New York State Opportunity Promise Scholarship: A Good Start to Support Adult Learners through Postsecondary Education – The Institute for College Access & Success
Author: Kirsten E. Keefe
With the passage of Governor Kathy Hochul’s New York State (NYS) Opportunity Promise Scholarship, New York joins a handful of states which have enacted reconnect programs for adult learners. The scholarship provides free tuition, fees, books and supplies to state residents between the ages of 25 and 55 to earn an associate’s degree at a public community college. New York’s scholarship adds a layer, matching eligible degree programs with high-demand fields, including manufacturing, technology, cybersecurity, engineering, artificial intelligence, nursing and allied health professions, green and renewable energy, and teaching. Additional fields may be included based on workforce needs identified by the NYS Department of Labor.
New York’s projected 27 percent decline in high school graduates by 2041 means that colleges and universities must attract new populations. The scholarship is also responsive to what we know about who is going to community college in the Empire State—30 percent of City University of New York (CUNY) students and 22 percent of State University of New York (SUNY) students are 25 years or older. Making college more affordable through state financial aid investments to attract adult learners (or reengaging those who attempted college but did not earn a credential) is a strategy that states are pursuing across the country and a step in the right direction. Specifying occupational fields, however, adds challenges to reaching adult learners and may hamper the scholarship’s impact on workforce development.
It can be a complex undertaking for schools to align courses with eligible programs of study. As of mid-June, SUNY’s program, which has been named SUNY Reconnect, listed 171 eligible programs across its 30 community college campuses. While this appears expansive, many of these programs are available at a single campus, or a handful at best. Students in certain regions may not have access to the program they want unless they are able to enroll online, which may not suit all learners.
Take SUNY Adirondack Community College (ACC) in upstate New York. While seven programs are listed as eligible for the scholarship under SUNY Reconnect, none are in teaching, including coursework in early childhood and adolescence education or an associate’s degree that would prepare a student for transfer into a four-year program. The same gap exists for Clinton, Columbia-Greene, and other community colleges. Students in these regions who want to enter those fields must either pursue a program online or choose a different career path altogether to qualify for the scholarship.
Moreover, a lack of clarity and confusion regarding what programs within which schools are eligible for free tuition may discourage participation. For example, in the health field, four different programs called “Respiratory Care” are eligible across several different colleges. It will be important to include the range of Respiratory Care programs across the state. Under green and renewable energy—another high-demand field listed under the scholarship—one would reasonably expect that programs offered through SUNY’s Clean Energy Consortium would qualify. Three community colleges are part of this consortium: Herkimer, Erie, and Sullivan. However, two associate degree programs—Building Management and Maintenance and Nanotechnology—offered under the Consortium at Erie Community College do not qualify under SUNY Reconnect, and nor do two programs listed by other Consortium member community colleges—the Associate of Science at Herkimer County Community College and the Associate of Applied Science in Construction Technology at SUNY Sullivan. The Consortium also includes four SUNY technology colleges that offer similar associate degrees in green and renewable energy fields but do not qualify under SUNY Reconnect because they are not community colleges. In many cases, eligibility may come down to luck that a student’s desired career path and geography qualify them rather than intention.
There’s currently no publicly available data showing how eligible programs match up with local job markets. Adult learners—many of whom are balancing work and family—often cannot relocate for work. While online learning increases access, employment opportunities remain regionally specific, and for certain professions, online program offerings may not be available or recommended as an appropriate modality. Without clear, accessible data on job prospects by field and region, not only may students struggle to choose the right path, but workforce needs may continue to go unmet.
Navigating degree requirements, choosing the right program, and understanding the labor market are complicated tasks—especially for adults who may be considering college for the first time or returning to school after a long break. While it would be plausible for prospective students who don’t have a high school guidance counselor at hand to lean on financial aid administrators for advice, these professionals perform a multitude of complex functions and are already stretched thin. Ensuring adequate advising will be critical to implementation as prospective students start to examine the course offerings in their desired field of study by campus and the delivery method that best suits them, all in the context of connecting them to available job opportunities post-graduation. Our research shows that most undergraduate students enroll in colleges within 17 miles of their home. For adult learners, especially those with familial and financial responsibilities, it may be more difficult to expect them to travel or move if their local options do not offer programs that lead to their career of choice.
