Catherine Alexander has spent a lot of the summer thinking about her fall college tuition bills. The nursing student receives a Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) award from New York State but she still doesn't know how much she will receive for her fall semester that starts in less than two weeks.

"Frustrating isn't even the word right now," said Alexander. "I have four kids and school shopping and everything else going on. I didn't need that on top of this!"

TAP awards were tied up as part of the long delayed state budget process. New York State has announced all awards will be cut by at least $75 and Alexander wants to know what the changes in the program will mean for her.

"For those of us that were expecting it to come in on time, we were relying on it for our books and other expenses," said Alexander. "So having it put on hold puts books on hold and everything else."

Le Moyne College in Syracuse credits a student's estimated TAP award towards the tuition bill but the director of financial aid says the state needs a better way to deliver the aid. 

"It would behoove the State of New York to make higher education a higher priority and to forward fund the tuition assistance program so that when families are looking at going to school the funding for the TAP program would already be in place," said William Cheetham.

Catherine Alexander says the TAP delay has added a lot of stress to her summer.

"Even a month. A month's notice would have done a lot at this point in time," said Alexander.

All TAP grants are being cut by 75 dollars and some may be cut even more. A recent notice from New York State says students may not know their award for this fall until August 20th.

Clink these links for information: TAP Award Estimator, the TAP Application Page and the New rules for repaying federal student debt.