I think many privates and some publics in and outside NY could be harmed. And how can NY handle the demand?
Demand might shoot up. It is the same with health care. Just wait until it is free.
Some think the impact will not be that big but I tend to think it is going to be a very good option for poor people and that they will definitely take the free option. Who can match the price?
How do the Ivies handle demand?
Lower acceptance rate.
Are any of the SUNY’s open admissions?
While it makes for great headlines, free tuition here doesn’t include room & board or even if one’s a commuter student fees.
In short, it’s not 100% free and the fees aren’t exactly what one would consider small change.
Especially if they follow policies of some other public systems and compensate by hiking up student fees.
“Free” is stretching it a bit, There are a number of caveats one of which is after graduating you need to live and work in NY for the number of years you received aid, if you don’t the aid morphs into an, as yet undetermined “loan”.
This “free” tuition program already exists under the Excelsior moniker for STEM majors. Cuomo has expanded it to all majors and raised the income ceiling for aid. Overall, a great political move.
I’d bet the vast majority of NY students stay in NY state after graduation. Not a huge deal IMHO.
The SUNY community colleges are pretty much open admissions, as long as you have a diploma or a GED. Some individual programs may have entrance requirements - as a joke, one of my sons looked into the mortuary program, but his math score wasn’t high enough. Accounting, nursing and computer science require a certain Regents score or SAT/ACT score to get in.
My son got an email today from a private NY college, pointing out the drawbacks of the NY scholarship plan. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s a tactic more of the privates take. My son has decided on a SUNY and it doesn’t have to do with the scholarship because I don’t think we qualify.
@techmom99 I’m not understanding what you mean by “it doesn’t have to do with the scholarship because i don’t think we qualify” “Mr. Cuomo hopes for a quick start for his idea, with a three-year rollout beginning in the fall, with a $100,000 income limit, rising to $125,000 by 2019” that was from a website I found, so I’m assuming you make more than that? he said that 80% people will qualify, thats a huge number.
@julyzahxo Seems like she’s saying he would’ve chosen SUNY regardless of scholarship because they do not qualify for guaranteed financial aid.
This is what the NY Times in part had to say about the program
It’s not even clear how “outrageously ambitious” the program is. By one legislative estimate, it will reach only about 32,000 students. The program’s strict income limits leave a lot of people out. It is not for part-time students, a huge portion of the community-college population. Students have to earn 30 credits a year to participate. It’s not for poor families, who are expected to use the state’s Tuition Assistance Program or Pell grants or other aid to cover tuition. And even though the cost of room and board and books is what’s keeping many poor students out of college, the Excelsior Scholarship covers none of that.
No, this is one program for one slice of the middle class.
Like the other NYS scholarships (STEM incentive) the Excelsior is a last payer that only cover tuition.
Low income students who are eligbe for full TAP are already receiving $5165 toward tuition. The balance will come from PELL so there is no double dipping.
TAP currently caps out for families making 80k with approx a $200 a semester award and no PELL.
For these families The $6400 tuition is now covered. It is not free because fees are approx $1600 per year.
Actually the scholarship is similar to the state aid; where it only covers 4 years (8 semesters) of tuition. The goal being to get your education done in 4 years( thus the reason behind the 15 credits per year). There will be exceptions for students with disabilities to take a reduced course load.
Yes depending on where you live upstate some SUNY campuses are harder to commute to because they are spread out. The good thing about CUNY is that if you live in NYC, there are schools in each of the 5 boroughs , which makes it commutable (some commutes will be longer than others).
If a family makes under $100,000, presumably they will qualify for AOTC. If tuition is already covered, the credit can be claimed for qualified fees and books.
https://www.irs.gov/uac/american-opportunity-tax-credit-questions-and-answers
@julyzahxo and @CaliCash -
Yes, what I meant is that my family does not qualify for any financial aid. Therefore, since my son did not receive enough merit money at his chosen schools to bring the cost down to what a SUNY without aid would cost, his choices were to attend SUNY or figure out how to pay the difference himself. I refuse to take out parent loans. I consider my obligation fulfilled by paying for a SUNY education with no debt. He found a well-regarded program in his chosen major and is looking forward to his studies. The SUNY school recently rebuilt and expanded the facilities in his major and he said that they compared favorably with those at the private schools.
Many of his friends are also attending SUNY’s next year, though the rich kids are going to places like Indiana, Marist and Penn State, none of which I personally see as worth my taking on excessive debt to pay for. Tisch was the one program that caused me qualms, but my son didn’t want to live in the city and ultimately opted not to apply. He likes the fact that it’s at most a 10 to 15 minute walk from one point of his campus to the furthest point.
@MassDaD68 Where is healthcare free? While they don’t have free healthcare, the evidence from countries with social insurance schemes is that demand decreases with time as conditions are caught and treated earlier on.
@wisteria100 I read a similar analysis in the Chronicle of Higher Education. They projected it would capture less than 30,000 students a year given its restrictions.
This new law is for somewhat PR to get the NY governor into the next presidential race.
The tuition at CUNY and SUNY has been about the same as the combo of state and federal grants given to low income students for a very long time. This was clearly designed to allow low incomes students to commute and have a free college education. The main difference is this law raises the income limit to include many more families. Some of the families at the top end of the income limit maybe can afford to pay for the R&B costs and actually send their kids away to college, which is a nice new benefit for some small # of people.
The SUNY was already among the most affordable college educations in the US, and this makes it more affordable to a few more families than before. Not the top state schools in the nation, our state schools are designed to serve the public at large, not elite students worldwide like a Michigan. Tops students in NY go to top schools, but for the other 95+% of students, we have decent quality cheap public colleges that are now a bit cheaper.
I would imagine this would put pressure on the lesser known NY privates (i.e. schools not NYU or Columbia)
My son turned down a private college in NY, not because of Excelsior, for which I don’t think we are eligible. The school sent out a letter pointing out all of the disadvantages of the scholarship.
Overall, when the price/tuition is lowered, the enrollment/demand is likely to go up. But from which segment of demand?
- The main increase in demand is likely to come from those segments with similar pricing. Some students may choose to attend NY state U's, instead of community college in NY.
- Another source can be those students who initially would choose not to attend a college (including community college) at all. Now an incentive is provided to attend a college.
I think this would have little (too much impacts) on private universities in NY or nearby states. They are at very different price points and are not competing directly for the same target market.
Note that there could be a very small negative effect on NY state U’s enrollment. For those NY residents whose income could not qualify them “free” tuition, it may be psychologically difficult for them to consider a NY state U.
I am not certain that I agree with your final point. I am a NY resident whose income doesn’t qualify me for the scholarship. I think that many of my friends are in the same category. All of us who were sending our kids to SUNY before Excelsior was announced are still planning to do so. The fact remains that it’s still a best buy, though it would certainly be a better buy if we got free tuition. The only person I know who MIGHT qualify for Excelsior is a colleague of mine because his spouse doesn’t work, but I say might because I have no idea how much he earns compared to me. I am in a higher prestige job but he has been with the company longer.
I think prof2dad conflates price and quality. A good public can have a lower price but be as good or better than many privates costing 3 to 4 times as much. Say Syracuse vs any top SUNY campus. Making SUNY free just adds to the advantage. There are quite a few just average to good privates in NY . A good SUNY is better than many of them even at full instate tuition