Gov: Frat’s the way it is, kids

No ‘Animal House’ on tuition

Gov. Cuomo sought to put his “Animal House” in order Wednesday, citing the frat-house comedy classic to defend his requirement that college students graduate in four years in order to earn free tuition at CUNY and SUNY schools under his new Excelsior Scholarship program.

“We want you to study and do well. We don’t want to pay the tuition . . . if you’re not going to study,” Cuomo said at a bill-signing ceremony at the Academy of Finance and Enterprise in Long Island City, Queens.

“We want you to graduate in four years. Why? College is supposed to be in two years or four years.”

Then, the governor referenced a line from the 1978 flick.

“There’s an old movie, before your time, ‘Animal House,’ where they said, ‘I’m on the seven-year college plan,’ ” the governor said. “We don’t believe in the seven-year college plan. Two years, four years.”

In the film, after the prank-loving Delta fraternity is expelled, John Belushi’s character, Bluto, quips, “Seven years of college down the drain. Might as well join the f--king Peace Corps.”

Cuomo’s tuition-free program also has a residency requirement that requires graduates to stay in New York state for as many years as they get free tuition, or treat the money as a loan that must be repaid.

Afterward, Cuomo told reporters the requirement is “more than fair.”

“What is the fairness the other way? I’m going to give you taxpayer money, hand you a check and then you move to California?”

Students from families with adjusted gross incomes of $100,000 will be eligible for tuition relief this fall. The eligibility level increases to $110,000 in 2018 and $125,000 in 2019.