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Test-lab states: New York's groundbreaking plan for free college

All students whose families make less than $125,000 a year would be eligible to attend New York state colleges for free. It suggests that a time of state experimentation might be ahead.  

For thousands of New York students, the new year may bring a huge gift: free college.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the proposal, which would make the Empire State the first in the nation to offer free tuition to any four-year state university or community college to anyone whose family earns less than $125,000 a year.

The announcement Tuesday, coming on the first official business day of 2017, was another clear signal that Democratic states like New York would be aggressively taking up the kind of liberal ideas that made Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist, the darling of the left last year. In fact, Senator Sanders, who made free tuition a central plank of his presidential campaign, joined Governor Cuomo for the announcement, calling it a 鈥渞evolutionary idea鈥� that would 鈥渞everberate not only throughout the state of New York, but throughout this country.鈥�

With Republicans poised to take control of all three branches of the federal government as of Jan. 20, Democrats have turned to state and local efforts not only to protect the environment and the rights of immigrants and shore up health-care provisions, but also to address issues middle class Americans believe are locking them out of the future, such as the country鈥檚 growing price tag on higher education.

As student debt 鈥� at $1.2 trillion nationwide and counting 鈥� surpassed credit card debt as the second largest source of consumer debt, making college more affordable has become an urgent concern.

鈥淏ut the question is, how much can states do now, really, without federal help?鈥� says Sara Goldrick-Rab, professor of higher education policy at Temple University in Philadelphia. 鈥淭he reason that鈥檚 such a big question: The feds play such a very large role in the financing of higher education,鈥� from the Pell Grant program to federally subsidized student loans.

Yet Professor Goldrick-Rab, author of 2016鈥檚 鈥淧aying the Price,鈥� also notes that for many people, especially Republicans, this is exactly how new policy ideas should germinate. 鈥淭hese policies should be developed from the grassroots level 鈥� states should be the incubators of these experiments, before the federal level,鈥� she says.

Tennessee Promise

In fact, Tennessee, a Republican state, rolled out its own free tuition experiment in 2015 with its , becoming the first state to make community college free for all graduating seniors. The program, which simply required eight hours of community service from students, also supplemented existing federal and state grants. Last fall, about 15,000 students took advantage of the program, and the number of those attending college straight out of high school grew 15 percent.聽

States such as , , and have also offered some kinds of free tuition programs, and the Obama administration鈥檚 programs has helped localities find ways to expand tuition assistance.

When Governor Cuomo made the announcement Tuesday, he couldn鈥檛 help but engage in some inter-borough banter with the Brooklyn-born senator.

鈥淚 am an old Queens boy,鈥� Cuomo told a crowd at LaGuardia Community College in his home borough, noting how as a kid there had always been various rivalries with kids from Brooklyn and the Bronx. Looking back at Sanders, he quipped, 鈥淎nd I think Brooklyn was always a little bit jealous of Queens, to tell you the truth.鈥�

Yet the point, he said as many in the audience laughed, was that both he and Sanders were 鈥渙uter borough鈥� kids, which always meant 鈥測ou were from the middle class, you were working men and women, you were new immigrants, you were just starting.鈥�

'A fair shot at success'

For Cuomo and Sanders, free college tuition is now an extension of the basic idea that the country should provide all of its citizens with an education. A high school diploma, in the modern economy, is simply no longer enough.

In the past, 鈥測ou could run a machine or drive a truck and you would be just fine,鈥� Cuomo said. 鈥淏ut those days are over. In this economy, you need a college education if you鈥檙e going to compete.鈥� Of the nearly 8 million jobs currently in New York, he said, 70 percent require a college education.

鈥淭he rule of the game was, everybody has a fair shot at success, that is America,鈥� he said. 鈥淭ake that away, you take away the spirit and the values that made this country this country.鈥�

With average student loans in New York about $30,000 per student, he said, 鈥渢he debt is so high it鈥檚 like starting a race with an anchor tied to your legs.鈥�

New York鈥檚 proposal, called the Excelsior Scholarship, would supplement existing state and federal grants and loans for hundreds of thousands of New York college students, allowing any member of a family earning less than $125,000 to attend a state four-year or community college for free.

How much will it cost?

Cuomo, known as a moderate, fiscally conservative Democrat, said he hoped to roll out free-tuition scholarships beginning this fall. His proposal must first be approved by the state legislature, however, including the Republican-controlled Senate.

New York already provides about $1 billion in support for needy students through its , and the Cuomo administration estimated that the Excelsior Scholarships would cost about $163 million more, depending on participation.聽

Goldrick-Rab notes that a significant number of voters who supported President-elect Donald Trump were part of the white working class without college degrees. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 wrong to assume that they didn鈥檛 want college,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 get to go to college, and they are [ticked] off, they are frustrated that they have been locked out of the pathway for upward mobility.鈥�

The president-elect offered few concrete proposals for education during the campaign, but in September he said he would work with Congress to encourage colleges and universities to use their tax-free 鈥渕ultibillion-dollar endowments鈥� to help students with tuition and debt 鈥� or risk losing federal tax breaks. Some institutions, such as Harvard and Stanford Universities, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Bowdoin College in Maine, already provide free tuition to families who make less than a certain amount per year.

鈥淭he students are choking on those loans,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淭hey can't pay them back. Before they start, they're in trouble. And it's something I hear more and more and it's one of the things I hear more than anything else.鈥�

On Tuesday in New York, Sanders said Cuomo鈥檚 free tuition proposal was 鈥渞evolutionary,鈥� and 鈥渁 message that will provide hope and optimism for working class families all across the state.鈥�

鈥淎nd if New York state does it this year,鈥� he continued, 鈥渕ark my words, state after state will follow.鈥澛