Just a few days after the state budget was put to bed, Gov. Cuomo put his signature on the Excelsior Scholarship program, which provides free SUNY/CUNY tuition to students whose families earn $125 thousand per year or less.
Along with special guest Hillary Clinton, Gov. Cuomo signed the bill in in his home borough of Queens, before a friendly crowd at LaGuardia Community College.
While sounding familiar themes, like saying a college education is now what a high school diploma was 70 years ago, neither the governor nor the former Presidential candidate spoke to the catch in the plan. To be eligible, you have to have lived in New York state for at least one year, and you'll have to stay here after graduation for an amount of time equal to the time you received the free tuition.
State Budget Office says that's intended to fend off "moochers, parasites, and freeloaders" who might take advantage of free tuition at SUNY or CUNY schools.
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