Governor Cuomo Announces First-in-the-Nation Excelsior Scholarship Program Will Provide Tuition-Free College to Middle-Class Families
The Excelsior Scholarship is Included in the FY 2018 Budget AgreementFirst-in-the-Nation Program Makes NYS Public Universities Tuition-Free for Families Making Up to $125,000 Per Year, Alleviating Crushing Burden of Student Debt and Placing More New Yorkers on Path to Financial Security
Nearly 80 Percent or More Than 940,000 Families with College-Aged Children Across New York Would Qualify for Tuition-Free College at SUNY and CUNY Under Governor’s Bold Proposal
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently announced that the Excelsior Scholarship,
a first-of-its-kind in the nation program will provide tuition-free college
at New York’s public colleges and universities to families making
up to $125,000 a year, and is included in the FY 2018 Budget agreement.
The Excelsior Scholarship was the Governor’s first proposal in his
2017 State of the State. The Budget additionally includes $8 million to
provide open educational resources, including e-books, to students at
SUNY and CUNY colleges to help defray the prohibitive cost of textbooks.
“With this budget, New York has the nation’s first accessible
college program. It’s a different model,”
said Governor Cuomo. “Today, college is what high school was—it should always be
an option even if you can’t afford it. The Excelsior Scholarship
will make college accessible to thousands of working and middle class
students and shows the difference that government can make. There is no
child who will go to sleep tonight and say, I have great dreams, but I
don’t believe I’ll be able to get a college education because
parents can’t afford it. With this program, every child will have
the opportunity that education provides.”
Under the Excelsior Scholarship, nearly 80 percent, or 940,000 middle-class
families and individuals making up to $125,000 per year, would qualify
to attend college tuition-free at all CUNY and SUNY two- and four-year
colleges in New York State.
A regional breakdown of families who would be eligible for the program
is available below.
Region | Number of Families with College-Age Students | Percentage Eligible |
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Statewide Total: | 942,186 | 75.7% |
The new program will be phased 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. Scholars must be enrolled
in college full-time and average 30 credits per year (including Summer
and January semesters) in order to receive the funding, however, the program
has built in flexibility so that any student facing hardship is able to
pause and restart the program, or take fewer credits one semester than another.
Students are required to maintain a grade point average necessary for
the successful completion of their coursework, and, as the program makes
a major investment in the state’s greatest asset – our young
people – scholars will be required to live and work in-state for
the same number of years after graduation as they received the scholarship
while in school.
The Budget provides a record $7.5 billion in total support for higher
education, a $448 million, or 6.3 percent, increase over last year. These
initiatives build on the Governor’s commitment to making college
affordable for all students in the Empire State, including the nation-leading
'Get On Your Feet' Loan Forgiveness Program, which allows eligible
college graduates living in New York to pay nothing on their student loans
for the first two years out of school.