The 2019 SUNY Old Westbury graduation. The Excelsior Scholarship is open to SUNY and CUNY students, as well as those attending community college. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
A program providing free tuition for New Yorkers at the state’s public colleges and universities will take applications through February.
The Excelsior Scholarship is open to students with a federal household income of up to $125,000 who will enter a state university or City University of New York, including community colleges, next spring. Eligible students must plan to attend a degree program full time, taking 12 credits per term and 30 per year. They must also agree to live in New York for a duration equal to the number of years they receive the scholarship.
"The Excelsior Scholarship transforms lives by making higher education more affordable and accessible for students across New York State," Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a news release Tuesday from the state’s student financial aid agency, Higher Education Services Corporation.
To be eligible for the scholarship, students also must fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly known as FAFSA, and must exhaust all other forms of federal and state financial aid, such as the federal Pell Grant program and the state's Tuition Assistance Program, or TAP.
The scholarship applies only to tuition, not college fees or room and board.
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As of August, according to SUNY, the typical tuition for state residents at state-operated campuses including university centers, university colleges and technology colleges was $7,070, but fees, housing and food brought the cost to $25,240 for students living on campus and $13,580 for commuters. Books, personal expenses and transportation added another $4,140 and $4,920, respectively.
Excelsior was introduced as a keystone of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2017 budget, serving nearly 21,000 students in its first year, Newsday reported, but a 2018 analysis by think tank Center for an Urban Future found the program was serving "very few of the students who could benefit the most from free tuition," with many applicants unable to meet what Urban Future called "heavy credit requirements."
A spokeswoman for HESC did not respond to a request for comment.
Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.
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