How New York Is Funding Free College Education For Students

Studying is expensive; this is something that thousands of students experience once they head to college. Fortunately for some New York college students, tuition fees are not going to affect them! A select group of students in New York can now start studying tuition free!

The Excelsior Scholarship

The initiative enabling students to enjoy tuition-free education is called the Excelsior Scholarship. The Excelsior Scholarship was announced by Governor Andrew Cuomo in January and went into effect in April.

Scholarship Applications

To take advantage of the new scholarship, eligible students had to file an application. One of the students who submitted an application for the scholarship was Florence Yu.

When submitting her application for the new scholarship, Florence Yu intended on studying business and health science. She did have to wait a while for her approval though, because she only found out the good news in August.

Yu and here parents were greatful for the Excelsior Scholarship:

“I’ve never seen my Dad so happy. He knows I really wanted to go to Stony Brook and he was really stressed about paying. Now he’s able to, so it really changed a lot,”

The Difference Between the Excelsior and Other Scholarships

Most scholarships will eliminate tuition fees on an annual basis; this means that the Excelsior Scholarship is quite new for students who aim at obtaining a four-year degree.

Thanks to the creation of the Excelsior Scholarship, college students could safe a whopping $27,000. Students do need to consider that the Excelsior Scholarship will not cover any fees that the school charges. The same applies to costs for the room and board of students.

There are also some conditions that need to be met before a student can benefit from the Excelsior Scholarship. The main condition of the scholarship is that students agree to live in the state of their college for the same time they have studied there. If not, the scholarship will be converted into a loan. It is believed that New York has done this to promote more educated professionals living in New York.

Eligible Student

Unfortunately, not everyone is eligible for the Excelsior Scholarship in New York. According to recent reports, an estimated 75,000 potential students applied for the scholarship, but only 23,000 students would receive the Excelsior scholarship.

Students already receiving need-based grants could be denied the scholarship. Since the Excelsior Scholarship does not provide additional funds, it meant that these students do not qualify.

There were also a portion of students whose families earned too much for the scholarship to be awarded to them. At the time of this article, the limit lies at $100,000 a year. The maximum is expected to go up to $110,000 next year. It is also expected that the maximum limit will continue to rise over the next couple of years.

Still, there are some critics who say that the scholarship is costing too much tax dollars, while others say it is investing into the future of America. Time will tell what the effect of the scholarship will be.