BMCC does not participate in the federal student loan program; however, the Financial Aid Office will work with alternative private student loan companies. This means that any student seeking a loan is responsible to apply for the loan separately and supply the loan company with the College’s contact information.

Yes, BMCC works with several grant and scholarship programs. Please contact the Financial Aid Office to obtain more information or visit the Scholarships & Grants area of the BMCC website.

BMCC offers part-time employment opportunities for students through the Federal Work Study program and other funding. To qualify for Federal Work Study positions, the student must have a demonstrated financial need and be eligible for financial aid. Financial need may not be a factor for some of the other student worker positions. Students interested in working for the College should contact the Human Resources Department.

If you withdraw or stop attending all classes prior to completing more than 60% of a semester, your Pell grant will be recalculated based on the percent of the semester you have completed. For example, if you received a $1,000 award and only completed 30% of the semester, you would need to pay back $700. If you are thinking about withdrawing from all of your classes or decide to stop attending classes, please contact the Financial Aid Office to determine how this will affect your financial aid and possible repayment.

Federal law requires all students who receive federal financial aid to make Satisfactory Academic Progress toward their degree. The purpose of this is to ensure that students who are receiving federal funding are making measureable academic progress toward completing an eligible academic program within a reasonable period of time. Each semester, the Financial Aid Office will review the student’s transcript to determine if the student is in compliance with government standards.

Students earn financial aid over the course of the semester. After the student has completed 60% of the semester, all aid is considered earned. Typically, all of your aid and any refunds due would have been disbursed by this point. Any student who is eligible for a refund will be disbursed a check on the designated refund dates. Please contact the Financial Aid Office for more information on how refunds are paid.

You may use financial aid to pay for your books if there is enough funding to cover tuition, fees, and expected book charges. To qualify, you must have signed and returned your financial aid award letter prior to the beginning of the semester. Please contact the BMCC Financial Aid Office to determine how much funding you may have available and to obtain a financial aid charge approval. If you are not eligible, you will need to pay for your books at the time of purchase. 

If you have received a financial aid award, your tuition and fees are deducted from it. Any excess funds—after any allowable charges for books and supplies—come to you as a refund later in the semester. If your bill is not covered completely by financial aid, you will need to make arrangements at the beginning of the semester to pay the balance of your bill.

Undergraduate students who are under the age of 24 are considered to be dependent for federal student aid purposes unless they are married, have dependents other than a spouse for which they provide more than half of their support, are an orphan or ward of the court, are a veteran or active duty member of the U.S. Armed Forces, or satisfy other very limited criteria. If a student who is under the age of 24 does not satisfy one of these criteria, the odds of being considered independent are very slim.

Verification is the approval through documentation that the information provided on the student’s FAFSA is correct. Approximately 33% of students are selected at random by the federal government to participate in the Verification process. It is put in place to ensure that eligible students receive all the financial aid to which they are entitled and prevents ineligible students from receiving financial aid to which they are not entitled.