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SUNY Potsdam and Canton excited about taxpayer funded tuition, but private universities remain quiet

Posted 4/23/17

By ANDY GARDNER The presidents of SUNY Potsdam and Canton say they are excited and preparing for the rollout of the Excelsior Scholarship, despite many unknowns, while the presidents of Clarkson and …

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SUNY Potsdam and Canton excited about taxpayer funded tuition, but private universities remain quiet

Posted

By ANDY GARDNER

The presidents of SUNY Potsdam and Canton say they are excited and preparing for the rollout of the Excelsior Scholarship, despite many unknowns, while the presidents of Clarkson and St. Lawrence universities are not talking about it.

The controversial state scholarship program offers taxpayer-subsidized SUNY tuition to middle class students whose tuition costs are not covered by the federal Pell Grant and the state Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). It was recently approved as part of the 2017-18 New York state budget.

How the Program Works

Students eligible for the SUNY scholarship must be pursuing an undergraduate degree full-time and come from a family who made less than $100,000 per year on their 2015 tax return. That will increase to $125,000 by 2019. There are also residency requirements. Students must have lived in New York for at least a year prior to the semester for which they will receive the scholarship. They must also agree to live in New York and not work outside the state for the amount of years they received the aid. For example, a student who gets the grant for two years would agree to live and work in New York for at least two years after finishing school, according to an Excelsior Scholarship FAQ on SUNY Canton’s website.

Students must also complete 30 credits each year, including winter and summer terms. There is no specific grade point average requirement, but students must have a GPA high enough that they will graduate on time, the college’s website says.

Those who are current students must have completed 30 credits toward their degree to apply, according to SUNY Canton officials.

There are some unknowns. SUNY Canton Director of Financial Aid Kerrie Cooper said she has been hearing from students who did not complete their degree and are thinking about coming back.

“We’re still looking for clarification on students enrolled now and those who were enrolled in the past and want to come back,” Cooper said.

Applications are not yet available for the scholarship program. People can sign up for update alerts at goo.gl/59ZuFM .

Students will still be responsible for housing, books and other associated costs.

SUNY Presidents Excited

SUNY Potsdam President Kristen Esterberg and SUNY Canton President Zvi Szafran both think the Excelsior program will have a good impact on their student body.

“I’m thrilled … it points attention to the incredibly high-quality education we provide in the public sector,” Esterberg said.

“We’re pretty excited about it because this is obviously a large investment in higher education and it will make college affordable … because we have a lot of poverty in the North Country, it will be especially important,” Szafran said. “I think something that’s really important … is this is going to make college more affordable so I think it will be no longer true that a student in New York state will say ‘I can’t go to college because I can’t afford it.’”

Esterberg said as of mid-April, about 30 percent of the SUNY Potsdam student body would be eligible for the subsidized SUNY program. About 4,000 students attend the school. That is the percentage of students whose tuition is not in full or part covered by Pell and TAP. However, she says they are ready, should the program spark an uptick in students living on campus.

“Right now, we don’t know what that’s going to look like. We’re ready. We’re prepared. We have room on our campus,” she said, adding that they can comfortably fit another 400 or 500 students in their residence halls.

At the same time at SUNY Canton, about 300 current students and about 500 freshmen or transfer students may be eligible for the Excelsior program, about a quarter of their roughly 3,200 students.

"It is critical that students fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form if they wish to take advantage of the free tuition in New York,” said Kerrie Cooper, SUNY Canton director of financial aid.

Esterberg says it’s also too early to tell what, if any, impact the Excelsior program will have on enrollment.

“It’s really hard to say. The applications for Excelsior Scholarship will be available in late May, as best as we know. It’s hard to estimate. My hope is there are some students sitting on the fence … who may take a second look [at college],” she said.

Szafran also said they’re not really sure what, if anything, it will do to the student body.

“I imagine it’s going to change current behavior,” he said.

Szafran said his school will add classes that start the eighth week of the semester so if students, especially those getting the new aid, are struggling, they can switch into a class they can pass.

“If a student has difficulty with one they started with, they’ll be able to replace it,” Szafran said, adding that he wants to make sure student support is “tied in as tightly as it can with the scholarship program.”

Esterberg pointed out that tuition is only a portion of the cost of college, and they want to point students at other programs that can help them with the bill.

“Tuition is only part of the cost of attendance. The total cost … is closer to $20,000 a year. So the Excelsior Scholarship gets middle class families part of the way there, but we’ve got to work closer with our families to get the rest of the way there,” she said, adding that there are “literally several million dollars worth of scholarships and other aid available.”

SUNY Canton will host information sessions on the new scholarship April 20 and 27 from 5 to 7 p.m. each night in their Office of Admissions in French Hall.

“We’re eager to learn more about the details as they unfold. Frankly, we’re excited for any investment in public education … we’re glad the state is seeing and wiling to invest in our institutions and students,” Esterberg said.

Private College Presidents Not Talking

Public relations offices at both Clarkson and St. Lawrence universities declined North Country This Week interviews with their respective college presidents, Tony Collins and William Fox.

Clarkson deferred comment to their vice president of external relations, Kelly Chezum. SLU would not provide any of their officials to speak for this story, deferring comment to the Albany-based Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities.

Chezum said Clarkson students could benefit from another provision in the new state budget, an enhanced TAP program of up to $6,000 per student attending a private school. People can go to goo.gl/adTlu2 to sign up for alerts on that program.

“One of the assets for New York state is all of the great higher education opportunity the students have, private and public. I think one of the assets is the TAP as a model,” she said. “We have to be having transparent conversations with our students about what the aid packages are.”

She said she doesn’t know if there will be an impact on enrollment.

“That’s still to be determined,” she said, pointing to a study often cited by opponents of the Excelsior Scholarship that claims it could bring down private college applications by 10 to 12 percent. That study is at goo.gl/xwa8xg.

“We haven’t seen that (enrollment decrease) yet. This just came into effect,” she said.

“Private education educates over 51 percent of New Yorkers right now and we’re really invested in state education. I think adding aid is great. We have some vehicles to give more access to families. This new program, we have to see how it’s going to play out,” Chezum said.

The CICU declined a phone interview on St. Lawrence University’s behalf. They instead released this prepared statement in response to questions on how the program could affect SLU and if there is anything in the program that could extend an Excelsior Scholarship credit to private school students:

“On behalf of its 100+ private, not-for-profit colleges and universities and the almost 300,000 New York State students we enroll, the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU) is very disappointed in the outcome of State budget negotiations. Introducing a conditional and unguaranteed 'free' tuition plan, and a potentially unworkable and modest plan for students who attend a not-for-profit college or university will confuse and potentially mislead families at the moment when students are making the decision on what college to attend. As we have said from the beginning, while 'free' tuition makes for an effective sound bite, it does not make for sound public policy. As always, New York’s not-for-profit colleges and universities are committed to making college affordable by making sure every student gets the maximum aid possible. Choice, access and completion for our students have long been hallmarks of the Independent Sector of higher education.”