Frequently Asked Questions

Although, financial aid is not offered specifically for winter session, winter session charges can be included in a student’s cost of attendance to allow for additional loan eligibility for the academic year.* 

If you cannot pay the balance out of pocket and your fall bill is paid in full already you can consider the following:

• If you have not used all of your federal student loans offered for fall, you can request to borrow this funding to help cover the balance for winter.
• If your parent has a Parent PLUS loan, they can request the loan be increased for fall to cover the winter balance, provided there is room in your overall cost of attendance.
• You can pursue a private educational student loan to cover the balance for the Winter Session directly, provided there is room in your overall cost of attendance.

For more information, you may visit Student Financial Services located on the first floor of the Student Services building or contact them by email at sfs@purchase.edu or by phone at 914-251-7000, press 2.

*The Winter Session is not long enough to be considered a semester, so we are unable to process federal or state aid towards a winter course.

You should discuss your registration with your advisor.

Most likely the course wasn’t paid or paid in full. Re-register and make sure you follow the payment instructions in the email sent to you by the office of Student Financial Services. You need to (re)activate and regularly check your Purchase email.

Follow the instructions in the email that is sent to your Purchase email account from the office of Student Financial Services. The billing page on the Purchase College website will give you an overview of the payment options.

You will get an email in your Purchase email account that you will have a window of 24 hours to register for the course. Make sure you pay in full by the payment deadline notified to you by email to secure the registration.

You can register up to the day the session starts, but we don’t recommend you wait that long. Textbooks may be needed (If you don’t have your textbook and course materials before the first day of class, you will fall behind), courses may fill or, conversely, get cancelled due to low enrollment. You may still register in the add/drop period, with an additional $40 late fee, if it is your first registration in the semester.

No. You won’t need a PIN to sign up. You can log into MyHeliotrope, do a course search for the term (e.g., Winter 2024), and choose from the course schedule to register. For full guidelines follow these Registration Instructions or view the Using the Registration System video.

They’re quick…

You can finish an entire course in four or eight weeks.

Drive less…

Our selection of courses during the winter is 100% online and several courses over the summer are entirely online or a hybrid of in-person and online.

Stock up…

You may be able to shave time off earning your degree by getting ahead on credits.

Catch up…

Did you drop a class or change majors? Summer and winter are the perfect time to catch up on credits.

Take a chance…

Is there a subject that’s always interested you but you never have a place in your schedule? Give it a test ride.

Avoid the slide…

Taking classes during your breaks will keep your mind engaged and ready for school the next semester.

Plan to dedicate approximately 35 - 45 hours per week for a 3- and 4-credit course in the 4-week sessions. And half that in the 8 week summer courses. Spread multiple registrations as much as possible over the three summer sessions. 

If you can’t find book info on the bookstore’s website, then contact the instructor or write to summer@purchase.edu or winter@purchase.edu as appropriate for a sample syllabus.

Tutoring service is available online with our partner Thinking Storm (on-demand 24/7).

Areas:

• Writing
• Math – Basic Math through Multivariable Calculus, including Statistics
• Sciences – Biology, Chemistry
• Advanced topics: Human AP, Finance in the Arts, etc. scheduled in advance.

Format: live chat, whiteboard, file upload. Students can access tutoring from Moodle.

If you will be taking an online or hybrid course, log into Purchase College Brightspace to view the course. The course page will be available 4 days prior to the start of the session. You can also log into Brightspace from the Current Students Portal. Also, you should make sure to (re)activate and regularly check your Purchase email account to communicate with your instructor.

For a sample syllabus, you can contact the instructor or write to winter@purchase.edu or summer@purchase.edu as appropriate.

First you should look up information needed by the Registrar’s Office at your school. You might need to request an official transcript to be mailed back to your school, and the instructions can be found on the Purchase College Registrar’s Office page.