NEW YORK, NY — Nearly one million students from middle- and working-class families attending public colleges and universities in New York state would no longer pay tuition if an unprecedented scholarship plan proposed Tuesday morning by Gov. Andrew Cuomo makes it through the state legislature.

Cuomo announced the plan at a Tuesday morning press conference alongside Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former NYC mayoral candidate Bill Thompson. "The American Dream lives in the state of New York and nobody is taking it away," Cuomo said. "And that's what this program is about."

The Governor's plan — which he's calling the "Excelsior Scholarship" — would make tuition free at State University of New York (SUNY) campuses, City University of New York (CUNY) campuses and two-year community colleges for students whose families earn less than $125,000 per year, Cuomo said Tuesday at LaGuardia Community College in Queens. The plan would cost the state an estimated $163 million per year once it is fully phased in, according to a press release from Cuomo's office. If passed by the state legislature, the Excelsior Scholarship program would be launched this year and would take three years for a full implementation of the program. New Yorkers making up to $100,000 annually would be eligible for the Excelsior Scholarship in the fall of 2017. In 2018 the cutoff would increase to $110,000 and it would reach $125,000 in 2019.



Whether or not the ambitious plan will pass is another question. The New York State Legislature's two chambers are controlled by opposite parties. The State Assembly has a large Democrat majority which will likely side with the Democrat governor, but the State Senate is a more complicated battleground. The State Senate is controlled by Republicans with the aid of the seven-member Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) — a group of Democrats which caucus with the Republicans. But the IDC could side with the Governor and Senate Democrats, evening the playing field in the State Senate.

Democratic State Senators — such as Todd Kaminsky of Rockville Centre — are likely to support the free tuition plan.

"I applaud Governor Cuomo for this bold move to educate our youth and keep them in New York," Kaminsky said in a statement. "We need to think big and give our young people the opportunities to excel without crippling debt."

Republican State Assemblyman Brian Curran — who represents the 21st Assembly District in Nassau County — said that he wishes the Governor's proposal would include students of families making more than $125,000 annually who don't qualify for programs such as tuition assistance. "Instead of targeting only a small and select group of young adults as the Governor does in his Free College Proposal, I would recommend that we pursue legislation that will make College more affordable and obtainable for EVERY young adult in New York State," Curran said in a statement sent to Patch.