Financial Aid

Foundation Scholarships

To encourage and assist students, NCC also offers scholarships from over 300 different scholarship funds for students who meet the awards' requirements. Funds for scholarship assistance are provided through the efforts of the Northampton Community College Foundation and the generosity of alumni, community leaders, local employers and friends of the College.

The NCC Foundation, established in 1969 as a private, non-profit corporation to support educational programs and activities that cannot be funded through the College's regular income sources, enables NCC to provide more private scholarship support than any other community college in Pennsylvania.

Students must complete the financial aid application process to be considered for scholarship support. More details about the foundation scholarships process and a link to the scholarship application can be found at: https://www.northampton.edu/scholarships

How to Apply for Financial Aid

To apply for financial aid at Northampton Community College a student must:

• Complete and submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) via the Web at studentaid.gov. A student and parent can create an FSA ID to electronically sign the FAFSA.
• NCC's Federal Code for the FAFSA is 007191

New students should not wait to be admitted to NCC before applying for financial aid. Returning students must annually reapply for financial aid for each academic year a student wants to be considered for financial aid.

The Northampton Community College financial aid priority application date is May 15. Fall students who complete their financial aid application by the priority date will be notified of their eligibility for aid before tuition is due for the following Fall semester. The priority application date for the Spring semester is October 1st of the previous year. While financial aid applications are accepted throughout the year, it is important to meet the priority application dates if a student expects financial aid to help pay his/her semester tuition and fee charges by the tuition due date.

Eligibility

To receive aid, a student must meet the following eligibility requirements:

1. 1. Be a United States citizen or eligible non-citizen with a valid social security number;
2. 2. Be enrolled in an eligible academic program;
3. 3. A high school graduate or have a recognized General Equivalency Diploma (GED);
4. 4. Be an undergraduate student who has not previously earned a bachelor's degree (for most types of aid);
5. 5. Not be in default on any previous student loan nor owe a repayment on an adjusted federal grant;
6. 6. Comply with Northampton Community College's Academic Progress Policy requirements.
7. 7. Provide consent and approval to have your or your contributors federal tax information transferred directly into your 2024-2025 FAFSA form between July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.

Student Employment

NCC offers on and off-campus jobs to students who have financial need through the Federal Work Study Program. A student's earnings under this program are not credited to the student's account, but are paid to the student every two weeks. Students are responsible for securing their job by interviewing with the job's supervisor. A list of available positions can be found on the Work Study link on the Financial Aid page of the NCC Web site. Students who are interested in community service positions should contact the Work Study Coordinator in the Financial Aid Office or email workstudy@northampton.edu.

Veteran's Benefits

We are proud to be a Veterans Administration (VA) approved Institution of Higher Learning (IHL). Our Military-Affiliated Student Services Office is a resource for military-affiliated students that may pertain to the VA, military funding for education, EAP, FTA, and MYCAA. The School Certifying Official (SCO) will act as the liaison between you and the Department of Veteran Affairs. The SCO will submit a certification of enrollment to the VA for your VA Education benefits and other VA benefits programs. It is the student’s responsibility to notify the SCO in the Adult & Military-Affiliated Student Services Office of enrollment, changes in enrollment, termination of student status, and /or changes of address and phone number. Failure to do so may delay or jeopardize current or future benefits.

To maintain your eligibility for VA Education Benefits and Financial Aid, students must maintain good academic satisfactory progress. Satisfactory academic progress per federal guidelines in the categories of GPA (grade point average) and CR (completion rate). This means you must complete a minimum of 67% of all credits attempted and maintain a GPA of 2.0 or better. Progress information is available from the Military-Affiliated Student Services Office or the Financial Aid Office.  

Students are responsible to meet with their academic advisors to ensure courses selected are a requirement for their selected program of study. VA Benefits will not be processed for courses that are not required. 

Military-Affiliated students can use the ‘Veterans’ Benefits Application Checklist’ to review the steps required at NCC which is available online at www.northampton/military-affiliated. If a student had indicated they are military-affiliated on their initial application ‘Workday’ will prompt an automatic benefits request form for students to upload supporting documents and request to use benefits. If you do not receive the military benefits request form, please email veterans@northampton.edu  The benefits form must be completed every semester before registering for classes. Upon completion of the benefits request form, students will need to agree to the NCC certification policy and will be added to the “Military-Affiliated Student Services Blackboard Page”. 

Questions may be directed to the Adult & Military-Affiliated Student Services Office at 610.332.6097   

PA Act 11 – Discounts for Veterans, Military Personnel, and their Dependents

As required by PA Act 11 of 2015, Veterans and Military Personnel, their spouses, and/or dependent children may be eligible for reduced tuition and fees rates as outlined below.   

