Get On your Feet Program FAQs

No. An applicant must be a legal resident of NYS at the time of application and must have resided in NYS for 12 continuous months prior to applying for the Program.

No. DACA students are ineligible to receive federal student aid and, therefore, would not have qualifying loans for the Get On Your Feet Program.

New York State grant and scholarship programs are enacted and amended by the Governor and the New York State Legislature at their discretion.

If you indicate on your application that you are unemployed, you do not need to submit any employment documentation. You should complete the rest of the application and submit all other required documentation.

Depending on the year in which you graduated from high school, a high school diploma may be substituted for a high school transcript. Please contact a HESC representative at [email protected] to learn more.

You will receive the consent and disclosure form as an attachment to the email confirming that your application was successfully submitted. You must sign and upload, fax or mail the form to HESC for your application to be processed.

If you elect NOT to sign your application electronically, you will receive the affirmation/signature page as an attachment to the email confirming that your application was successfully submitted. You must sign and upload, fax or mail the signed affirmation/signature page to HESC for your application to be processed.

If you are having a problem submitting the application or supporting documents, you can contact HESC at 888-697-4372 and make the selection for scholarships.

You will receive an email confirmation from HESC within minutes of successfully submitting your application. 

An application will generally be processed within 4-6 weeks of receiving all supporting documentation.

Eligible Loans include those federal student loans that are eligible to be repaid under the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan at 10 percent of your discretionary income, the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) plan, or the Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) plan. Learn more about the eligible loan types.

If you have more than four qualifying loans, enter your information for any four. HESC will include all eligible loans when it verifies your loan information with the U.S. Department of Education.

Loans taken for graduate study are not eligible for forgiveness through this Program unless you were receiving Get On Your Feet payments for your undergraduate loans and subsequently enrolled in graduate school.

If you are making payments to your loan servicer, you may be eligible. You must have enrolled in the Income-Based Repayment plan at 10 percent of your discretionary income, the Pay As You Earn plan or the Revised Pay As You Earn plan through your loan servicer. If you have been approved for a reduced payment under one of these eligible programs and meet all other eligibility requirements, you would be eligible for awards under the Get On Your Feet Program. Check with your federal student loan servicer to determine which payment plan you have.

To find information about your loans, including your loan account numbers, visit the U.S. Department of Education’s National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).

To receive awards under the Get On Your Feet Program, your income-driven repayment plan payments must be greater than $0.00.

The Program cannot help you catch up on late or delinquent payments over 30 days past due. To be eligible for the Program, you must be current or less than 30 days past due on all federal student loan payments.

You must be enrolled in the federal Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan at 10 percent of your discretionary income, the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) plan, or the Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) plan to be eligible.

You should contact your loan servicer to enroll. Borrowers in the IBR plan must have qualified for monthly payments that are 10 percent of their discretionary income to be eligible for the Get On Your Feet Program. For information about the IBR, PAYE or REPAYE plan, visit the Federal Student Aid Income-Driven information page.

Yes, borrowers who enroll now in the Income-Based Repayment plan at 10 percent of their discretionary income, the Pay As You Earn plan, or the Revised Pay As You Earn plan can participate in the Get On Your Feet Program, provided they meet all other eligibility requirements.

If you are married and file your taxes jointly, the applicant’s family income will be considered. If you are married and file your taxes separately, only the applicant’s income will be considered.

An applicant’s parental income is not considered.

In this instance, a recipient would continue to receive award payments until they recertify their eligibility for the Income-Based Repayment plan, the Pay As You Earn plan, or the Revised Pay As You Earn plan. At that time, the recipient would be required to again provide information pertaining to his/her Get On Your Feet Program eligibility, including income information.

The Program offers up to 24 months of federal student loan debt relief.

Yes. You can make payments on your loan obligation while payments are being made by New York State. Contact your servicer(s) to ensure that any additional payments are applied to your principal balance.

Yes. Applicants accepted to the program are required to continue making payments on their loan obligation until notified by HESC that payments have begun. Applicants should continue to monitor their account(s) to ensure that monthly payments are correctly applied.

Yes. You can find information on other New York State and federal loan forgiveness programs here.

Yes.