FAQ

General

College Now is a completely FREE program.

Only students who attend NYC public high schools, registered homeschooled students, and students with disabilities whose private school tuition is supported by the DOE can participate in College Now.

Students must apply to a specific college’s College Now program. Students who attend high schools partnered with a college will receive preference for that program, but any eligible student can apply for College Now at any participating college.

Find out if your school is partnered with a College Now program. If yes, contact the College Now school liaison or College Now program directly for more information. If your school is not a partner, then contact any College Now program directly for more information.

Find out if your school is partnered with a College Now program. If yes, contact the College Now school liaison or College Now program directly for more information. If your school is not a partner, then contact any College Now program directly for more information.

Courses

College credit courses with pre-requisites are courses for which a college level proficiency in reading and writing is a pre-requisite for taking the courses. Typically, that is shown by scores on standardized tests such as Regents, SAT or ACT.

College credit courses without pre-requisites are courses that can be taken by students who meet the Regents scores required for high school graduation but fall short of a score required to show college level proficiency, 75 on ELA Regents and 70 on Algebra 1 Regents.

Academic college preparatory courses (0-credit) are courses that prepare students to meet college level proficiency in English or math while they are still in high school and then become eligible to take a college credit course, also while they are still in high school, or at least, start college without remediation.

College and career awareness and access courses are courses open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors who want to learn about college going process and careers.

College Now is primarily for NYC DOE high school juniors and seniors with some limited opportunities for sophomores. Students are placed in courses through an individualized advisement process in which College Now staff make every effort to offer students available courses that best match their strengths and interests.

The following is the general eligibility by high school year and academic level, but specific courses may have different and/or additional eligibility requirements at individual campuses (i.e., higher GPA or subject specific GPA).

Juniors and seniors with a high school GPA of 80+ can apply for any of the college credit courses offered by their high school’s partner CUNY campus program.

Juniors and seniors with a high school GPA of 70+ can apply for some of the college credit courses offered by programs at community colleges.

Juniors, seniors, and some sophomores have several options for college-level math courses based on their high school math GPA.

Sophomores with a high school GPA of 70+ can apply for college and career awareness/student development courses at select programs.

To find out which CUNY college your high school is partnered with, visit our High Schools page.

For contact information and website links for each campus College Now program, visit our Colleges page.

Because College Now courses are actual college courses, they’re more challenging and require more commitment and responsibility than a high school course. For that reason, we do not recommend that students take more than one College Now course at a time, especially if they are enrolling in College Now for the first time and if they have other schoolwork, home and/or work responsibilities.

Partnerships

Request or Download a College Now partnership application. Send a scanned copy via email to the College Now central office contact in the application.

We recommend one College Now partnership per school. Schools with larger enrollments or specific academic needs in some cases may be assigned multiple partnerships.

Partner schools have the option to change partnerships through the submission of a completed College Now partnership application sent to College Now central office. Central office will review the application to determine if the change of partnership is feasible for the high school and College Now programs in question.

Yes, but students from a partner high school will receive priority for registration.

Please contact the College Now campus program directly where you would like to apply. Contact information for College Now campuses can be found on our website.

ECI students are eligible to participate in College Now during the summer but not during the academic year (fall & spring semesters).

Any staff person at a high school can become a College Now contact. Usually the contact is a staff member in the guidance or college office. Assistant principals and instructors may also serve as program contacts.

Only NYS-SED approved schools (links below) serving NYC DOE students with disabilities can become partner schools. All other non-NYC DOE schools are not eligible to become partner schools.

853 Programs Serving Students with Disabilities

Special Act School Districts

4201 – State-Supported Schools

College Now programs are not open to private school students. The only exception is NYC DOE Students with disabilities who are referred to a NY State Department of Education (SED) approved non-public day (private) schools are eligible to participate.

Schools without 11th and 12th graders are eligible to become partners but may have limited participation in the program until there is expansion beyond the 10th grade.

Yes. Please contact the College Now campus program directly where you would like to apply. Contact information for College Now campuses can be found on our website.

Yes, but students from a partner high school will receive priority for registration. Please contact the College Now campus program where you would like to apply directly. Contact information for College Now campuses can be found on our website.

Yes, but students from a partner high school will receive priority for registration. Please contact the College Now campus program where you would like to apply directly. Contact information for College Now campuses can be found on our website.

Yes. NYC DOE Charter Schools are eligible to become College Now partners. Contact information to apply for partnership can be found on our website.

