#Cuomo may slash Excelsior Scholarship program amid COVID-19

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is warning incoming SUNY and CUNY freshmen he may have to slash the tuition relief program for middle class families because of the fiscal crisis fueled by the coronavirus crisis — unless the federal government delivers a rescue package.

Cuomo announced the Excelsior Scholarship program with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at his side in 2017.

Students whose family gross income is $125,000 or less are eligible for the grant to wipe out tuition.

The Excelsior Scholarship is a “last dollar” program covering the balance remaining on tuition at SUNY and CUNY colleges after accounting for other financial aid a student receives – up to $5,500.

About 30,000 students have benefitted from the tuition-relief scholarship, or about five percent of New York’s public college enrollment

“Please note that the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically reduced state revenues and the processing of new applications is pending on Federal assistance, which has been delayed since April. Excelsior Scholarship awards may have to be reduced and/or prioritized for current recipients as provided for under the program,” a notice on the state’s Higher Education Services Corporation website tells students.

Cuomo’s budget office confirmed the Excelsior Scholarship championed by the governor might have to take a hit.

“The State is contending with a devastating revenue loss, amounting to $61 billion over four years, and in the absence of multi-year federal funding for New York State, awards may have to be reduced. We hope students and their families will join is in calling on the federal government to act,” said Division of Budget spokesman Freeman Klopott.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Toby Ann Stavisky (D-Queens) said it was a “big deal” that Cuomo would pull back on the program. She noted the Legislature gave the governor the authority in the budget to cut back or postpone spending on programs if the state’s fiscal situation deteriorated.

“Tax receipts are down. Unemployment is up,” Stavisky said.

She said she preferred to raise income taxes on New Yorkers earning more than $5 million to protect spending on education programs.

One Albany insider said the Excelsior program is a “fat target’’ because the feds may not want to subsidize Cuomo’s tuition-relief for students from well-to-do families as part a COVID-19 bailout plan.

In his executive budget proposal, Cuomo proposed expanding income eligibility for the Excelsior Scholarship to $135,000 and then $150,000 over the next two years. But it fell to the wayside when he and the Legislature approved a final budget in late March during the height of the pandemic.

Critics have complained that the criteria for the Excelsior Scholarship is too restrictive. Students have to complete 30 credits a year to qualify – thus favoring traditional students on a four-year graduation track and barring participation from part-time students. Students must also stay in the state for four years after graduation, or the grants received convert into a loan that must be paid off.

“It’s a program in need of improvement in terms of eligibility,” Stavisky said.

She wants expand the eligibility requirement to take into account students who must work and can’t meet the credit requirements to graduate in two years at a community college or four years at a senior SUNY or CUNY college.

Cuomo made it clear that the Excelsior program was designed to aid middle class families squeezed by rising college costs while keeping students on track to graduate on time.

“This program is far more than free-tuition for New York’s future leaders – it is a college completion and degree attainment program. We now know that with Excelsior, students stay on track academically to achieve their degree in two or four years, and completing college in this time frame translates into substantial savings for middle-class students and their families,” Cuomo said.