1. Veterans, their spouses, and/or dependent children, who reside in the Commonwealth of PA will be granted a tuition rate equivalent to the local sponsorship rate. For purposes of this policy, a veteran student is defined as an individual who: (a) Served in the United States Armed Forces, including a reserve component or National Guard, and was discharged/released from service under conditions other than dishonorable; or one who is an active-duty service member; and (b) Resides in Pennsylvania while enrolled at Northampton Community College.   

 2. Active military personnel, their spouses, and/or dependent children, who are enrolled in online (distance) classes, and who reside outside of the Commonwealth, will be granted a tuition rate equivalent to our Commonwealth of PA rate.   

3. Any individual who receives VA education benefits under chapters 30,31,33,35, or 1606, and who resides outside of the Commonwealth, will be granted a tuition rate equivalent to our Commonwealth of PA rate.   

4. Civilian personnel who work at a Department of Defense facility in the Commonwealth of PA, their spouses, and or dependent children, will be granted a tuition rate equivalent to the local sponsorship rate.  

Those who qualify for reduced rates, as outlined above, are exempt from the 90-day residency waiting period but must provide both proofs of service and proof of residency before the start of the semester for which reduced rates are to be granted. Proof of Service must be documented with a DD214, current military ID, and/or VA Certificate of Eligibility. Spouses and dependents must also provide either military ID, VA Certificate of Eligibility, or other proof of connection to the veteran or military personnel with a Birth Certificate or recent IRS 1040. Once the current semester has ended, the reduction cannot be applied for an adjustment. Future terms only will benefit from the reduction to student accounts  

Federal Financial Aid

Federal regulations require students to maintain satisfactory academic progress toward the completion of their degree or certificate program in order to qualify for financial aid. This policy applies to any student entering or returning to NCC. A student’s entire academic record for the current degree or certificate program is reviewed even when a student was not a financial aid recipient during prior enrollment. College-approved academic restarts are not considered when computing financial aid for satisfactory academic progress. Only courses required for your current degree or certificate program are eligible for financial aid consideration. The following requirements must be met to determine eligibility for federal financial aid (grants, loans, and work-study):

 

Important Definitions

Attempted Credits

• All credits in which you were registered at the end of the add/drop period, including those with grades of F, W, WP, WF, N, I, NC, X including all attempts at repeated courses
• All earned credits (e.g. transfer credits, credits earned through prior learning, and PC grades)

*Special exception to completion rate calculations due to the COVID-19 Pandemic during Spring 2020:

The College will automatically exclude any courses from which the student has withdrawn during the Spring of 2020 due to COVID-19 from their completion rate calculation for the semester and will continue to exclude these semester withdrawals cumulatively in future academic progress evaluations. This only applies to COVID-19 related withdrawals after the date the president declared a national emergency: March 13, 2020, during the Spring 2020 semester.

Earned Credits

• Courses that you have completed and have earned credit for
• Repeated courses where credit has been earned (with a grade of D or more or PC) may only be counted once
• Transfer credits
• Credits earned through prior learning (e.g. challenge exams, portfolio assessment, or CLEP/Advanced Placement)

Audited (AU) classes are not considered attempted or earned and are not eligible for financial aid.

Criteria

I. Minimum earned credits (completion rate)

You must successfully complete sixty-seven percent (67%) of all credits attempted at NCC. *Refer to attempted credits

II. Minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA)

You must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average based on the total number of credits attempted including transfer credits.

Total Credits Attempted Including Transfer Credits	Minimum Cumulative GPA Required
<25>	1.50
26-40	1.75
41+	2.0

III. Maximum Time Frame

For federal financial aid eligibility, students must complete their program within a maximum time frame not to exceed 150% of the length of the current degree or certificate. This includes all semesters of enrollment even if no aid was received. Once you attempt more than 150% of the credits that it normally takes to complete your current degree or certificate, you are no longer eligible for financial aid. Up to 30 credits of developmental courses (courses numbered below 100) and all English as a Second Language (ESL) coursework will be excluded from this calculation.

Example:

Length of Program	Maximum Time Frame
60-credit program	90 credits attempted
30-credit program	45 credits attempted

Appeal Process

Students who do not meet the Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements and go into Financial Aid Suspension have the right to appeal in the event of extenuating circumstances. The appeal may be submitted electronically via in our financial aid portal (located in Workday Student).

An appeal should include the following:

1. 1. The circumstances that kept you from meeting satisfactory academic progress standards in the past.
2. 2. Your plan for making progress going forward - that is, tell us what changes you have made that will allow you to be successful in the future.

