Free-college plan for New York: Cuo

More than 200,000 students from families earning up to $125,000 a year would be able to attend New York state’s public colleges tuition-free under a proposal announced Tuesday by Gov. Cuomo.

Cuomo made the splashy announcement at La Guardia Community College in Queens with progressive Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who made free public colleges a key plank in his presidential campaign last year.

The governor said a college education is a necessity to land decent-paying jobs in the high-tech economy, noting that too many students can’t afford the tuition. And he pointed out that many graduates leave with debt averaging $30,000.

“That is not fair. That is not right,” Cuomo said. “New York is going to do something about it.”

Sanders predicted that Cuomo’s plan — which requires legislative approval — would have far-reaching impact.

“If New York state does it this year, mark my words, state after state will follow,” said Sanders, who was wildly cheered by hundreds of college and high-school students invited to the event.

Under the new Excelsior Scholarship program, students from families earning up to $125,000 a year would be eligible for a free education at two- and four-year public colleges.

There are 940,000 families in New York that have students between the ages of 16 and 25, according to Cuomo’s office.

The Governor’s Office estimated that about 210,000 students could end up participating at a cost to the state of $163 million a year when the program is fully phased in.

But that would be on top of the nearly $1 billion Albany already shells out for New York State Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) grants that top out at $5,165.

Officials conceded that the cost could go up — or down — depending on the program’s participation rate.

Assemblywoman Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan), chair of the Committee on Higher Education, was among numerous lawmakers who said they wanted to see more details before making a decision.

“The cost estimate of $163 million begs the question: If it costs so little, why haven’t we done it before?” she asked.

If the plan is approved by the Legislature, students whose families make less than $100,000 could go to CUNY or SUNY this fall for free. In 2018, the cap would be raised to $110,000 and in 2019 it would go up to $125,000.

New York has among the highest community-college costs in the nation — $4,800 annually at CUNY and $4,350 at SUNY. Tuition at four-year colleges is $6,330 at CUNY and $6,470 at SUNY.

CUNY ended its free tuition in 1976 amid a city fiscal crisis.

Currently, the TAP program provides student aid to family incomes up to $80,000. For many lowerincome students, the aid covers their entire tuition.

Mary Beth Labate, Cuomo’s former budget director who is now president of the New York Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, issued a statement saying that she would like to see tuition assistance increased to students attending private colleges as well.

Andrew Cuomo, Bernie Bro? That was the picture Tuesday, as the governor was joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders to announce the Cuomo plan for free tuition at CUNY and SUNY. The real Bernie Bros will cheer, no doubt, but the actual achievement may prove as purely symbolic as Cuomo’s New Year’s gig as “Bob the (subway) Builder” riding high on the new Second Avenue line.

For starters, New York’s public colleges are bargains already: $6,470 for tuition at a SUNY four-year college, $6,330 for CUNY — with two-year schools even cheaper.

And state and federal grants already cover so much of those sums that Cuomo figures he can take it down to zero with less than $200 million a year in new taxpayer funding.

(The plan covers New York residents whose family incomes top out at $100,000 this year, rising to $125,000 in 2019.)

Perhaps it will help Cuomo escape the stench of the Buffalo Billion corruption prosecutions, which have ensnared several of his onetime intimates. The governor’s certainly been extra headline-hungry of late.

But, hey, Sanders crowed his approval: “If New York state does it this year, mark my words, state after state will follow.” Well, maybe California — but progressives don’t have many other strongholds left.

Then, too, the gov will have to sell the Legislature on his plan — and provide a lot more clarity on his assumptions. It wouldn’t be the first time that a new entitlement turns out to cost more than anyone thought. More important: Lowering tuition from

nearly to completely free won’t do much to assure that all New York students have access to quality higher education.

For that, Cuomo would have to fix New York’s K-12 public-education system, which leaves far too many high-school grads unable to do university-level work without a year or more of remedial work in college.

That problem is especially acute for the lower-income kids targeted by the free-tuition plan.

“Free stuff ” that you can’t actually use isn’t all that marvelous a gift.