1. How to be Sure Your State-Based Financial Aid Review is Complete*
To be certified as an NJ STARS student, financial aid review must be complete for both federal (FAFSA) and state-based (HESAA) financial aid.
*All links are clickable

2. HESAA Notifies High School Seniors of Potential NJ STARS Eligibility
Sometime in February each year, HESAA mails a letter to every high school senior reported by New Jersey high schools who potentially qualified for the NJ STARS program at the end of their junior year.
Interested students are asked to go register at and enter the pin number given in the subject line of the letter no later than May 4th, however, students who do not make the deadline are still eligible.
This letter was mailed on February 21,
The top of the letter is not
shown to protect the privacy of the
student who received the letter.

3. Complete Your New Jersey Additional Application Questions

4. Start Your State-Based Application
On your FAFSA Confirmation Page, click Start your state application and answer the additional application questions to apply for state-based financial aid.
Click Okay to transfer your information into the state application. The application is considered the Additional New Jersey Application Questions. and click Submit. You will see a message that you successfully submitted your New Jersey Additional Questions.
Click Visit the NJFAMS login page and create a student username and password. 1 2

5. HESAA Notifies Registered Students by email when FAFSA is Received
The below is sent to students at the address given to HESAA once their FAFSA is received.
Students are asked to visit the NJFAMS website to create an account, complete any required tasks, and view their State Aid eligibility and award, if applicable.

6. Become Familiar with Your HESAA Student Portal
If you didn’t answer the questions at the end of the FAFSA and create your student login, create your student login at

7. HESAA Student Portal: Welcome Home Page and Menu
To Do List: All information necessary to review and complete your HESAA application for state-base aid will be listed here. Important: Please be aware that additional tasks may be added to your To Do List at a later date.
View and Update Your School: All schools that you chose on your FAFSA will be listed here.
Apply Online for Scholarships: Click on this link to apply for special scholarships.
Award and Eligibility Information: Clicking on this link will give you the most recent status of your grants and scholarships.
Notifications: It is important to periodically click on this link to check all s sent to you, especially if you were Selected for State Verification.
View and Update Your Contact Information: Enter new contact information for you and your parents in the “New” column. Updating addresses here will not change where HESAA contacts you.
Edit Your Profile: Update your address where HESAA should contact you, or change your password here.
It will be noted on the home page in green if your FAFSA was received, and in red if it was not received in current and past academic years.

8. HESAA Application: To Do List (Higher Education Student Assistance Authority)
Click “To Do List” on the Home Menu and select the appropriate year in the drop down box if the current academic year is not listed. If you answered the questions at the end of the FAFSA, your application was already received by HESAA and is already in progress.
If your FAFSA was received by HESAA, and the questions were answered, there will be a green checkmark in the boxes preceding the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
If the student and parents not answer the Additional New Jersey Application Questions at the end of the FAFSA, the box will be red and unchecked and the application will be considered incomplete.
Click the link to answer the questions and complete the brief HESAA application questions. Print a copy for your records. The box will be checked as soon as the questions are completed.

9. HESAA Student Portal: View & Update Your Schools
Click “View & Update Your School” on the student portal Home Menu. Colleges listed here are the colleges you chose on your FAFSA.
If Bergen Community College is not listed, click Add a School in the appropriate academic year, choose Bergen Community College from the dropdown list and click add, and update your FAFSA as well.

10. Regularly Check Your State-Based Financial Aid Status for Completion
Regularly check the you used to set up your HESAA student portal for communications from HESAA, and in your HESAA Student Portal in the Financial Aid section to be sure your financial aid review was completed.

11. State Verification Selection
HESAA s students that they were selected for State Verification. Students selected for State Verification will see an unchecked box or boxes at the bottom of the “To Do List.” Students can also check by clicking Notifications on the home page menu.
Please remember that it is the student’s responsibility to routinely check their HESAA Student portal for any new required tasks or changes to their award.  All required tasks must be completed by published deadlines.  To view deadline dates, please go to the Grants and Scholarships website: 
Click “Electronic Document Collection” on the HESAA grants and scholarships website to upload all requested documents.
Below are samples from two students who were selected but were asked to provide different documents for different reasons.

12. HESAA Student Portal: Award and Eligibility Information
Click “Award and Eligibility Information” on the student portal Home Menu for your award status.
The example below shows a student who received enough from the federal Pell Grant (not shown), NJ TAG (New Jersey Tuition Aid Grant) and other grants to pay for their tuition and therefore did not receive an NJ STARS scholarship.
See description of icons in the key at the top of the page for explanation.
Scroll over the Status Icons
& click on the Status icons to see different status details.

13. NJ STARS Award
Students who are awarded enough federal and/or state-based financial aid to pay the tuition portion of their bill are considered “unfunded” NJ STARS students. Unfunded NJ STARS students are not awarded NJ STARS scholarships, however the federal and state financial aid process must be completed each academic year by posted deadlines to qualify for NJ STARS II scholarships.
NJ TAG (New Jersey Tuition Aid Grant) is a state-based financial aid award, and NJ STARS (New Jersey Student Tuition Assistance Reward Scholarship) is a merit based award. Some students may receive both but they are two totally different awards.
Students who are awarded NJ TAG must complete their FAFSA and the New Jersey Additional Application Questions by April 15th each year or they may temporarily or permanently become ineligible for NJ STARS scholarships. New and continuing students who did not receive NJ TAG have more time to complete the process but should still do so early in case any issues arise.
As long as the financial aid review process is complete for both federal and state financial aid, and students are in good standing, students who are not awarded financial aid, and students who are awarded only partial federal and/or state financial aid will see an Estimated NJ STARS award in the financial aid section of their BCC student portal.
Estimated awards will not be shown until all NJ STARS students are certified on HESAA Roster which is usually sometime in late November during Fall semesters, and sometime in late April during Spring semesters.
Once an estimated award appears in the BCC student portal, you should also see the award in the HESAA student portal. It will first show as unpaid but when a green dollar sign appears, the NJ STARS payment has been made to Bergen Community College.
Students who receive NJ STARS scholarships will first see an “Estimated” NJ STARS award in their student portal. Please do not accept estimated awards. Once applied to your bill, the award will no longer show as estimated.