Introduction and General Eligibility

Introduction

Pace University’s Financial Aid mission is to provide the maximum ﬁnancial aid available to qualified students to help make their attendance at Pace University a reality.

The University administers a wide range of scholarship and ﬁnancial aid programs designed to enable the student to pursue their studies to graduation. There are four types of ﬁnancial aid available at Pace: scholarships, grants, on-campus employment, and loans. Our ﬁnancial aid administrators will develop a ﬁnancial aid award package that meets your speciﬁc needs. Your package may combine two or more types of aid as well as alternative ﬁnancing opportunities.

Pace University helps students and families with their college expenses by awarding merit, and need based aid in the form of Pace funded scholarships, grants and awards. Scholarships and grants are gift funds and do not need to be repaid. In addition to these Institutional resources, grants and scholarships are available through the state and federal government. Financial Aid, in the form of loans, which must be repaid, is available through the federal government and private lenders.

In order to be considered for maximum funding, students should ﬁle the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is available at www.fafsa. gov. In order for Pace to receive the results from the FAFSA, students must list Pace University as one of the colleges of choice. Pace University’s FAFSA codes are:

New York City campus: 002791
Pleasantville campus: 002792
White Plains: 002727

Pace University has a strong commitment to academic excellence. Its scholarship and grant programs are designed to award students who have demonstrated superior academic development. University-sponsored scholarships, awards and grants are offered to students on the basis of academic merit and promise, service to the community, and ﬁnancial need. Each year, students at Pace receive more than 280 million in aid overall, with over $110 million funded by Pace University. In addition, 95% of freshmen receive some type of ﬁnancial aid.

It is important to recognize that many scholarship opportunities (such as Pace Endowment funds) are overlooked by students who are unaware of their availability or who do not ﬁle the FAFSA. Students should be sure to put in an application on our Pace Endowed Scholarship site located on their Pace Portal; as well as pursue outside scholarship opportunities. Exploring ﬁnancial aid opportunities requires time, effort, and advance planning.

Many of these opportunities are highly competitive so early application to several sources tends to yield the best results. Endowed scholarships require a QPA of 3.0 or above.

It is also important to be aware that each type of ﬁnancial aid award has criteria that must be met for the student to receive the award and/or to have the award renewed for subsequent years. Please read all communications received from the Financial Aid Ofﬁce and information available on the Portal. Finally, feel free to speak with a Financial Aid representative if you have any questions.

General Eligibility

To be eligible for most ﬁnancial aid programs a student must: be matriculated (accepted for and enrolled in a degree program, or certain certiﬁcate programs), be enrolled in at least six credits per semester, be making satisfactory academic progress, demonstrate ﬁnancial need (for need-based aid), and ﬁle the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by November 15 (for priority consideration). There are very few exceptions to these basic eligibility criteria, and many ﬁnancial aid programs have additional eligibility criteria.

The basis of selection for most awards is ability and/or ﬁnancial need. Financial need is the difference between the Cost of Attendance at a university or college and the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) as calculated according to the Federal Methodology Need Analysis Formula. The Cost of Attendance includes estimates for tuition, fees, room, board (meals), transportation, books, and personal expenses. After ﬁling your FAFSA you will receive an Electronic Student Aid Report (E-SAR) from the Federal Department of Education that will include your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). You can determine your ﬁnancial need by subtracting your EFC from the total cost of the college you wish to attend.

The Financial Need formula is: Cost of Attendance – EFC = Financial Need

Most Financial Aid is renewable on a yearly basis provided there is adequate funding, and the student remains eligible. “Remaining eligible” refers to continuing to meet the criteria for receiving the award and maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress for federal and Institutional funds (“Good Academic Standing” for New York State funds). Please make sure you review the details of the Satisfactory Academic Progress and Good Academic Standing policies site.