Tuition-Free Degree Program: The Excelsior Scholarship
Jul 21, 2017
Recently, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the Excelsior scholarship, which will provide tuition-free college at New York’s public colleges and universities to families making up to $125,000 a year. Under the Excelsior Scholarship, nearly 80 percent, or 940,000 middle-class families and individuals making up to $125,000 per year, would qualify to attend college tuition-free at all CUNY and SUNY two- and four-year colleges in New York State.
A regional breakdown of families who would be eligible for the program is available below.
The new program will be phased in over three years, beginning for New Yorkers making up to $100,000 annually in the fall of 2017, increasing to $110,000 in 2018, and reaching $125,000 in 2019. Scholars must be enrolled in college full-time and average 30 credits per year (including Summer and January semesters) in order to receive the funding, however, the program has built in flexibility so that any student facing hardship is able to pause and restart the program, or take fewer credits one semester than another. Students are required to maintain a grade point average necessary for the successful completion of their coursework, and, as the program makes a major investment in the state’s greatest asset – our young people – scholars will be required to live and work in-state for the same number of years after graduation as they received the scholarship.
These initiatives build on the Governor’s commitment to making college affordable for all students in the Empire State, including the nation-leading 'Get On Your Feet' Loan Forgiveness Program, which allows eligible college graduates living in New York to pay nothing on their student loans for the first two years out of school.
Visit the website https://www.hesc.ny.gov to learn more about the Excelsior Scholarship and to be electronically notified when you may apply by entering you email address on the Excelsior Scholarship Alert form.
