Posted on 04/10/2017 6:24:39 PM PDT by TaxPayer2000
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- There's a big string attached to New York's free middle-class college tuition initiative: Students must stay in the state after graduation or else pay back the benefit.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that the requirement was added to protect the state's investment in a student's education by ensuring they don't take advantage of free tuition and then leave New York. The rule wasn't a part of Cuomo's free college tuition proposal when he unveiled it in January but was inserted during final negotiations with lawmakers over the state budget, which was approved Sunday.
The tuition initiative, which Cuomo said is a national model, covers state college or university tuition for in-state students from families earning $125,000 or less. Students must remain in New York for as many years as they received the benefit. They must repay the money as a loan if they take a job in another state.
"Why should New Yorkers pay for your college education and then you pick up and you move to California?" Cuomo said during a call with state editorial writers. "The concept of investing in you and your education is that you're going to stay here and be an asset to the state. If you don't want to stay here, then go to California now, let them pay for your college education."
Students at University at Albany, part of the state university system, aren't so sure.
"I don't know how much I like feeling confined, even to staying in the state for four more years," said Bobby Rickard, an 18-year-old freshman from Brewster who has not yet decided his major. "I don't know what life will have for me."
Cumorah Reed, a 19-year-old English major, said certain technology jobs are concentrated on the West Coast and many of her classmates will be surprised to learn they will not be able to apply for those positions immediately after graduation.
"I think it's going to be harder than people think," Reed said.
Ashley Mendez, 18, a journalism and communications major, said the proposal is a fair compromise because many residents will stay anyway.
"I'm a New Yorker. I wouldn't leave the state for anything," Mendez said.
Sara Goldrick-Rab, a Temple University professor who studies college affordability, said the requirement undercuts the promise of free tuition and could deliver a nasty shock to students who fail to read the fine print, or who take the money believing they will stay in New York, only to find better job opportunities elsewhere.
"It's absolutely bait and switch," she said. "You entice people with something they really, really need and then you penalize them if they can't find a decent job and have to leave."
Republican lawmakers pushed for the requirement during closed-door state budget negotiations.
"We took the governor's original plan and made it better, by requiring students to maintain a certain GPA and to live and work in New York after they graduate," said Scott Reif, a spokesman for the Senate's Republican leadership.
Students who receive free tuition and then leave the state for an advanced degree won't have to pay the money back assuming they return to New York once they complete their graduate studies. State officials also plan to make accommodations for graduates who leave the state for military service.
As part of the budget, lawmakers also approved a new tuition assistance program for students at private colleges and universities that offers up to $3,000 in tuition grants. That assistance also comes with a requirement that a student remain in New York after graduation for the same number of years they received the benefit.
So is the state going to sue for tuition reimbursement if a student leaves NY? Would a student who took advantage of the free tuition and moved to CA be sued in CA.
A smarter move: after graduating from a college in NY, the state will reimburse your tuition if you majored in a STEM program. If you majored in a studies program, no tuition reimbursement for you. I see Como’s program churning out more people with .... studies degrees.
“Modern indentured servitude, eh?”
Ya beat me to it.
Wasn’t part of the original bill, BS. It was always going to be they just wanted to stick it in at the end.
>>Why? (No argument,I really don’t know.)<<
It will hold up. It is a contract with both parties giving up something of value voluntarily.
Simple contract law.
I 100% guarantee even as foolish as NY is they vetted this legally.
Thanks !
.
And what if they can’t find a suitable job in New York?
>>And what if they can’t find a suitable job in New York?<<
From what I read, this is a student loan with a forgiveness clause. If you don’t perform the covenant, it just becomes repayable like any other student loan.
There are teaching loans that are forgiven only if the teacher spends a certain amount of time in inner cities and the like.
This is the same. A loan with conditional forgiveness.
Wow! “Escape from New York City” is not just a movie.
The Community college is practically free with NYS Grants.
Kids might even consider A JOB....like my kids.
Pay back? That's racist. They will raise a fit of being offended and their debt will be forgiven. Just watch.
I think the kid raised a good point about New York being a better bet for some industries and not others. Seems to me a good strategy might be for the student to put aside the money he expected to pay in NYS tuition, or even invest it. If he decides to leave, he's had use of the money and perhaps made some with it. If he wants to stay, he's started a nest egg (which he'll need at New York prices and taxes).
This is the kind of benefit I'll accept, but cheerfully vote against if I get the chance.
Someone’s going to pay...
I see a new business opportunity here.
For a small fee, you can be “employed” in the state of New York for student loan purposes only. The fee may depend on the minimum number of hours per week you must work and if it is allowed to have your wages at 100% commission.
I assume thee are no residency requirements. It would be insane to require you to both live and work in New York.
Unknown mob guys, "We'll do this thing for you but, sometime, we might need you to do something for us."
1981 FEE SEMINAR BOB ANDERSON PT 1
https://youtu.be/dJIZitQ18S8
1981 FEE SEMINAR BOB ANDERSON PT 2
https://youtu.be/pqNiz6J0xsg
It is totally voluntary. No one has to take the deal.
I would not ever offer such a cushy deal with other peoples money in the first place.
The high paying jobs with the real challenge are in Silicon Valley
...but not THIS one.
How can I, a FReeper, speak such heresy?
State/local governments do this kind of thing all the time, as does the federal government.
The feds (at least used to) have a program for student loan forgiveness for those who go in the military. Don't know if it still exists, but at least it used to.
State/local governments grant tax breaks and build out infrastructure on a fairly regular basis to attract industry to their locality. Some local governments work with industry to build out vocational training programs as well as college programs to build a trained workforce for the industry. These things are seen as win-win deals as they bring money into the local area.
So I could see such a thing at the New York State level, but with some caveats.
Now am I naive enough to think they'll implement the bullets above? Of course not. That's why I said "I can see some kind of plan, but not this one."
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