For federal and state financial aid programs, students may only receive financial aid (including federal loans), for courses required for their program of study. Students that enroll in courses not required for their program may have their financial aid reduced or canceled.
Student Outcome Tracking (SOT) is a computerized process which evaluates if the courses students register for are required for their degree program. Each time the student registers for a course, a message will be displayed in Banner if the course is not aid-eligible. Note that a student can still register for courses that are not aid-eligible. The message in Banner is an informational warning only, and does not prevent registration.
Buffalo State is required to follow all federal and state regulations in the administration of federal and state aid programs. Federal and state regulations both mandate that aid can only be given for required courses. With the implementation of SOT, Buffalo State can fully enforce these regulations which reduces the College’s noncompliance risk. Colleges that do not adhere to federal and state regulations can become ineligible to offer aid to its students and/or receive hefty fines. Since the vast majority of Buffalo State students use federal and/or state financial aid, it is very important that the College remain compliant.
When students only enroll in courses required for their degree, they can graduate faster, spend less money, and reduce loan debt. Additionally, there are lifetime limits to financial aid so graduating sooner will help ensure students do not run out of aid.
Courses in the following areas are considered required:
Students should review Degree Works to determine which courses to enroll in each semester. Once registered for courses, confirm that the courses display in the audit as fulfilling requirements. Students can also see which courses are required in Banner using the following prompts:
| Recommended Action: Students are strongly encouraged to re-review their Registration Compliance Results about a week before classes begin. Note that a prior semester's grades or changes to Degree Works could affect their upcoming semester's eligibility. Therefore, it is good practice to review the Registration Compliance Results after the prior semester has been graded. |
Students are notified as they register for courses in Banner if the course is not eligible. Additionally, they may follow the aforementioned Banner prompts to check their schedule at any time.
The chart below displays how many required credits are needed for each type of aid program.
|
Source |
Program |
Required Credits |
|---|---|---|
|
NYS |
Tuition Assistance Program (TAP)* |
12+ |
|
NYS |
SUNY Tuition Credit* |
12+ |
|
NYS |
Excelsior Scholarship and Tuition Credit* |
12+ |
| NYS | Aid for Part-Time Study (APTS) |
3-11
The sum of a student's required and non-required credits cannot exceed 11 credits for APTS. |
|
NYS |
All other HESC-administered funds* |
12+ |
|
Federal |
Pell Grant |
12+ credits: Receive 100% of Pell. |
|
Federal |
Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) |
3-12+ |
|
Federal |
TEACH Grant |
12+ credits: Receive 100% of TEACH. |
|
Federal |
Work-Study |
6+ |
|
Federal |
Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans |
6+ |
|
Federal |
Direct PLUS and Grad PLUS Loans |
6+ |
* Students covered under the Americans with Disability Act may be able to receive these aid programs if they attend less than full-time
Follow the steps below to determine how your financial aid will be affected based on your registration.
Your first step is to review Degree Works to try to determine why the course has been marked as not required. If Degree Works shows the course is in the “All College Elective Credits Above Degree Requirements” section at the bottom, that is an indication that the course is not needed.
If the course is not in the “Above Degree Requirements” section, students should contact their advisor. Advisors should review the degree audit and also uncheck the option to "include pre-registered classes" at the top of Degree Works and re-process the audit. This removes the upcoming registration from the degree audit. Next, review where the course was showing as required in the degree audit. If another course is now showing in its place, this means the student already has a course that fulfills this requirement and they do not really need to take the new course. If you or your advisor needs help, contact the Financial Aid Office at finaid@buffalostate.edu.
Your second step is to decide on your course of action below:
As long as a student is enrolled in at least 12 credit hours of required coursework, they will qualify for the maximum in federal and state aid. If the student picks up the additional unrequired course, their bill will not go up (fall and spring semesters) and they remain eligible for full-time aid since their other classes are required.
Students that prefer to attend part-time should refer to the chart above to determine how many required courses they need to take in addition to the unrequired course to still receive some aid.
