New York Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled a free tuition proposal at LaGuardia Community College in Queens Borough. The project is said to include families with income less than $125,000 a year that comprises 80 percent of the community.
Dubbed as “Excelsior Scholarship”, the proposition still needs legislative approval for it to be enacted within three years, The Buffalo News reported. The proposal is to include families with an annual income of $125,000 or less, but New Yorkers should take into account that students who would enroll in state public’s two- to four-year colleges on SUNY and CUNY schools along with the required income would only be the ones to benefit in the free tuition access.
“College is a mandatory step if you want to be a success," Cuomo explained. “And the way this society said we’re going to pay for high school because you need high school, this society should say we’re going to pay for college because you need college to be successful. And New York is going to do something about it.”
Hence, he also informed people in his speech that tons of students in college leave school with $30,000 or more in debt. Alongside him through his speech is Democratic proponent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont who also focused on tuition-free colleges on last year’s campaign, foretold the system as “revolutionary.”
Moreover, The New York Times reported that the objective would be supplemented through existing state and federal grant programs as the state had already spent $1 billion on college assistance programs each year. The plan is estimated to cost $163 million, but it will still depend on the number of participants. As of now, SUNY and CUNY state universities have tuition fees around $6,470 a year while two-year degrees run on $4,350.
More so, Hillary Clinton, who also touted a tuition-free college intent during her presidential campaign, praised Governor Cuomo via a tweet on his effort to actualize the plan. He embraced Governor Cuomo’s proposal as something she and Mr. Sanders had “worked hard on.”
Delighted that @NYGovCuomo proposed free college for ppl making <125K in NY. A plan @SenSanders & I worked hard on. https://t.co/V0aXjhxKpm
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 3, 2017
