Tens of thousands of low-income students could get the chance to attend New Jersey’s four-year, public colleges tuition-free for two years under a new plan Gov. Phil Murphy outlined Wednesday.

Murphy announced Tuesday that he included $50 million in taxpayer money in his third state budget proposal to fund the program, called “The Garden State Guarantee.”

The Democratic governor provided further details during an event Wednesday at William Paterson University in Wayne.

“This is a big day for us,” Murphy said. “We come at this moment, we come to this event with a mindset that accessibility and affordability of a higher-education degree ... is something we can’t put enough energy into."

If approved by state lawmakers, incoming freshmen at New Jersey’s 11 public, four-year colleges — from Ramapo to Rowan to Rutgers — would be eligible for the program starting in fall 2021 if their families earn less than $65,000.

Students would still have to apply for federal and state financial aid, which will cover most of their tuition, but the state would pick up the rest of the tab.

Murphy said it couldn’t happen sooner because “you can’t snap your finger and turn a light switch and get this thing up and running."

“It’s going to take us a while,” he added.

State officials said there’s not a hard number yet of how many students would be eligible because enrollments change every year. But state Higher Education Secretary Zakiya Smith Ellis estimates tens of thousands of students would benefit.

Students whose families earn slightly more than $65,000 would not be completely shut out. The state would ask that colleges create a sliding scale for families who earn more, so they would still receive a portion of the aid.

“We know that sometimes if you’re just above that (lower income level), you kind of fall off a cliff where you feel like, ‘Whoa, there’s no aid,’“ Smith Ellis said.

Murphy already instituted a similar program at community colleges. In the spring 2019 pilot program, the Garden State sent 5,424 students to “free” community college for a total of roughly $6 million, according to state data.

But unlike other state financial aid programs, the proposed $50 million in state funding for the new program would be not be distributed directly to needy students. Instead, the money would be divided up among the state’s four-year colleges if they promise to allow all eligible students to attend tuition-free.

That means the colleges would still manage their own enrollments and decide how many low-income students to admit, state officials said. Any leftover money could be used for other programs for needy students, including food pantries and funds to cover books or other costs.

Here’s how state officials said the new program would work:

A student would apply to the college of their choice. If they get in, the program would promise they will attend tuition-free for their first two years if their families earn less than $65,000.

The program would not apply for the student’s final two years at a four-year college. So, students would have to pay any tuition bill that other federal and state aid does not cover. But the colleges would be required to freeze the student’s tuition rate, so their families would know ahead of time exactly what they would be required to pay.

Students would still be required to pay for their own books, room, board, transportation, and other costs, unless their college offers additional aid for those costs.

There is no requirement that a student spend all four years at one college. So, students can get their two years tuition-free at one public college, then transfer to another in-state or out-of-state college for their junior and senior years. But state officials said they don’t believe that would happen very often.

Students would be able to combine the new program with New Jersey’s existing “free” community college program. So, students could attend a community college tuition-free for two years, then transfer to a public, four-year college for two years tuition-free. That would give low-income students a four-year bachelor’s degree tuition-free.

The proposal follows similar programs at New Jersey schools. William Paterson, Rutgers-Camden, Rutgers-Newark, and New Jersey City University already offer versions of the program for students whose families earn around $65,000 or less, state officials said.

“There’s no other state in America that offers these programs,” Murphy said. “This is full-on Jersey.”

The program still needs to be approved by the Democratic-controlled state Legislature, which has to pass a state budget before Murphy can sign it. It’s unclear if top lawmakers favor the idea.

But the top Republican in the state Assembly said he’s not a fan.

“You want to help students, that’s great," Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, R-Union, said after Murphy’s budget speech Tuesday. "But if you want to pay for everything — 100% — I think your average working person will say, ‘Hey look, I’m willing to help, but why 100%?’ Those are the kind of programs, I think, that create a problem for the state.”

Bramnick is considering seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Murphy in 2021.

NJ Advance Media staff writers Adam Clark and Sophie Nieto-Munoz contributed to this report.

Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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