Change Will Help Students Cope With a Delay in FAFSA data; Nearly 175,000 Students – over 75% of CUNY Undergraduates – Receive Financial Aid
City University of New York Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez announced today that amid delays with the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid Program (FAFSA), CUNY will move its deadline for students to accept their admission offers – known as College Decision Day or National Candidate Reply Commitment Day – from May 1 to June 1. The new extended date is designed to help students who won’t receive federal financial aid data until April.
“For millions of young adults wrestling over where to attend college, access to financial aid is often the deciding factor. This is particularly true for CUNY, an institution founded on the promise of providing a public first-rate education to all students, regardless of means,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “By pushing back commitment day we’re able to provide students and families the flexibility to make an informed decision and enable more New Yorkers to seize the benefits of public higher education.”
Traditionally, students who complete the FAFSA form, which colleges use to calculate financial aid packages, receive decisions about financing options in March. This year, release of the data is delayed because of changes to streamline the form, including efforts to reduce and clarify questions and update the formula to expand eligibility.
At CUNY, where over a third of undergraduate students come from households that earn less than $20,000 annually, many students rely on financial aid to attend college. During the 2022-23 academic year, 174,000 undergraduates – or 77% of its 226,000 student body – received $780 million in need-based federal Pell grants and New York State Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) awards. Thanks to this aid, last year, 67% of in-state full-time undergraduates attended tuition-free and 80% of all CUNY students graduated debt-free.
To alleviate some financial uncertainty for prospective students affected by FAFSA, the University is offering the CUNY Net Price Calculator, which enables students to estimate their eligibility for grants, loans and scholarships and compare CUNY aid and expenses to other colleges.
Boosting Access to Aid and Enrollment
CUNY is urging all high school seniors to complete the FAFSA form if they have not done so yet. In 2023, more than 80,000 graduating seniors in New York State failed to complete the form. According to the National College Attainment Network, the high school class of 2022 left about $3.6 billion in Pell Grants nationwide unclaimed by not completing the FAFSA. To boost completion rates, Gov. Hochul this year introduced legislation requiring graduating high school seniors to complete and submit a FAFSA form.
As part of that effort, CUNY launched a web guide to FAFSA and a #FileFAFSAEarly social media campaign to spread awareness. Through its K16 Initiatives College and Career Advising Programs, the University has helped more than 4,000 high school students complete FAFSA forms.
To make the application process more accessible, CUNY and New York City Public Schools sent personalized “Welcome to CUNY” letters to approximately 65,000 NYC Public Schools seniors. The letters offered admission to CUNY community colleges and a QR code leading to a comprehensive admissions page that featured an Admissions Toolbox guide including a virtual enrollment counselor and information on financial aid.
Efforts to eliminate barriers reflect the University’s larger goal, enshrined in its strategic roadmap, “CUNY Lifting New York,” to cement its role as a national leader in providing access to higher education to all.
The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving more than 225,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 50,000 degrees each year. CUNY’s mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. CUNY’s graduates and faculty have received many prestigious honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur “Genius” Grants. The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background. To learn more about CUNY, visit www.cuny.edu.
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