Appendix B: Certification of Regents Professional Opportunity Scholarship Rosters
Statutory authorization for the Regents Professional Opportunity Scholarship has sunset; no new awards will be granted, and prior recipients will not receive any payments for the 2010-11 academic year and thereafter. Recipients of this scholarship are still bound by their service obligations.
The Regents Professional Opportunity Scholarship is awarded to students matriculated in specific programs of study. To remain eligible for payment of the scholarship, the awardee must matriculate in and remain in the specific licensure-qualifying program of study for which the scholarship was awarded.
Do not certify students eligible for scholarship payment if they are not enrolled in the program of study for which they received their award.
Prerequisites - The New York State Education Department has provided guidance concerning the eligibility of students who have been awarded Professional Opportunity Scholarships. Beginning with the 2004-05 academic year, a student must be enrolled full-time* in the approved program of study for which the scholarship was awarded in order to receive payment.
Exceptions to this can be made if the college will not allow any students to enroll in a program until they have completed certain prerequisite courses. In these cases, the college may certify the student’s eligibility if the student is taking the required prerequisite courses sufficient to demonstrate pursuit of the program of study for which they received the scholarship during the term being certified. For example, a student pursuing a degree requiring twenty-four credits of prerequisite study before their junior year but whose schedule for any given semester is insufficient to obtain that goal would be ineligible for payment of the scholarship in the term being certified. Remedial courses cannot be considered.
*At degree-granting institutions, full-time study requires enrollment for at least 12 semester hours in a semester of not less than 15 weeks inclusive of examination periods; or 8 semester hours (12 quarter hours) in a quarter (or trimester) of not less than 10 weeks; or 24 semester hours for an academic year of not more than 12 months. For additional information, see Chapter 3, section 3.01(e).
A list of Regents Professional Opportunity Scholarship holders attending your institution can be generated using the
Customized Reports option located on the
Reports tab in
HESCWeb Transaction Processing. The Professional Opportunity Scholarship holder’s
“eligible field of study” can be identified using the
program code, which is part of the
Scholarship ID. The program code consists of the fifth and sixth numeric characters of the Scholarship ID and may be found on the
View Student Record page. For example, a Scholarship ID of 07-23-
670008 indicates the student’s eligible field of study is Architecture. The following table lists the program codes and corresponding fields of study. (Note: Verification of specific licensure-qualifying programs at your institution is available on the State Education Department’s website at
www.nysed.gov under Inventory of Registered Programs.)
| Program Codes and Fields of Study |
|---|
| Program Code | Field of Study |
| 60 | Chiropractic |
| 61 | Dental Hygiene |
| 62 | Optometry |
| 63 | Physical Therapy |
| 64 | Podiatry |
| 65 | Veterinary Medicine |
| 66 | Certified Public Accountancy |
| 67 | Architecture |
| 68 | Professional Engineering |
| 69 | Law |
| 70 | Registered Nurse |
| 71 | Occupational Therapy |
| 72 | Occupational Therapy Assistant |
| 73 | Ophthalmic Dispensing |
| 74 | Pharmacy |
| 75 | Physical Therapy Assistant |
| 76 | Psychology |
| 77 | Social Work |
| 78 | Speech-Language Pathology |
| 79 | Registered Physician Assistant |
| 80 | Landscape Architecture |
| 81 | Landscape Architecture |
| 82 | Acupuncture |
| 83 | Audiology |
| 84 | Dietetics/Nutrition |
| 85 | Interior Design |
| 86 | Midwifery |
| 87 | Respiratory Therapy |
| 88 | Respiratory Therapy Technician |
| 89 | Athletic Trainer |
| 90 | Massage Therapy |
| 91 | Veterinary Technology |
| 92 | Nurse Practitioner |
| 93 | Registered Physician Assistant |
| 94 | Dietetics/Nutrition |
The Regents Professional Opportunity Scholarship roster (300 series roster) should be certified in the same manner as a TAP roster. For detailed certification instructions, refer to
Chapter 5: Certification Procedures.
Regents Professional Opportunity Scholarship awards range up to
$5,000 annually and, together with other state-funded academic or general awards, cannot exceed the cost of attendance. The Other Benefits and Educational Expenses fields on the roster need special attention and are discussed below.
I. Other Benefits - Enter aid as described in
Chapter 5, section 5.07(c). This amount will only affect the TAP award, if any.
II. Educational Expenses - Enter the cost of attendance for the term. DO NOT include costs covered by other student financial aid grants or scholarships. In determining educational expenses, you may use published average student budgets. Regulations allow for use of budgets calculated in a similar manner as that used to estimate budgets for college-based student financial aid purposes (see definitions below).
A. Tuition - The actual tuition the institution charges the student for each term certified.
B. Educational Fees - Library, registration, laboratory and diploma fees. Fees charged primarily for the pleasure, comfort or penalty of the student are considered non-educational. Non-educational fees include athletic, student publication, health and insurance, student activity, late registration and laboratory breakage fees and graduation assessment costs other than diploma fees.
C. Books - An amount the institution determines to represent a reasonable cost for books for the term.
D. Transportation - An amount the institution determines to represent a reasonable cost for travel between the student’s residence and the institution and for other travel required to complete a program of study.
E. Room and Board - An amount calculated using one of the following:
1. For students without dependents in housing owned by the institution or institutionally operated
housing: the actual amount the institution charges;
2. For students without dependents living with parent(s): $1100 annually, prorated by term;
3. For other students without dependents or students with dependents** an allowance based on expenses the student and his/her dependent(s) incur, as determined by the institution.
**A spouse is considered a dependent.
If you have any questions regarding certification, please call the Scholarship Unit at 1-888-697-4372 or e-mail
scholarships@hesc.org.
