 |
| May 05, 2024 |
Welcome! Click here to Login
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Click to visit the
Official Town Site
|
|
|
|
|
|
General News: Skoufis' Tuition Free NY Presentation
|
| Hundreds of students and educators attend Skoufis' Tuition Free NY presentation |
February 11, 2014
from the office of Assemblyman James Skoufis
Assemblyman Skoufis’ proposal would provide free SUNY and CUNY tuition for in-state students
Assemblyman James Skoufis (D-Woodbury) spoke in front of a crowd of hundreds of high school students and educators at Monroe-Woodbury High School to explain his proposal to make tuition free for all in-state students attending SUNY and CUNY, called Tuition-Free NY (A.8585).
“Student debt and tuition rates are soaring higher and faster than our families and students can keep up with. Tuition-Free NY changes the equation so that truly affordable higher education is within reach for all New Yorkers.”
According to the Institute for College Access and Success, about 60 percent of students graduate with debt in New York State, with an average debt over $25,0001; many leave school with considerably higher debt. Skoufis’ Tuition-Free NY proposal would alleviate students of this growing, negative trend.
Students who would opt into this program would be required to perform a minimum of
250 hours of community service for each year of participation. For students enrolled in a designated science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degree program, the service requirement would be 125 hours. Students would also be required to live and work in New York State for a period of at least five years following graduation.
This initiative has already gained the attention and support of the SUNY Orange President, as well as local parents, teachers and elected officials. Skoufis’ tuition bill has also gained support from 34 Assembly sponsors, including 10 members of the Higher Education Committee, and is being carried by State Senator Diane Savino in the co-majority conference.
The effective date of the legislation is April 1, 2015, the first day of the 2015-2016 fiscal year. Passage would require the legislation be funded in next year’s budget framework.
Paul Ellis-Graham, a local educator and New York State United Teachers board member shared, “This is a step we need to support as educators and parents. We cannot allow our children to inherit a lifetime of student debt in order to go to college. Tuition-Free NY has the ability to change the lives of thousands of families and start a real dialogue on what affordable higher education really is.”
Assemblyman Skoufis is encouraging supporters to help pass his Tuition-Free NY plan by signing the petition, which is also available online at assembly.state.ny.us/mem/James-Skoufis. Please feel free to contact Assemblyman Skoufis on this topic or another by calling his District Office at 845-469-6929 or emailing him at [email protected]
Comments:
|
I am against this bill. The state should and does provide a free education for students in K-12. After that it should be the individuals to pay for further education. Giving people more things for free only makes them slaves to the government. It takes away and individual's initiative. We tend not to value so highly things that we receive too easily. NYS college tuition is fairly affordable. If you can't afford, get a day job and go to classes at night. Start at a community college. Pay as you go. Some jobs even pay for college credits. Don't give people more reasons not to work hard to succeed.
posted by Martha Aylward on 05/21/14 at 12:09 PM
|
Add a Comment:
Please signup or login to add a comment.
|
 |
|
|
|