Federal Aid: Students may repeat a course they earned a C- or below in once and receive federal financial aid. Note that withdrawals do not count as a previous attempt for the repeat policy (but all withdrawals are included in the student’s SAP calculations).
State Aid: Only courses previously failed may be retaken for state aid. If a student’s program requires that a certain grade be achieved in a specific course and the student earned below the minimum, the student may retake the course and receive state aid for it.
Minor courses are not required. However, students often need additional electives to earn enough credits to graduate. If these additional electives are also minor courses, the student can receive aid for them.
Courses for either major are considered required for federal aid, but only courses pertaining to the primary major are required for state aid. The automatic SOT process does not always account for dual majors correctly. Staff in the FAO will work to identify these issues and correct them. Students in dual majors should pay close attention to ensure they are enrolling in required coursework and contact the FAO if they believe the SOT results are incorrect.
Students earning a dual degree must earn at least 150 credits to graduate. Credits needed in both majors (one for each degree) are considered required for federal aid, as too are all the credits needed to earn 150 credits. It may be advantageous for some students in a dual major to switch to dual degree to extend their aid eligibility. Only credits toward the primary degree are used for state aid (TAP).
Students should contact the Financial Aid Office if they change their major. The Financial Aid Office will review the major change, and if needed, reprocess the student's courses through the SOT process.
Students can receive federal and state aid for remedial coursework. Note that remedial courses do not bear credits, which means the student will not earn credits for their completion. Students receiving the NYS Excelsior Scholarship are required to earn 30 credits each year, and therefore may need to enroll in additional courses to achieve the annual 30-credit requirement (24-credit requirement for EOP).
Since students have through the first week of the semester to add/drop courses, financial aid reductions will not occur until after the first week of the semester. However, only aid-eligible aid will appear on the student’s bill. Therefore, students should carefully and regularly review their billing account.
New York State TAP and the Excelsior Scholarship are more flexible regarding required coursework during a student's final year of study. In a student's second to last semester, they must enroll in at least 6 credits of required coursework and be enrolled in 12+ credits overall (e.g., can take 6 credits of required and 6 credits of non-required courses). In a student's final semester, they must enroll in at least 3 credits of required coursework and 12 credits overall. Students in their second to last or final semester of study taking non-required courses may need to notify the Financial Aid Office at finaid@buffalostate.edu that they are in their final terms.
This rule in the student's final year does not apply to federal aid.
The Student Outcome Tracking (SOT) audit does not always handle dual degrees and dual majors correctly. The Financial Aid Office will automatically review students enrolled in dual majors and/or dual degrees, but students are encouraged to reach out if they believe the results are incorrect.
Students in individualized studies, particularly Track 1, often need their adviser to make exceptions in Degree Works to show where each course fits within the major. Carefully review your degree audit. If you see that your individualized studies major block is missing courses, work with your advisor to have your courses placed into the major. Once completed, notify the Financial Aid Office.
Students pursuing the 2-minor option in Individualized Studies should review the coursework required for their second minor. The SOT process does not handle the 2-minor option correctly in all cases, so students should reach out to the Financial Aid Office if one of these courses has been flagged incorrectly as not required.
The SOT process does not always treat the major requirements of students in an Arts and Letters major correctly. Students should contact the Financial Aid Office if they believe a required major course has been incorrectly flagged as not required.
Courses solely needed for a minor or an undergraduate certificate program are not eligible for federal or state aid. However, if these courses are used toward the minimum credits for graduation (typically 120 credits), then they can be used for aid.
While we advocate for a well-rounded education and lifelong learning, the regulations for federal and state aid are strict and generally do not allow for this. Courses you would like to take that do not fulfill a graduation requirement are not eligible for aid. However, by taking a combination of required and non-required courses, students can still receive aid (refer to Credits Needed by Financial Aid Program chart above). Students are encouraged to plan ahead so they may still receive aid in semesters where they will take non-required courses.
