Gov. Andrew Cuomo says in New York we have rejected the politics of division.
New York will be the first state in the country to cover four-year college tuition for residents after the program was included in the budget package approved Sunday night.
The state’s Excelsior Scholarship program will be rolled out in tiers over the next three years, starting with full coverage of four-year college tuition this fall for students whose families make less than $100,000.
The income cap will increase to $110,000 in 2018 and $125,000 in 2019.
“With this budget, New York has the nation’s first accessible college program. It’s a different model,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo Saturday in a statement. “Today, college is what high school was—it should always be an option even if you can’t afford it.”
This is amazing and wonderful news. NYS has become a great model in these dark times, and it would be fantastic to see other states pick up this model as well, as our current regime would never do anything so positive and *gasp* socialist.
Via NBC and NY Daily News.
Whoah, that’s great! Look for a flood of talented, motivated people who want to learn and work, NYC!
(Addendum: I’ve long wondered why states don’t do that sort of thing -- come, get an education, and we ask you to remain in the area and boost our tax base for 10 years afterward. We understand if you have to move, but we’d really appreciate it..)
Good news for a change. This is good by itself and may result in one genetation of progressives in the state of NY.
Yes, this is the direction we have long needed to go. Education should not be only for those who can afford it, and most countries changed that bit of nastiness long ago.
Little pockets of goodness all over the country -- I really, really, really like cities and other such entities that provide accessibility to education like this. I hope many, many people take advantage and become better people as a result. I’m guessing that $100 000-or-less income bracket is pretty huge, too.
Now I just hope that these little pockets of goodness survive and expand to do more good things in the coming years.
Smart move. Next: offer help with the cost of living.
I also hope they have something for students with rich asshole parents.
Giliell@#6:
I also hope they have something for students with rich asshole parents.
Taxing the rich would pretty much take care of that.
Awesome news, especially because institutions like City College of New York are already so good at taking in low income people and helping them break out of poverty.
Can’t wait to see how the “states rights” advocates in DC try to block this.
Well, it’s a step in the right direction, but it’s a smaller step than it appears:
1. Tuition is already pretty low for in-state students ($6470 for the year), and setting that to 0 still leaves $18k in direct and indirect costs.
2. A hard income cutoff is a terrible idea. Make one dollar more than $100k* and you lose the entire subsidy? Maybe there’s a phaseout, but I don’t see it in any of the stories I found.
3. You have to stay in New York state after college, for as long as you were using the subsidy. Come for the free tuition, stay for the indentured servitude!
*It may sound like a lot, but the median income in NY State is $42k, so if you have two earners, you only have to be 20% above the median to exceed the limit. I expect the median in Manhattan is substantially higher, based on the cost of apartments there.
What is it now? Is the tuition already low or is it too much for families making 100 effing k?
So, two people earning substantially more than half the population* is poor now?
That’s a bullshit phrasing and you know that. What’s next, calling it slavery?
*Remember it’S family income. I’m pretty sure most families don’t have two above median earners but are lucky if they got one median income earner.
Johnny Vector @ 9:
No one said it was ideal, this is Failed Mail Order Steaks, Inc., remember. NYC is trying to do more than they already were, and they are, like all of us, mightily hampered by the corporate regime now passing as our government. This is not something to go all pessimistic over, this is a massive step in the right direction, given the fucked up mess that education is in this country, er, corporation. More people will be able to attain an education, and that’s good for everyone.
Also, this:
You’re treading the asshole line here. It’s a four year tuition free, so it’s max four years they ask you to stay in the state. That’s not much. Pick up some work experience, four years goes by quickly, then do what you want. Marcus @ 2 pointed out that a 10 year rider wouldn’t be excessive, and it’s certainly not fucking indentured servitude for fuck’s sake -- people getting an education will be able to earn much more than they would have without one, and I expect you damn well know it.
Pedantic correction: “NYC has become a great model in these dark times…”. This is, according to the quotes in the OP, a New York State program, not a New York City initiative.
Ooops, fixed!
And, as stated in the NY Daily News article, there will be no more prosecuting 16 and 17 year olds as adults, and they won’t be processed as adults, either.
Used to be, Work would pay for a graduate education, so long as you promised to work five years post-graduate at Work. Considering potential issues with finding an actual job in your field directly after graduation with no practical work experience, that’s not a bad deal, at all. Plus, it wasn’t written in stone “no leaving”, they just asked for some of that money they spent on your education back (not all of it). Don’t know how it would work in NY, but it’s not indentured servitude.
Caine
Yes, that makes me extremely happy, except I didn’t see a direct reference to the race issues involved in that (“Sure he says he’s 14 but he looks 21, could be lying!” <- We all know it happens.). So a good thing over all, and I hope the actual implementation does examine a lot of the biases of the judicial system.
This budget is amazing, yes. But please, let’s not go overboard. Andrew Cuomo is an underhanded, corrupt, bullying sulfurous pile of excrement that would dig up the bones of his father and auction them off if he thought it would get him on step closer to the presidency.
And prank calling Bill DeBlasio after DeBlasio was elected was elected mayor was foofin’ hysterical, but it doesn’t make up for the corruption!!