Correction: Paid for by the NYS suckers who go out to work every day
Solution : Get free college in NYS then move to another state with lower taxes, or better jobs, whatever.
It's even worse than that. I lived in a Charlotte suburb for a couple of years. Our neighborhood consisted of approximately 85%+ of New York transplants. A good number of them are "retired" state workers, police, and firefighters. So these folks took taxpayer money for their 20 years of employment, and stocked up their taxpayer pensions, then "retired" in their early 40s at full pension for life. Rather than pay that money back into the New York economy that treated them so well all those years, they packed up an moved to a cheaper state.
Don't blame them for taking advantage of the situation...
...but the situation is BS.
“Get free college in NYS then move to another state with lower taxes, or better jobs, whatever.”
That will certainly happen. Only takes 30 days residency in NY to become an official entitlements-receiving “resident”. Emancipated youth will move to an apartment in NY, register for free tuition, get the degree (one hopes), and promptly flee just like the rest of NY is tending to.