New York’s Free-Tuition Program Will Help Traditional, but Not Typical, Students -
By DAVID W. CHENAPRIL 11, 2017
The program to provide free tuition for students at New York State’s public colleges and universities passed on Friday by the Legislature has been hailed as a breakthrough and a model for other states
that will change the lives of students at public colleges across the state.
The Excelsior Scholarship, as the program is called, is expected to cut the cost of a degree from a four-year State University of New York college — now almost $83,000 for tuition, fees
and room and board — by about $26,000 for an eligible family making $100,000 a year.
Tuition bills at the City University of New York or SUNY — already among the lowest in the country, with two-
and four-year tuition roughly ranging between $4,350 and $6,470 — are often covered by Federal Pell grants or state aid.
Mr. Cuomo is expected to sign Excelsior into law on Wednesday at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, part of the CUNY system, where he announced the
plan in January accompanied by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who made free tuition at public colleges a cornerstone of his presidential campaign.
At an event Monday, Mr. Cuomo and his budget director, Robert Mujica, who is also on CUNY’s Board of Trustees, defended the requirement to live
and work in New York and other aspects of the scholarship, which is expected to cost $87 million in its first year, the 2017-18 school year, and $163 million by its third.