After review of the appeal, supporting or third-party documentation may be requested by the appeal committee.

Students who have an appeal approved will be placed on probation status, will be granted a semester of financial aid, and placed on an academic plan. Students must meet the academic plan conditions outlined below to continue receiving financial aid in future semesters.

Academic Plan Conditions:
Must achieve a 2.0 GPA and complete 75% of attempted coursework with passing grades for the probationary semester.

Regaining Financial Aid Eligibility

Students may regain financial aid in the following ways

1. 1. After a semester of probation a student is then meeting academic progress standards (completion rate, GPA, and maximum time frame).
2. 2. A student may enroll in courses without financial aid and will continue to be evaluated each semester. Financial aid will then be reinstated when all 3 standards of progress have been met.

For students who were not able to meet the academic progress standards in one semester of probation, financial aid probation status will be continued for as long as you continue to meet the terms of your academic plan.

Evaluation

An evaluation of academic progress will be done after the end of each semester or when students reapply for financial aid. If you do not meet the requirements, you will be notified via NCC e-mail and messaging within the financial aid portal upon review of grades.

Falling below financial aid academic progress standards

If you fall below any of the three academic progress standards, you will be notified by NCC e-mail and messaging within the financial aid portal. You will be placed into either a warning or a suspension status for financial aid.

1. Warning Status

If you do not meet satisfactory academic progress standards, you will receive a financial aid warning. Once you are in financial aid warning status, you may continue to receive financial aid in the next semester but will be expected to meet the minimum standards by the end of the next semester. Failure to meet the minimum standards after the warning term will result in financial aid suspension.

2. Financial Aid Suspension

Your financial aid is suspended when you fail to meet the minimum Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements for one or both of the following reasons:

• Your last semester status was
• Warning status or
• Probation status and you fail to meet the requirements of an academic plan
• And you are not meeting the standards of academic progress
• You have exceeded the maximum time frame limits for your degree and are not meeting the terms of your academic plan

PHEAA State Grant Academic Progress Policy

Note: State grant eligibility is based on standards set by the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA). Institutional appeals do not cover State grants. Loss of State grant eligibility may be appealed directly to PHEAA in cases of illness or death in the family.

A student is required to successfully complete a minimum of 6 credits per semester for each part-time State grant received and a minimum of 12 credits per semester for each full-time State grant received. Credits earned for repeat courses that were previously counted when State grant progress was verified cannot be counted again. Failures to meet the minimum credit requirements mean that a student is not eligible for further State grant aid until that student has successfully completed the required number of credits.

Example

Grant	Minimum required credits earned per semester
Part-time Grant	6
Full-time Grant	12

A student is eligible for 4 semesters of full-time grants (or the equivalent) at a two-year institution.

Full-time students progressing at the rate of only 24 credits per year (or the equivalent), while meeting the minimum State grant progress standard, will utilize all of their State grant eligibility before completing their program.

Note: PHEAA (PA State Grant) - PHEAA also has a Remedial Course Exception Policy which limits the number of developmental courses considered for State grant eligibility. For further information you can contact PHEAA at 1-800-692-7392 or www.pheaa.org.

Federal Financial Aid Recipients Who Withdraw

The 1998 Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act requires the College to calculate a return of federal student aid funds for students who withdraw (officially or unofficially) from all classes on or before the 60 percent attendance point of the semester. Using the Federal formula, the percentage of the semester attended is used to calculate the amount of the student's earned versus unearned federal student aid funds. The number of calendar days spent attending classes is divided by the number of calendar days in the semester. The unearned portion of federal student aid funds will be returned to the appropriate aid program. Funds are returned in the following order:

• Unsubsidized Direct Loan
• Subsidized Direct Loan
• Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS)
• Pell Grant Program
• Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG)

Students receiving financial aid who withdraw from all of their classes may not receive further financial aid disbursements, may lose some or all of the aid that has already been disbursed to their account and are responsible for payment of any balance due after the required return of unearned federal student aid funds. Students who stop attending all classes without officially withdrawing will be subject to the return of federal funds at the end of the semester based on the 50 percent point of the semester.

Notification of Award

Students who have their financial aid applications completed by the priority application deadline will be notified of their eligibility for aid by the tuition due date. They will receive a financial aid offer. Included with the offer are instructions, conditions governing the offers and disbursement information about how and when students will receive financial aid funds.

Financial Aid Information

Financial aid forms and information are available on the web at northampton.edu/cost-and-financial-aid/, You can call the NCC Financial Aid Office at 610.861.5510 or e-mail us at financialaid@northampton.edu.