Applying for Aid

• The FAFSA is available on October 1 for the following year.
• The student and a parent will need to obtain a Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID (different than your Oneonta username), at least 3-5 days prior to completing your FAFSA.
• Watch the short video, "How to fill out the FAFSA"
• The FAFSA uses “prior-prior year” tax data. The IRS Data Retrieval Tool electronically transfers your federal tax return information into your FAFSA form.
• When you come to the end of the FAFSA online process, you will have an opportunity to complete a New York State Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) application with most of your federal data carried over to your TAP application.

Complete the FAFSA online

Check the status of your FAFSA

Check the status of your FAFSA anytime!

It is essential that all transfer students make sure to release their FAFSA data to SUNY Oneonta. You can make that correction electronically by adding school code 002847.

ACCESS YOUR FAFSA

If you missed the opportunity to complete a TAP application at the end of the FAFSA online process, you may complete TAP on the Web now.

It is important to inform New York State Higher Education Services Corporation (NYSHESC) that you will attend SUNY Oneonta.

Review your TAP status and make corrections electronically at My HESC Account Access. Check your school code and make sure your TAP grant is scheduled to come to SUNY Oneonta (school code 0930).

My HESC Account Access

New students will receive their official Oneonta username and password from the Admissions Office. With this username, students will be able to access their personal records which includes their financial aid information through myOneonta. This username is NOT the same as your FSA ID.

Once you have been accepted by the Admissions Office and the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships has received your FAFSA, you will receive an eAward notification by email.

1. Review your eAward Letter carefully (accessible through myOneonta)
2. Review the Terms of Financial Aid awards
3. Review Rights and Responsibilities as a student aid recipient

Contact the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships if you wish to decline or reduce any part of your award

Once New York State has a completed TAP application from the student and the state budget has passed, you will receive a TAP award certificate from NYS Higher Education Services Corp (HESC) with your official TAP award.

While you are waiting for this process to be completed, you may see an estimated TAP award appearing in your Financial Aid Award package. If you want to review your TAP application and/or make address or college code changes, you can do so at My HESC Account Access. SUNY Oneonta's TAP school code is 0930. Questions about your award should be directed to NYS HESC (888-697-4372).

Please note that the SUNY Tuition Credit appearing in your award package is in addition to the TAP grant and also determined by NYS HESC.

Students awarded Federal Work Study as part of the Financial Aid Award will receive an email with further instructions.

Returning students

Returning students who have borrowed previously will be processed automatically after accepting the Subsidized and/or Unsubsidized Student Loans on your myOneonta account.

First year students

First year students seeking student loans will need to complete 3 steps:

1. On your myOneonta account, select My Financial Aid to view your award and accept your Subsidized and/or Unsubsidized Student Loans.
2. Complete the Federal Direct Loan Entrance Counseling.* This online counseling session goes over the student's rights and responsibilities in borrowing student loans. After the student has signed in with their FSA ID (from Step 1), select "Complete Counseling" and then "Entrance Counseling." You will find SUNY Oneonta listed as: SUNY COLLEGE AT ONEONTA."
3. Last (you may complete this in the same session), you must sign a Master Promissory Note* (MPN). MPNs are valid for 10 years and transfer from school to school. If you previously completed an MPN (for example you previously attended a school that participated in Federal Direct Student Loans), you may not have to complete a new one (although it never hurts if you are unsure). You can check if you have a valid MPN by selecting the option "Completed MPN's" once logged on to studentloans.gov.

Please allow 24-48 hours for your data to be transmitted by Department of Education and processed by SUNY Oneonta.

Students should contact their financial aid counselor to decline or reduce loan amounts. Federal Direct Loans deducts a loan origination fee of 1.062% from the loan proceeds.

SUNY Oneonta is dedicated to helping students keep their loan debt down as much as possible. Please take some time to look at our Making Cents Financial Literacy Program

Parents

Parents planning to borrow from the Federal Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) must complete the following steps:

1. Sign into studentloans.gov with your parent FSA ID (from Step 1), click on "Apply for a Direct PLUS loan" and then on "Direct PLUS Loan Application for Parents." You may begin the PLUS loan process after May 1st of the upcoming aid year. This process will collect borrower information and perform a credit check. You will find SUNY Oneonta listed as SUNY COLLEGE AT ONEONTA. In the event you are denied a PLUS due to credit, please contact the financial aid advisor assigned to your student for additional options.
2. Once approved, the parent borrower will complete a PLUS Master Promissory Note* (MPN) on the same site (during the same session if you wish) by clicking on "Complete Loan Agreement (MPN)" and then on "PLUS MPN for Parents."

Please allow 48-72 hours for SUNY Oneonta to receive notification about your Parent PLUS Loan and add it to your Financial Aid Award package. Please be sure to borrow only what you need. Federal Direct Loans deducts a loan origination fee of 4.276% from the loan proceeds.

It is extremely important that you inform the college when your address has changed.

In order to protect your privacy, SUNY Oneonta requires you request address changes in writing. Address changes must be made at the Registrar's Office by completing the Change of Personal Information Form. This form should be completed, signed and returned to the Registrar's Office (Netzer 131).

Change of Personal Information Form

There may be additional documentation that we are required to collect. We will notify you by email instructing you to sign into your myOneonta account with your Oneonta username and password to view your outstanding requirements under your "My Verification" tab. Please do not send your copies of tax returns - we cannot accept them.

Submit completed requirements to:

Fax: (607) 436-2659
SUNY Oneonta Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships
123 Netzer Administration Building
Oneonta, NY 13820-4015

Not submitting requested documentation within 30 days may result in a forfeiture of your financial aid eligibility!

Institutional Verification Policies