Financial Aid for Physician Assistant BS/MS Program

RIT's Physician Assistant program is a five-year, dual degree program where you'll earn both your bachelor's and your master's degrees. The following resources will help you understand how your tuition and aid will change when you advance from undergraduate status to graduate status in the Physician Assistant BS/MS Program.

Financial Aid as an Undergraduate vs Graduate Student

Throughout a Dual Degree Program, students are considered either undergraduate status or graduate status.

graphic depicting undergraduate status as "The tuition, fees, and financial aid you are offered as an undergraduate student continues until you reach your bachelor’s degree credit threshold", and graduate status as "After the credit threshold is reached, your tuition, fees, and financial aid switches to graduate tuition and aid. Your undergraduate financial aid no longer applies."

Undergraduate Status

When you are enrolled as an undergraduate student, you will be billed undergraduate tuition and fees rates, and receive undergraduate financial aid.

Graduate Status

You will advance to graduate student status in the Physician Assistant program starting in the summer term after your fourth year. Learn more about when the change happens

  • When your status changes to graduate, you will be charged graduate tuition and your financial aid will be amended based on the term you began your enrollment at RIT. This change will go into effect once the Office of the Registrar notifies the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships and Student Financial Services that you have advanced to graduate status.
  • Your undergraduate financial aid will no longer apply. You will no longer qualify for Federal and State funding (i.e. Pell, SEOG, NYS TAP, SAE, and undergraduate loans) as well as institutional scholarships and grants awarded by RIT during your undergraduate enrollment.
  • You will be able to apply for additional graduate student loans using the FAFSA and may be eligible to receive Federal Student Loans. Learn tips for filing the FAFSA as a graduate student

Once you have reached graduate status, part of your financial aid offer will include a Combined Accelerated Scholarship. The Combined Accelerated Scholarship will cover 40% of your total tuition.  No minimum number of credits of enrollment is necessary to qualify for this scholarship.

Your Combined Accelerated Scholarship will be amended based on your actual enrollment status and tuition charge shortly after the Add/Drop period of a semester has passed.

Students who are certified as graduate students are not eligible to receive Federal Pell and SEOG Grants, nor are NY State residents eligible to receive state grant and scholarship funding such as TAP.

Part of your financial aid offer will include a BS/MS Tuition & Fees Award. The BS/MS Tuition & Fees Award will cover the difference between graduate tuition/fees and undergraduate tuition/fees based on the number of credits enrolled per term. No minimum number of credits of enrollment is necessary to receive this scholarship.

Grants that you had as an undergraduate student will be converted to an RIT BS/MS Scholarship. The amount of the scholarship will be prorated based on the number of credits you are enrolled in per term. You must be enrolled for a minimum of six credits within a term in order to receive this prorated grant funding. Examples of grants that may be part of your RIT BS/MS Scholarship are:

  • RIT Grants
  • International Scholarships

If you have been awarded RIT merit-based scholarships as an undergraduate student, then these merit-based awards will also be converted to an RIT BS/MS Scholarship. You must be enrolled for a minimum of six credits within a term in order to receive this prorated merit-based funding. Examples of RIT merit-based scholarships include but are not limited to the following:

  • RIT Presidential Scholarship
  • RIT Founders Scholarship
  • RIT Trustee Scholarship
  • RIT Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship
  • RIT National Merit Scholarship (until you have exhausted your National Merit Scholarship eligibility)
  • RIT Nathaniel Rochester Scholarship (until you have exhausted your eligibility)

NOTE: that your BS/MS Tuition & Fees Award and/or your RIT BS/MS Scholarship will be amended based on your actual enrollment status and tuition charge shortly after the Add/Drop period of a semester has passed.

The BS/MS Tuition & Fees Award and/or the RIT BS/MS Scholarship cannot be combined with any scholarship and/or tuition remission funding that may be awarded to you by your academic department. We will calculate which funding source covers the greatest percentage of your tuition and apply that amount to your account.

Students who are certified as graduate students are not eligible to receive Federal Pell and SEOG Grants, nor are NY State residents eligible to receive state grant and scholarship funding such as TAP.

When will I (and my financial aid) change from undergraduate to graduate status?

Undergraduate status changes to graduate status in the Physician Assistant program starting in the summer term after your fourth year.

The Office of the Registrar will notify the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships when a student enrolled in an accelerated dual-degree program has advanced to the graduate level within their program of study. The student’s financial aid is then amended based on the program they are enrolled in and also on the term they began their enrollment at RIT.  Student Financial Services will amend their tuition rate to reflect graduate tuition.

Graduate Education Funding Sources

When your undergraduate financial aid has been updated to graduate financial aid, you will need to review your new financial aid offer. In addition to your graduate scholarship, you may also be offered other funding sources such as loans and student employment to aid you with your educational expenses.

Learn more about graduate funding sources

Filing the FAFSA as a Graduate Student

Students advancing to graduate status in an upcoming summer or fall semester

If you plan on advancing to the graduate level within your Accelerated Dual-Degree program in an upcoming summer or fall semester (check with your academic department), you can report on the FAFSA that you are a graduate student and answer “Yes” to the question “Will you be working on a master’s or doctorate program?” You will not need to report your parental information on the FAFSA.

Contact our office for help

Don’t worry if you make a mistake reporting your student status on the FAFSA. Often we can make the correction on your behalf once your FAFSA data has been received. We will notify you if you are required to make any additional updates to your FAFSA such as adding parental information. 

If you have any questions, contact us.

Federal Student Loans as a Graduate Student

As a graduate you can apply for Federal Student Loans. You must be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen and complete the FAFSA to apply.

Qualified students will be offered the maximum eligibility in the William D. Ford Unsubsidized Direct Loan program for graduate students (up to $20,500 annually). Any Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan and Undergraduate Federal Direct Loans will be cancelled for upcoming terms.

You must be enrolled in a minimum of six credits in coursework or in a full-time co-op per term to qualify for federal student loan funding. If you are enrolled in less than six credits but have been granted full-time equivalent status by your academic department, you may still qualify for federal student loan funding.

Students who are offered additional federal loan funding mid-year will need to accept the new loan amount in the Financial Aid & Scholarships section of eServices.

Contact Us

If you have questions at any point in the process, we’re here to help.


Chat
For general questions about the financial aid process, we recommend our live chat.


Email
For general questions about your specific situation, we recommend that you email ritaid@rit.edu.


Call
For detailed questions about your specific situation, we recommend that you call 585-475-2186.

Contacting our office by phone or email allows us to answer specific questions related to a student as long as we are able to affirm the student and the individual requesting information to protect privacy and confidentiality. Live chat is reserved only for general non-student specific information.

Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships

Bausch and Lomb Center
56 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY 14623-5604

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Office Hours

8:30am - 4:30pm
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ritaid@rit.edu
p. 585-475-2186

f. 585-475-7270