BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP JANUARY 13 - JANUARY 19, 2017 15 GOVERNOR’S FREE TUITION PROPOSAL HAS FLAWS BK SNAP S THE BQE, LOOKING WEST TOWARD TILLARY STREET. Photo by Samuel Barreto Send us your photos of Brooklyn and you could see them online or in our paper. Submit them to us via Instagram, Twitter and Facebook by using the hashtag #HRPix; or email them to [email protected]. GUEST OPED On January 3, Governor Cuomo announced a plan to provide “free” tuition to income qualifying students accepted at any SUNY or CUNY public college or university in New York State. The proposed plan would offer a fully state-subsidized tuition for any student who is a resident of New York State, living in a household with income less than $100,000 in 2017, $110,000 in 2018 and fully phased in at $125,000 in 2019. Unfortunately, when creating these limits, there is no consideration given to students living in households who may miss the economic threshold by even a thousand dollars. The plan puts forward a structure so that qualifi ed students would receive a “scholarship” equal to the tuition at any SUNY or CUNY college, university or community college. Sadly, as we all know, when the government announces something is “free,” it usually means that hardworking taxpayers are going to be forced pay the bill. Initial budget estimates put the cost at over $300 million in the fi rst three years. In addition to the cost, this plan will create an inequity among students. SUNY and CUNY will inevitably raise tuition costs on students who do not meet the threshold for the free tuition program to cover lost revenues. I am concerned also by the fact that this fi nancial assistance is only limited to New York State public universities and colleges. An included inequity in the program is that, if it is so worthwhile, why should similar scholarships not be o ered to any other New York State accredited degree-granting institutions? New York State should be committed to helping all, not just some, of our best and brightest students attend the New York college or university of their choice. It is essential that any as- of-right scholarship program be expanded to New York State private school colleges and universities to avoid harming this other vital half of New York’s higher education eco-system. If we truly want to create an equitable and fair tuition program, we should look to increase New York State Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) funding. Currently, there is $965 million in funding to assist students and their families with college tuition costs. An increase in funding to TAP will greatly assist students meet the rising tuition costs. Our public college and universities are highly competitive with their private counterparts and continue to o er a quality education at a reasonable cost. An uncounted amount of students have graduated from these institutions and achieved great professional success. The program on the surface has some merit to it, but clearly as proposed, there are many shortcomings. In the end, we need to ensure that any tuition assistance program is fair for all students and fair to hardworking New York taxpayers. State Senator Marty Golden represents the 22nd S.D. THE HOT TOPIC BY STATE SENATOR MARTY GOLDEN STORY: Illegal eight-family conversion busted in Dyker Heights SUMMARY: A Dyker Heights home was issued a full vacate order on Friday, January 6 after Department of Buildings (DOB) offi cials found that it had been illegally converted from a two-family home to an eight-family home, housing just over two dozen people. According to neighbors, police were on the premises early Friday morning escorting occupants out of the home. A DOB spokesperson told this paper that, “all affected residents were given relocation assistance by the American Red Cross, which registered 26 tenants affected by the vacate order.” REACH: 54,715 people (as of 1/9/17) FOR MORE NEWS, VISIT WWW.BROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
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