GENESEO – SUNY Geneseo President Denise Battles released a statement to students and staff applauding Governor Cuomo and the legislature for their commitment to ensuring New Yorkers college degrees but explaining that the requirements will very likely increase students’ demand for credit hours.
Battles said that the now passed Excelsior Scholarship Program, designed to provide free college to students without access to more than $100,000 for tuition in fall 2017, requires that students must average 30 credit hours per year to qualify. An undergraduate student taking 24 credit hours per year is considered ‘full time.’
Battles’ statement is as follows:
Dear SUNY Geneseo colleagues,
Over the weekend, elected officials reached agreement on a new state budget. Budget details and the implications for higher education and SUNY Geneseo in particular will take some time to unfold and then analyze. However, we are heartened to hear that the budget includes Maintenance of Effort funding to address operating requirements for public institutions as well as significant capital funding and a four-year predictable tuition plan.
Among the elements of the new budget is the Excelsior Scholarship Program, a modified version of the program proposed earlier this year by Governor Cuomo. This groundbreaking program provides tuition-free college for students who meet eligibility requirements, which include limits on family income as well as full-time enrollment. We applaud Governor Cuomo and the Legislature’s commitment to ensuring that more New Yorkers are able to earn a college degree. As per the press release on the NY State Division of the Budget website:
“The new initiative will be phased in over three years, beginning for New Yorkers making up to $100,000 annually in the fall of 2017, increasing to $110,000 in 2018, and reaching $125,000 in 2019. The Excelsior Scholarship is a ‘last mile’ program, which extends the state’s existing generous aid programs, including the nearly $1 billion Tuition Assistance Program and any applicable federal grants, and fills in any remaining gaps to cover the full cost of tuition.
New Yorkers must be enrolled in college full-time, averaging 30 credits per year and completing their degree on-time.”
Other details related to the Excelsior Scholarship can be found on the SUNY FAQ site.
We are very proud that Geneseo’s students complete their degrees in a timely fashion, with an average baccalaureate time-to-degree of 4.06 years. That timeliness is facilitated by the fact that many students come to us with considerable college credit already earned, enabling them to enroll in fewer than 15 credit hours per term and make timely progress on their degrees.
Nevertheless, the program’s requirement that students will need to average 30 credit hours per year will likely result in increased course demand among Geneseo’s qualifying students. Of those who completed the 2015-16 federal aid application, we estimate that a sizable majority would have qualified for the Excelsior program, based on the $125,000 per year income standard.
I have charged Interim Provost Paul Schacht to work with our campus leadership to examine how we may meet the anticipated increased course demands within our available budget, effective this fall. Given the strong commitment of our faculty and staff, I have every confidence that we will be able to support our students’ participation in this historic new tuition-free program and, more broadly, expand access to Geneseo’s outstanding academic experience.
Please know that we will keep the campus informed as we learn more about the New York State budget and its implications for Geneseo. My thanks to all of you for your dedication to our exceptional College.
Denise A. Battles. (Photo/SUNY Geneseo)