Updated at 7:59 p.m. to include a statement from Higher Education Services Corporation. In the statement HESC says the Excelsior program will be funded for the fall semester, but it is uncertain at this time if the following semester will be funded. The full statement has been added to the story.

BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

Some SUNY students who were expecting to receive scholarships under the state’s excelsior program, which was intended to fund tuition, have instead received bills this semester that did not include the credit.

Budget issues at the state level have delayed funding for students who were relying on the scholarship to cover their tuition costs.

The program implemented under a strong push from Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2017 appears to have been stalled as the state faces massive revenue losses.

It was hailed by his administration as tuition free education, but for some it could be causing an unexpected financial burden. The program funds the “last leg” of tuition for eligible students with family incomes of less than $125,000. This means it covers the amount of tuition payment left after all other scholarships and aid programs have been applied.

At SUNY Potsdam roughly 357 students are currently enrolled in the program from previous semesters, but the schools have apparently not received funding or notice that the funding would be coming from the state for the fall semester.

This means some students were hit with a tuition bill, which they expected to be covered by the scholarship program.

In addition to those who were awarded and enrolled in the program, 160 incoming students also applied for scholarships but as of today had not yet received awards.

At SUNY Canton about 300 students are currently enrolled in the program. An additional 160 applied this year, but awards were never made.

It should be noted that some students who are enrolled in or applying to the program could still have their college costs covered from other aid and scholarships.

Repeated calls to the State University of New York were unanswered.

The Higher Education Services Corporation returned a call from North Country This Week, but asked questions to be sent via email. As of deadline time, the answers had not been received.

UPDATE: However, HESC has since released a statement saying the program will be funded for the fall semsester.

"While federal action remains pending, New York State is releasing full financial awards for the Fall 2020 term to students eligible for Excelsior Scholarship awards, including new applicants. That said, the State is contending with a devastating revenue loss, amounting to $62 billion over four years, and in the absence of multi-year federal funding to offset this loss, future awards, including the Excelsior Scholarship award, which helps middle-class students with the last mile of college funding and is estimated to have served more than 28,000 students in the 2019-20 academic year, may have to be reduced and/or prioritized for current recipients. We hope students and their families will join us in calling on the federal government to act as the level of funding the Federal government sends to states will ultimately determine the size of the New York State budget and the level of funding available for financial aid programs."

Communications professionals at SUNY Canton and SUNY Potsdam could not provide comment on the matter because they were not clear on the details at the time. They instead directed questions to state offices.

The problem is not isolated to the local colleges, all 64 SUNY schools are facing the same problem.

It’s unclear exactly what the state’s plan is to address the situation both immediately and in the future.

SUNY colleges are offering payment plans.

It’s unknown if these payment plans include interest or how much they will cover. Last year the scholarship covered as much as $7,000 of tuition costs for some students.

The funding problem for the Excelsior program is likely the tip of the iceberg for the state, which has already withheld funding for some state employee raises and highway programs for municipalities.