Part Time TAP Eligibility and Certification

• Matriculated in an eligible program of study at SUNY, CUNY, independent degree-granting or, starting in the 2024-25 academic year and thereafter, eligible proprietary colleges.
• Enrolled in 3–12 credits per semester (or 4–8 credits per trimester/quarter) that count toward the degree.
• Have a cumulative C-Average. Good Academic Standing Waivers cannot be used to qualify students who do not meet the C-Average requirement.
• Approved for a full-time TAP award after submitting a traditional TAP application or NYS DREAM Act TAP application. 

• Students must be enrolled in at least 6 but fewer than 12 credits of degree-applicable coursework to qualify for a Part-time TAP award.
• New guidelines, enacted July 1, 2022, allow full-time students who have at least six to 11 credits of degree-applicable coursework to receive a Part-time TAP award for their eligible part-time enrollment and tuition charges.
• For schools with modular terms, students must be enrolled in coursework that spans the entire 15-week term. Students who cancel/drop their enrollment in later modules are not eligible.
• Students are not eligible if they are only enrolled in fast-track or late-start courses. Fast track or late start classes enrolled in after the term add/drop date cannot be counted toward Part-time TAP enrollment eligibility.
• Students taking remedial courses may be eligible for Part-time TAP, provided the student takes at least one three-credit course for the term.
• Advanced Placement (AP), pre-college, or non-matriculated credits cannot be applied toward enrollment status for Part-time TAP eligibility.
• While new guidelines enacted July 1, 2022 have eliminated the prior full-time enrollment requirement for Part-Time TAP, there still is a 24-credit previous enrollment requirement for TAP awards subject to the Accelerated Study requirements.
• The ‘Last Semester’ and ‘Semester Prior to Last Semester’ leniency for course applicability does not apply to part-time TAP. This guidance is only for full-time study.

• Students can receive Part-time TAP, Part-Time Scholarship (PTS), and APTS in combination if there is eligibility for each program and the total of the combined awards does not exceed the cost of tuition.
• Order of awards: Part-time TAP should be certified first, along with PTS, if applicable. APTS should be certified last with an award amount that does not exceed the remaining part-time tuition liability.
• A student receiving APTS uses three points per award. If a student is receiving Part-time TAP with APTS, they may use additional TAP points depending on the number of credits enrolled in.
• Students are capped at a maximum of 12 TAP points for the year (excluding accelerated study TAP awards). This may limit the student’s ability to receive concurrent Part-time TAP and APTS awards for one academic year.

• Students cannot be certified until after the school’s 100% tuition liability date has passed.
• For schools with modular terms, students cannot be certified until the 100% tuition liability date for enrollment across all modules.
• Students will appear on the same Payment Roster with full-time TAP awards.
• Eligible Part-time TAP awards should be certified with a Certification Status of “Eligible.” Do not use “Not Full Time” as this will decertify the award.
• If the student is rostered for TAP along with a scholarship that requires full-time enrollment, such as the Scholarship for Academic Excellence (SAE), then the Certification Status of “TAP – No Scholarship” may be used to certify only the Part-time TAP award and not the accompanying scholarship award. 
• In the Tuition field, enter the student’s actual part-time tuition charges for their eligible part-time enrollment. The maximum value of this field is $9999.99. If the part-time tuition liability is above $9999.99, then there is no need to change the tuition amount indicated.
• In the Enrollment Status field, select the number of eligible part-time credits the student is enrolled in. The options in the drop-down box that may be selected are 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, or 11.
• Do not use the “HT” or “PT” options, as these are used only for Accelerated Study half-time awards. If the drop-down box only has “HT” or “PT” for the Enrollment Status choices, then our system is indicating the student does not qualify for Part-time TAP. Check the student’s first year receiving TAP or contact HESC support to help review the account.

Certifications are processed once weekly on Thursday evenings. After certifications are processed, Part-time TAP award amounts will be indicated on the corresponding Remittance Advice. Remittance Advices are produced every Friday morning.

• Part-time TAP recipients must meet the same Good Academic Standing requirements as full-time TAP recipients, including Pursuit of Program (POP) and Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
• To meet Program Pursuit, the student must complete and receive a grade in a percentage of the six-credit minimum part-time course load for Part-time TAP. The pursuit percentages for each payment year are as follows:
  • 50 percent in each term of the first year (3 credits)
  • 75 percent in each term of the second year (4.5 credits)
  • 100 percent in each term of the third year and thereafter (6 credits)
• Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP): Part-time TAP recipients are evaluated on the same SAP Charts are evaluated on the same SAP Charts as full-time TAP recipients.
  • Because students receive partial payments, schools must round down point totals to the nearest full payment position on the SAP Chart. 
  • For example, a first-time student receiving a six-credit part-time TAP award (three points charged) will have at least two part-time terms on the first position of the SAP cart before they need to be evaluated at the second position.