--- title: New York Offers Free College: What to Know, Who Qualifies description: New York's governor signed legislation to provide free tuition to students attending public colleges in the state. Here's what to know canonical: https://time.com/4734635/free-college-tuition-new-york/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-11T16:48:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:20:21.292Z article:section: Politics og:title: What to Know About New York’s Plan to Offer Free College og:description: State leaders are hailing the plan as the first of its kind in the nation og:url: https://time.com/4734635/free-college-tuition-new-york/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e542feb84d0eb51/6988c251196cf4f5bc03f9fa/free-college-new-york-state.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5216 og:image:height: 2934 og:image:alt: Cuomo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Know About New York’s Plan to Offer Free College twitter:description: State leaders are hailing the plan as the first of its kind in the nation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e542feb84d0eb51/6988c251196cf4f5bc03f9fa/free-college-new-york-state.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What to Know About New York’s Plan to Offer Free College > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 11, 2017 4:48 PM UTC  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs new legislation for free state college tuition and juvenile justice reform on April 10, 2017 in New York. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs new legislation for free state college tuition and juvenile justice reform on April 10, 2017 in New York. Bebeto Matthews—AP  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 11, 2017 4:48 PM UTC New York Gov. [Andrew Cuomo](http://time.com/4621407/free-college-andrew-cuomo-bernie-sanders-new-york/) signed legislation on Monday to provide free tuition to students attending two-year and four-year programs at public colleges in the state — a plan he is hailing as the [first of its kind](https://twitter.com/NYGovCuomo/status/850715071638634498) in the nation, amid a [growing push](http://time.com/4394699/hillary-clinton-free-college-bernie-sanders-tuition/) for affordable college. The Excelsior Scholarship — passed as part of the [state budget](http://fortune.com/2017/04/10/new-york-budget-college-tuition/) on Sunday — will provide free tuition to students attending the State University or City University of New York if their families earn $125,000 or less per year. The state estimates that 940,000 families with college-aged children will qualify for free tuition. Here are the key things to know: ## Families making as much as $125,000 per year are eligible New York students whose families make up to $100,000 per year will be eligible for free tuition at the state’s public colleges in the fall of 2017\. The income cap will increase to $110,000 in 2018 and $125,000 in 2019. Undocumented students are not eligible, [CNN Money reported](http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/10/pf/college/suny-cuny-tuition-free-college/). Students must be a citizen, permanent resident or refugee to qualify for the scholarship. ## Recipients must meet certain academic requirements Students who receive the scholarship are required to enroll full-time, take an average of 30 credits per year, maintain the necessary GPA to stay in school and graduate on time. ## ‘Tuition-free’ does not mean completely free The scholarship covers tuition, which is [currently $6,470](https://www.suny.edu/smarttrack/tuition-and-fees/) at the State University of New York (SUNY) for one year of study toward a bachelor’s degree. But it does not include student fees or room and board, which add up to about $14,230 per year, according to SUNY. The indirect costs associated with earning a degree — including books, supplies and transportation — can also add up. ## There’s a post-graduation catch Scholarship beneficiaries are [required to live and work in the state](http://fortune.com/2017/04/11/new-york-excelsior-tuition-free-college/) after graduation for the same number of years as they received the scholarship. If they don’t, they’ll be required to pay back the tuition money. This point has drawn criticism from some free-college advocates who say it could force students to reject out-of-state job offers. But Cuomo defended the requirement on Monday. “Why should New Yorkers pay for your college education and then you take off and you move to California?” he said, according to the [Wall Street _Journal_](https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-state-says-students-who-get-tuition-free-college-must-stay-in-state-afterward-1491857502?mod=e2fb). “The concept of investing in you and your education is that you’re going to stay here and be an asset to the state.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4734635/free-college-tuition-new-york/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4734635/free-college-tuition-new-york/"},"headline":"What to Know About New York’s Plan to Offer Free College","datePublished":"2017-04-11T16:48:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:20:21.292Z","description":"State leaders are hailing the plan as the first of its kind in the nation","url":"https://time.com/4734635/free-college-tuition-new-york/","keywords":["Education","College","New York","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e542feb84d0eb51/6988c251196cf4f5bc03f9fa/free-college-new-york-state.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e542feb84d0eb51/6988c251196cf4f5bc03f9fa/free-college-new-york-state.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cuomo","caption":"Cuomo","creditText":"Bebeto Matthews—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4734635/free-college-tuition-new-york/","name":"What to Know About New York’s Plan to Offer Free College"}}]}] ```