Dear Commons Community,
Last year, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo won approval for his groundbreaking Excelsior Scholarship program to make college tuition-free for many students at New York’s public colleges and universities. It appears that the scholarship program may be gaining in appeal.
It was reported by CUNY officials yesterday that a record 50,546 students are seeking to enroll at the City University of New York for the 2018-19 school year. That’s up from the 45,497 who applied for freshman seats in the current school year and represents a jump of roughly 11%.
CUNY officials said the new record number of applicants follows a 9% increase in applications for 2016, which resulted in CUNY’s largest-ever freshman class of 38,372 in 2017. As reported in the New York Daily News:
“One reason for the surge, CUNY Chancellor James B. Milliken said, is the state’s Excelsior Scholarship, which kicked off in this past fall.
“Students are seeing the tremendous opportunity and value that CUNY offers,” Milliken said. “We believe that Gov. Cuomo’s Excelsior Scholarship played a significant role in the increases in applications, enrollment and credit-taking by enabling eligible students to attend tuition-free.”
Cuomo rolled out the Excelsior Scholarship, named for the state motto meaning “ever upward,” to increase access to public colleges across New York State. As of October, about 22,000 students were participating in the program, which covers any tuition that remains after other aid is received for students whose families make less than $100,000.
CUNY students as well as those at the State University of New York are eligible for the scholarship.
As of 2016, about 272,957 students were enrolled at CUNY schools, representing a 40% increase from 2000, when 195,000 students enrolled for fall classes, CUNY officials said.”
This is good news for students, for CUNY, and for public higher education. However, I am not sure what is happening at private colleges. There were reports last year that many private colleges in the state would not be participating via the Enhanced Tuition Awards Program, which provides up to $6,000 for students who choose to attend private colleges instead of one of the state’s SUNY or CUNY colleges.
Tony
