After Gov. Andrew Cuomo released his proposal for free college tuition, former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders called the idea “revolutionary.” Throughout the 2016 election, many millennials rallied behind the senator from Vermont for this claim to fame and he is now supporting the New York governor for taking the next step in providing free public college tuition for students.

According to The New York Times, students from families that make less than $125,000 each year will be eligible for free public college tuition. This includes the tuition prices from two-year community colleges, State University of New York schools, and City University of New York schools. 

If New York adopted this plan, it will join states like Tennessee and Oregon that have already implemented such systems.

The governor’s proposal states that within three years, the program will start covering tuition for families that make less than $100,000, then covering families that make less than $125,000 in 2019.  However, Cuomo says that it will not impact nearly as many New Yorkers than earlier federal proposals. According to the director of state operations, Jim Malatras, only 200,000 students would be covered by the time the system is fully implemented in 2019, leaving thousands of New York college students wondering, “what about me?”

Well New York college students, do not get too comfortable.

On Jan. 24, SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher testified that only 80,000 students would qualify for this program in 2019, according to The New York Post.  That means over 300,000 New York university-system students are left waiting for their shot at free tuition. 

The problem with implementing this program is that many people fail to recognize how this is not an entirely free tuition.  This order is aimed to help middle to lower class families financially cover college tuition costs, however, the economic spin to this debate is that New York taxpayers will have to open their wallets a little bit more.

New York State school tuition costs are already the lowest in the country. With the start of this program college enrollment is said to increase by 10 percent. With more students becoming eligible for this system, more taxpayer money will be used to cover the added tuition each year, creating problems for students whose families make less than $125,000 as opposed to $100,000. Although apparently only 80,000 students are qualified, those students are only the ones whose families make less than $100,000 a year. Demographically, those 80,000 students could attend CUNY schools only, leaving thousands of students from upstate New York in the dust. 

According to The New York times, some state universities like Stony Brook would be greatly impacted if college enrollment increases.  Classroom size, residential housing, dining, and a proportionate number of faculty all come into consideration when taking this free-tuition program into account. 

Also, as of now, Cuomo has not issued a GPA or merit-based requirement for this program. If he chooses to not implement such requirement, does that discredit prior scholarships? Students that work very hard to attend a SUNY or CUNY school and receive a scholarship that is merit based could potentially be getting less money come the fall semester because of grant money that must be allocated by this new system. Existing students are protected and can benefit from this program, but what if a newly enrolled student takes longer than two or four years to receive their degree? If they take off a semester or fail, are they still covered by Cuomo’s bill?

As a Oswego State student, its hard to see the enrollment size of this school increasing. Between dining halls running out of food, having to move students to “forced triple” rooms and increasing class sizes, this school can not take a huge increase in enrollment. The Cuomo bill should implement stricter guidelines pertaining to GPA requirement and a pressured time-frame of eligibility or else it will be up to the New York taxpayers to pick up the tab.