Posted on 04/11/2017 10:03:28 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
The state of New York now has "free" college tuition at New York state colleges and universities, that is, "free" for its students, primarily at the State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) schools and includes two-year community colleges and four-year universities.
Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo reached a deal with the state legislature and made the announcement this past week and the plan initially covers families that earn up to $100,000 in income this year (increasing over three years to cover families earning up to $125,000). The governor's office claimed that within the three years of the plan, 940,000 families will be covered.
However, Cuomo and supporters of this deal claimed that the deal will cost $163 million, which some lawmakers rejected as too low of an estimate during Cuomo's initial push this past January.
Other caveats of the deal are that those who receive "free tuition" must live and work in New York the same number of years that they have "free tuition" (in other words, a student would go to school for four years and after graduation, that student would have to live and work in New York for four additional years). If not, the student would see the "free college tuition" convert to student loans. To defer this requirement, a student could transfer out-of-state to complete their undergraduate degree, enroll in graduate school or claim "extreme hardship." Also, $8 million of this deal goes towards free online education materials to lessen the cost of textbooks and a maximum award of $3,000 in grants for private college students. With the latter, private colleges are required to match the grant and freeze tuition for the duration of the grant.
Private colleges and universities claimed that they are hamstrung by the deal because it focuses on public colleges and universities. Private institutions were concerned that they would lose students to the CUNY and SUNY schools, and that the requirements of the deal were onerous. The president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities in New York, Mary Beth Labate, said that the deal was "dispiriting" and now created a separate education system. She said, "There is a clear divide in the way students will be treated, depending on whether they go to a public or private institution." Labate added that the provision for freezing tuition during a student's attendance at a private college "would be bureaucratically difficult" and "colleges would have to ask if it was worth it."
Community college leaders, however, initially gushed about the deal and believed that it will increase enrollment at their community college campuses. The deal also includes a minimum grade point average and credit hour enrollment for students who receive the "free tuition."
50% of CUNY students are already getting free tuition due to income. Full time students only.
Im putting this in the “You get what you pay for” file.
Sickening
It sounds to me like this will work along the lines of loan forgiveness programs. For example, we have heard of student loans being forgiven for teachers who agree to teach in certain areas. So if you agree to live in New York for a certain period of time after graduating your loan is forgiven under this plan.
Legally speaking I wonder if these students are officially legally being given loans???
That’s what state free tuition plans have always been. Private is god-awful expensive, particularly on the taxpayers’ dime.
So instead of paying for student loans for the rest of their lives, New Yorkers can pay other people’s tuition for the rest of their lives via taxes.
It’s not “free” if someone is paying for it.
There will be problems. Colleges are what they are, money-sucking diploma mills. Of course, room&board, fees, and anything else the schools can think of will increase dramatically in cost, thus wiping away a lot of the savings. Then there's the indentured servant aspect. New York State will have a source of cheap labor that can't afford to get a job in another state until their loan is forgiven, thus providing a replacement for cheap H1B and invader labor.
Just guessin' at possible unintended (or intended) consequences.
Watch as the costs for community colleges and four-year universities soar in New York.
I did not read the fine print...but here in Massachusetts they offer The John and Abigail Adams Scholarships for academics for “FREE TUITION” for students who achieve a certain level on state testing. Sounds great right? Wait for it......
Both my kids qualified - you would think that was awesome.
Well, every little bit helps. Turns out that at our state
colleges and universities TUITION WAS $1000 a year...we had to pay for fees 12,000 a year, Room and board and books another 13,000 a year.*
So yes the $1000 helped a bit - a little bit
*based on school costs when my kids were in state university
graduated in 2012 and 2014
FU Big Government and the leeches who support it.
This is what CHOICE will do officially contaminate the K-12 education forcing the growth of homeschoolers while university will continue the indoctrination on the upper level. Since this bill did not include stipulations on curriculum (like they do on K-12 and also with fed funded CHOICE) they are not interested in having students see another point of view through private universities.
Much like the jihadis use our tax dollars to defeat us.
You re missing a larger point....
there will be free tuition to get degrees in a bunch of liberal arts groups like black studies, and gender studies, etc. Very few of the SUNY Schools offer degrees in Engineering of the various stripes.
Most of what gets churned out is education majors, and other various “studies”
A backward slide for humankind but a big step forward for Government Schools!
What good is a college education when it takes up 10% of your working life? Engineering and Sciences maybe but Humanities? Gender/Ethnic studies?
“Will this be the death knell of private education, except for the most elite schools?”
No. There will continue to be a very limited market for those that know nothing but diversity, inclusion and #blacklivesmatter. Most places of employment, to my knowledge, do not provide “safe spaces” for coloring and puppy cuddling. The pendulum of society has just begun its return arc. These are dying gasps of political correctness. Won’t happen overnight, but it is happening.
Back in the 1960s, state colleges and universities were very inexpensive. A student whose parents didn't foot the bill could easily work part time and pay tuition. What was different is that those schools had high enough standards so that they mostly weren't a place for fake students to hang out.
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