Program Models

Summer programs are all offered on the college campus.  During the fall and spring semesters, classes may take place at the high school or college campus, depending on the program model.  Please speak directly with a College Now program you are interested in for more information.

If the course is taught at a high school, all students in the class are from that high school (can include other schools if they share a building). If the course is taught at the college, the class is made up of students from several high schools. Classes are taught by college adjuncts or full-time faculty.  Teachers from partner high schools who have the required qualifications can apply to teach in the program. They go through the same adjunct lecturer hiring process by relevant college academic departments as any other CUNY adjunct.

Classes are taught by college adjuncts or full-time faculty. Teachers from partner high schools who have the required qualifications can apply to teach in the program. They go through the same adjunct lecturer hiring process by relevant college academic departments as any other CUNY adjunct.

Summer programs are exclusively on the campus.  All College Now programs offer at least some courses on campus.  If most of their courses are in the high schools, they bring students on college campus for campus tours and events.  Senior colleges usually have most, or all, classes take place on campus.

Most College Now programs at community colleges offer College Now courses at their partners high school.  Please contact a College Now program for more information.

College Now programs are not open to private school students.  Only NYC DOE Students with disabilities who are referred to a NY State Department of Education (SED) approved non-public day (private) schools are eligible to participate.

Only NYC DOE Students with disabilities who are referred to a NY State Department of Education (SED) approved non-public day (private) schools are eligible to participate.

Non-public school students attending a school of a type listed below may be eligible to participate in College Now. A list of these schools is available here.

853 Programs Serving Students with Disabilities

Special Act School Districts

4201 – State-Supported Schools

Non-NYC DOE students are not eligible to participate in College Now.

Homeschooled students registered with the NYC DOE can participate in College Now.  You can contact College Now campus programs directly to find out more information or to apply.  You will need to provide them your OSIS# to confirm that you are registered with the DOE.

Transcript/Grades

Most College Now campus program websites have directions for requesting a transcript.   You can also speak directly with a College Now campus program for more information. You can print an unofficial transcript for free from your CUNYfirst account.

Please speak directly with the College Now campus program that offered your course for more information.  Information for requesting a transcript is also available on most College Now campus websites.

Transferring grades or sending a transcript to another CUNY college is free.  Requesting a transcript to be sent outside CUNY may cost up to $10.

You don’t need an official transcript to transfer credits within CUNY.  The credits are listed under your account in the CUNYfirst system.   We recommend you verify the credits have been transferred by speaking with your college admissions office or present them with an unofficial transcript which can be printed for free from your CUNYfirst account.

Please contact the College Now program directly that offered your course.  You can also look up your grade in CUNYfirst.

Eligibility

Middle school students are not eligible to participate in College Now.  Please check out the CUNY Explorers program for more information about preparing for college.

Any interested 10th grader may participate in a precollege college and career awareness and access course.  Rising 11th graders are eligible to apply for some summer college credit programs.

Precollege non-credit or gateway college credit courses.

College Now currently does not have any courses for 9th graders.

High school graduates are not eligible to participate.

Deadlines

The deadline for applying to summer programs varies from late April to early June. Most programs have a “first-come” application process, so it is recommended to apply starting in March when program information is posted.

Application deadlines vary at each campus.  Please contact the College Now campus directly to confirm their deadline.

Summer Programs

Please visit our summer programs page on the website and contact the College Now program where you would like to apply directly. Each program’s contact information is available on our website.

Yes. Summer programs are open to all NYC public high school students, regardless of their high school’s partnership.

New summer programs are posted to our website by mid-March. Please also contact College Now programs directly in March to find out if applications are available.

Graduating seniors are not eligible to participate in summer programs.

Rising 11th graders are eligible to apply for summer college credit programs. Browse through our summer program descriptions on our website for eligibility requirements.

In order to be eligible for College Now, participants must be registered New York City Department of Education students. We suggest looking into other summer pre-college programs including those offered by NYU, Pratt, NYIT & Fordham.

CUNY Admissions

College Now is a program for high school students. If you are interested in transferring to CUNY, please contact CUNY Admissions.

College Now is a program for high school students. If you are interested in applying to CUNY, please contact CUNY Admissions.

College Now is a program for high school students. If you would like to know the status of your CUNY application, please contact CUNY Admissions.

GED

College Now is a program for currently enrolled NYC high school students. You may wish to contact the CUNY Adult Literacy/HSE/ESL Program for help with receiving your GED.

Eligible students from NYC DOE GED programs such as Pathways to Graduation may participate in the program.