{"id":8277,"date":"2025-12-31T13:56:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T18:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?p=8277"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:01:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T17:01:37","slug":"you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/","title":{"rendered":"You may be able to attend a SUNY or CUNY school tuition-free! Apply by Feb. 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8279 alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/SUNY-CUNY-Web.jpg\" alt=\"SUNY CUNY Logos\" width=\"401\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/SUNY-CUNY-Web.jpg 401w, https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/SUNY-CUNY-Web-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 401px) 100vw, 401px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>January 15, 2025 &#8212;<\/em> The <a href=\"https:\/\/hesc.ny.gov\/excelsior\">Excelsior Scholarship application<\/a> is now open for students attending college this spring or who missed the fall deadline. Eligible students may qualify for free tuition at state-operated SUNY or CUNY colleges.<\/p>\n<p><strong>To be eligible, students must:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Have a family income of $125,000 or less annually.<\/li>\n<li>Be a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen.<\/li>\n<li>Be a legal resident of New York State for at least 12 continuous months prior to applying.<\/li>\n<li>Plan to attend a SUNY or CUNY two or four-year college full-time.<\/li>\n<li>Complete at least 30 credits per year in your program of study.<\/li>\n<li>Agree to live in New York State and not be employed out of state for a duration equal to the number of years the scholarship was received.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you do not meet the residency criteria, you may still qualify through the <a href=\"https:\/\/hesc.ny.gov\/dream\">NYS DREAM Act<\/a>. If you previously attended college before Spring 2026, you must have completed at least 30 credits per year applicable toward your degree before applying.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hesc.ny.gov\/excelsior\">Excelsior program<\/a> page or connect with your school\u2019s guidance counselor or financial aid office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January 15, 2025 &#8212; The <a href=\"https:\/\/hesc.ny.gov\/excelsior\">Excelsior Scholarship application<\/a> is now open for students attending college this spring or who missed the fall deadline. Eligible students may qualify for free&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"division":[],"allowed_regions":[],"allowed_divisions":[],"class_list":["post-8277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","issue-volume-43-no-11"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>You may be able to attend a SUNY or CUNY school tuition-free! Apply by Feb. 3 - PEF Communicator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"You may be able to attend a SUNY or CUNY school tuition-free! Apply by Feb. 3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"January 15, 2025 &#8212; The Excelsior Scholarship application is now open for students attending college this spring or who missed the fall deadline. Eligible students may qualify for free...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PEF Communicator\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-31T18:56:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-10T17:01:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/SUNY-CUNY-Web.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"401\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ksheehan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ksheehan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ksheehan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e\"},\"headline\":\"You may be able to attend a SUNY or CUNY school tuition-free! Apply by Feb. 3\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-31T18:56:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-10T17:01:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":195,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/SUNY-CUNY-Web.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\\\/\",\"name\":\"You may be able to attend a SUNY or CUNY school tuition-free! Apply by Feb. 3 - PEF Communicator\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/SUNY-CUNY-Web.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-31T18:56:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-10T17:01:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/SUNY-CUNY-Web.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/SUNY-CUNY-Web.jpg\",\"width\":401,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"SUNY CUNY Logos\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Volume 43. No. 11\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"You may be able to attend a SUNY or CUNY school tuition-free! Apply by Feb. 3\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"PEF Communicator\",\"description\":\"NYS PEF Communicator\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e\",\"name\":\"ksheehan\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/author\\\/ksheehan\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"You may be able to attend a SUNY or CUNY school tuition-free! Apply by Feb. 3 - PEF Communicator","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"You may be able to attend a SUNY or CUNY school tuition-free! Apply by Feb. 3","og_description":"January 15, 2025 &#8212; The Excelsior Scholarship application is now open for students attending college this spring or who missed the fall deadline. Eligible students may qualify for free...","og_url":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/","og_site_name":"PEF Communicator","article_published_time":"2025-12-31T18:56:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-10T17:01:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":401,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/SUNY-CUNY-Web.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ksheehan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ksheehan","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/"},"author":{"name":"ksheehan","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e"},"headline":"You may be able to attend a SUNY or CUNY school tuition-free! Apply by Feb. 3","datePublished":"2025-12-31T18:56:44+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-10T17:01:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/"},"wordCount":195,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/SUNY-CUNY-Web.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/","url":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/","name":"You may be able to attend a SUNY or CUNY school tuition-free! Apply by Feb. 3 - PEF Communicator","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/SUNY-CUNY-Web.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-31T18:56:44+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-10T17:01:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/SUNY-CUNY-Web.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/SUNY-CUNY-Web.jpg","width":401,"height":200,"caption":"SUNY CUNY Logos"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/you-may-be-able-to-attend-a-suny-or-cuny-school-tuition-free-apply-by-feb-3\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Volume 43. No. 11","item":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"You may be able to attend a SUNY or CUNY school tuition-free! Apply by Feb. 3"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/","name":"PEF Communicator","description":"NYS PEF Communicator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e","name":"ksheehan","url":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/author\/ksheehan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8277"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8280,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277\/revisions\/8280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8277"},{"taxonomy":"division","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/division?post=8277"},{"taxonomy":"allowed_regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/allowed_regions?post=8277"},{"taxonomy":"allowed_divisions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/noduslink\/wp\/v2\/allowed_divisions?post=8277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}