Governor’s tuition proposal will have dire consequences

I believe that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to provide free college tuition at the state’s public colleges is based on two premises. First, he has this pie-in-the-sky idea that he would be considered as a presidential candidate in 2020; and second, he is very concerned about what U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is going to uncover that could link Cuomo to the corruption that is currently engulfing his most trusted and closest aides.

As pointed out in a Feb. 17 News front-page article, this proposal, along with his intention of cutting state grants to non-public schools, will definitely cause dire consequences for all the private colleges and universities in Western New York and throughout the state.

As mentioned in the article, one alternative to his proposal would be to increase the maximum TAP grant and to adjust the income scale to allow for more awards. This would allow for the private schools to continue to compete with the public schools.

The governor, who is a graduate of Fordham University, which was a private Jesuit school, is showing much animosity toward the institutions that would afford the same kind of undergraduate education that he received.