Literacy Campaign Report: Excelsior Scholarship program

Students of all kinds of backgrounds in New York have gained the opportunity to attend college through scholarships such as the Excelsior Scholarship program. Governor Cuomo initially intended for the program to aid full time students straight out of high school. Many students have disputing views on whether the Excelsior Scholarship program has actually helped students more than hurt them. We believe that it hurt more than helped because there is much more evidence to prove that it harmed those that this program is aimed to help.

The Excelsior Scholarship program was originally made to significantly reduce college tuition for underprivileged New York State college students. Only United States citizens and eligible non-citizens are able to apply for this program. To qualify for the Excelsior Scholarship program, one must be a New York state resident at least twelve months before beginning school, have a final income 110,000 or less per year, pursue an undergrad degree at a SUNY or CUNY, complete thirty credits in total each year, and must live in New York for as long as the scholarship is awarded. Each student is required to file for both Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) which are other forms of financial aid.

Some of the Excelsior Scholarship program’s benefits include that there is no age limit as to who can apply. Student loan burdens are minimized dramatically New York State wide, influencing a vast majority of students to attend college. The program encourages New York State residency by attracting low income families with soon to be college students. “Cuomo’s office has estimated that 940,000 families with college-aged students will be eligible for the program by the time it is fully in place in 2019,” the Inside Higher Education website states. High residency helps benefit the economy by bringing in new sources of income. The Excelsior Scholarship provides a generous income cap, meaning one is allowed to make $110,000 annually while participating in the program. The New York Times estimates the scholarship, “to cost $87 million in its first year, the 2017-18 school year, and $163 million by its third.” The scholarship does not increase taxes on the less fortunate by increasing taxes on the wealthy. What a better use of that money than to help make dreams come true. Not everything about the Excelsior program is beneficial.

Although the Excelsior Scholarship program has some positive aspects, it is outweighed by its more damaging effects. The program is limited in helping the poor student demographic due to the lack of coverage for living expenses, books, and fees. Students who need to work to help support their families may not be able to attend full time thus being excluded from the scholarship. This program however limits mobility in restricting future plans by paying back dues to your state. “Douglas Webber, an assistant professor of economics at Temple University, analyzed U.S. Census Bureau Data and estimated that between 20 percent and 25 percent of New York college graduates leave the state within four years of receiving their degrees.” Twenty percent of thousands of people is quite the significant amount. Now imagine all of those same people being told that they must stay in New York. According to the New York Times, Governor Cuomo stated, “The concept of investing in you and your education is that you’re going to stay here and be an asset to the state.” Thus, proving that one is expected to pay back scholarship money by being a part of the New York State economy.

Equal opportunity for students of all financial backgrounds is part of the American Dream, an ideal that states everyone who comes to this country is promised equal opportunity in pursuing their dreams. The negative aspects of the Excelsior Scholarship program have outweighed the positive. Although Governor Cuomo created the Excelsior Scholarship program to make higher education accessible to all students of New York, he failed in targeting the poor demographic. Their economic status was not taken into consideration when creating regulations such as demanding students become full time when in reality they can only do part time having to support themselves and/or their families. Rather than having a scholarship program benefiting the people, Excelsior is focused on the progression of the state economy and ensures the loyalty of college students to New York State in requiring they stay working for at least four years. The point of free tuition shouldn’t be to make money off of its recipients, but to better our citizens one education at a time.