The Fine Print on Free College: Who Benefits from New York's Excelsior Scholarship? An Essay for the Learning Curve

After decades of frustration with increasingly complex college financial aid policies, a nationwide shift toward "free college" programs has gained momentum. New York State joined the free college movement in 2017, when Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his goal to make public higher education tuition-free for most students during his State of the State address. The proposed Excelsior Scholarship would resemble the free tuition programs emerging at Ivy Plus universities in that it would cover any in-state public college tuition not already covered by other sources for students with family incomes up to $125,000. In this essay, the authors assess the distribution of benefits, in terms of who qualifies for, receives, and renews the scholarship. They focus on students enrolled in community colleges and senior (four-year) colleges of the City University of New York (CUNY). The authors find that middle- and upper-income students are most likely to benefit from the program, largely because of the eligibility formula's last-dollar nature; most middle- and low-income students already have their tuition covered by other aid. Based on evidence from other financial aid programs, the authors hypothesize that the application process and complex contracts students must sign may impede access to benefits.