions that are sent with their FAFSA submission summary. Corrections to the FAFSA should be made electronically to prevent weeks-months delays.

Verification

Some students will be selected by the federal processor or the school for verification and will be required to submit additional documentation to the Office of Financial Aid before aid can be determined or processed.

The Office of Financial Aid will process a correct and complete Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) containing federal student data in approximately two to seven days from the receipt of the report. This process will take longer in the spring and early summer if the federal government has not yet released a federal Pell Grant schedule of award amounts or if our computer supplier has not provided the university with the appropriate software. After the student's award eligibility is determined, eligible students will receive notification to view their award information on MySUNYEmpire.

Aid Payment

  • Summer Pell Grant funds are paid in mid-August by the Student Accounts office.
  • Fall and spring Pell Grant funds are paid approximately six weeks after the start of the academic term by the Student Accounts office.

Students receive any refund due from the Student Accounts office automatically after the government submits payment to the university.

 

Simple to Start

Earn the mark of quality and respect of a SUNY degree.

Check out the Steps to Apply.

Placeholder image
Apply Now Attend Info Session Request Info