Covering tuition, fees, books, and supplies is a vital step, but it’s not enough. The average cost of tuition, fees, books, and supplies for community college is around $6,600 for CUNY and $7,400 for SUNY. TICAS’ 2024 report, Higher Education Affordability in the Empire State, found that students with household incomes of $30,000 or less generally receive sufficient grant assistance from federal aid and state aid to cover these costs. This is not necessarily true for independent students, however, who receive less aid. Under the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), independent students are only eligible for up to $3,525 in aid compared to $5,665 available to dependent students, and only if their incomes are below lower thresholds—$60,000 for married and $30,000 for single students (with no dependents), compared to $125,000 for dependent students.
While the NYS Opportunity Program scholarship fills a TAP gap for independent students between the ages of 25 and 55, it may not go far enough to making college truly affordable for adult learners. Living costs—including food, housing and personal expenses—far exceed the direct costs of college. The average estimated living costs for students living independently off campus are $13,300 for SUNY two-year students, and $23,900 for CUNY two-year students. Many adult learners have families and additional financial responsibilities, and will likely work while in college – analysis of National Postsecondary Student Aid Study 2019-20 (NPSAS:20) data shows that 75 percent of community college students ages 25 years and older work while going to school with 57 percent working full-time and nearly all students working more than 20 hours a week which may negatively impact their success. Earning enough to offset the gap while successfully being able to complete coursework may be challenging.
The program’s ultimate success depends on whether it leads to economic mobility—particularly for adults who are low-income. Data from the New York State Department of Labor, set forth in the table below, show that in some fields, an associate’s degree provides a significant boost in income. Students who enter nursing and allied health professions see a $16,000 increase in entry-level median earnings compared to the median earnings of those with a high school diploma or GED as their highest level of educational attainment. Similarly, students going into cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI) or technology fields see an almost $8,000 increase in entry-level median earnings compared to the overall median income of high school graduates in New York State.
The picture is not as strong in other fields, however. For those pursuing pathways in teaching careers in shortage areas, the median entry-level salary for associate’s degree holders is just $35,407. That is lower than the state median for people with only a high school diploma ($48,256), and even lower than those with “some college” but no degree ($52,000). Students may mistakenly believe that any associate’s degree will lead to better pay, when in reality, for some fields of study such as teaching and engineering, a bachelor’s degree will be necessary to advance along this career pathway and achieve the economic benefits associated with those professions.
If students are to use their associate’s degrees as a launchpad to a four-year degree and a living-wage career, the programs covered by the NY Opportunity Promise Scholarship must include transferable prerequisite courses. For aspiring teachers, this means preparing for and passing entrance exams required by teacher preparation programs. For all students, institutions must ensure smooth credit transfer so that students don’t end up with stranded credits that don’t apply to a bachelor’s degree—costing them additional time and money. Distinctions between dependent and independent students under TAP must be eliminated permanently as well to prevent students from facing a financial cliff with the loss of state aid altogether after two years.
Adult promise programs have existed in other states since at least 2016. Success for adult learners depends on more than just financial aid. One key lesson is that strong programs are built with input from a wide variety of stakeholders—including colleges, state agencies, students, and employers. New York’s Opportunity Promise Scholarship has potential if it is implemented with regional alignment, and robust support services for students. The dedicated line item in this year’s enacted state budget for ASAP-ACE is a step in the right direction. Limiting the program to designated high-demand fields without further guidance and supports, however, will likely hamper its success. NY leaders should evaluate the program’s effectiveness after its first year and determine whether the state is better served by not restricting the programs of study eligible under this scholarship.
To truly transform lives and meet the needs of the New York economy, state leaders must ensure this program is not just a scholarship—but a comprehensive strategy for adult students to return to the classroom and pursue a wide range of careers.
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