In order for the SUNYIT Financial Aid Office to determine your financial aid eligibility, please complete the following steps:
- Obtain a Personal Identification Number (PIN) from the U.S. Department of Education at www.pin.ed.gov. If you have misplaced your original PIN, you can visit this website to request a duplicate PIN.
- Complete and submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at www.fafsa.gov. SUNYIT’s Federal School Code is 011678.
Students are encouraged to complete the FAFSA after January 1 as soon as possible. To ensure timely financial aid process, students can submit the FAFSA using estimated adjusted gross income and income tax paid values. Upon submission of your official, completed federal tax return to the IRS, please update the FAFSA to show the actual amounts reported to the IRS.
If your federal taxes have already been completed and filed with the IRS, please use the “IRS Data Retrieval Tool” when completing the FAFSA. This will allow you to bring certain income/tax information from the IRS website into your FAFSA. Note that your taxes must have been submitted/processed by the IRS at least 3 weeks previously if filed electronically and 8 weeks if sent to the IRS by mail.
The primary responsibility for meeting educational costs rests with the student and his/her family. The SUNYIT Financial Aid Office uses the expected family contribution (EFC) generated from the FAFSA as the basis for the student/family contribution.
SUNYIT gives priority in the awarding of financial aid to those students with the greatest financial need. Financial need is determined by subtracting the expected family contribution from the student’s estimated cost of attendance.
While SUNYIT does not have a deadline for applying for financial aid, we encourage our students to apply by March 15 each year. Applications are processed on a rolling basis starting in late February.
A financial aid award letter will be sent to each student who has been accepted and whose financial aid application is complete.
The U.S. Department of Education randomly selects some financial aid applicants to be verified. In those cases, the Financial Aid Office will request additional documents including an institutional verification worksheet, signed copies of your federal income tax return, and W2 forms. If you were unable to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool when completing the FAFSA, an IRS Tax Transcript will also be required. These documents must be reviewed and necessary corrections made before financial aid is awarded.
If there has been a significant decrease in the student’s income from the prior year, a Special Condition form may be submitted to the Financial Aid Office along with supporting documentation. The Financial Aid Office may be able to use the current year’s estimated income rather than the prior year’s actual income to determine your eligibility for federal financial aid.