Cuomo unveils free tuition plan for students attending state colleges

NEW YORK, N.Y. — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday announced a plan to offer free tuition at state colleges for the state’s middle-class and low-income college students.

Under the governor’s proposal, more than 940,000 college-aged children from households making up to $125,000 per year would qualify to attend college tuition-free at all public universities in New York, including SUNY (State University of New York) and CUNY (City University of New York) four-year schools, as well as two-year community colleges.

The governor’s tuition-free college-degree plan is dubbed the Excelsior Scholarship, according to a news release Cuomo’s office issued.

Cuomo announced the proposal, the first of his 2017 State of the State agenda, during an appearance at LaGuardia Community College in Queens.

Cuomo will deliver his annual State of the State message in a series of regional addresses, including an appearance in Syracuse on Jan. 11.

The scholarship program would require participating students to be enrolled at a SUNY or CUNY two- or four-year college full-time.

Based on enrollment projections, the plan will cost an estimated $163 million per year once fully phased in, Cuomo’s office said.

The governor didn’t detail how the free tuition program would be fully paid for, but the release stated the initiative will leverage New York State’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), which provides nearly $1 billion in grants to college students statewide. Eligible students would still receive TAP and any applicable federal grants. Additional state funds would be needed to be cover the remaining tuition costs for incoming or existing eligible students.

New York would phase the new initiative in over three years, beginning for New Yorkers making up to $100,000 annually in the fall of 2017, increasing to $110,000 in 2018, and reaching $125,000 in 2019.

The initiative will cover middle-class families and individuals making up to $125,000 “through a supplemental aid program,” per the news release.

Cuomo’s office contends 80 percent of New York households statewide currently make $125,000 or less with an estimated 940,000 households having college-aged children that would be eligible for the program.

SUNY undergraduate tuition currently costs $6,470 for New York State residents, while community college tuition is $4,350.

Cuomo contends the scholarship program will make college “affordable” for students and families as “student debt continues to soar.” That debt has reached $1.2 trillion nationwide, Cuomo’s office said, surpassing credit-card debt, car debt and home-equity lines of credit as the “second largest source of consumer debt.”

Cuomo’s office described the Excelsior scholarship as “the first of its kind in the nation” that “will help alleviate the crushing burden of student debt.”

“A college education is not a luxury … it is an absolute necessity for any chance at economic mobility, and with these first-in-the-nation Excelsior scholarships, we’re providing the opportunity for New Yorkers to succeed, no matter what zip code they come from and without the anchor of student debt weighing them down,” Cuomo said in the release.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I–Vermont) joined Cuomo for the Tuesday announcement. Sanders had proposed his own national free-tuition program when running for the 2016 Democratic Party nomination for president.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com