Live
Audio Only
One of the iconic promises of former Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders could become a reality as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed Tuesday free tuition at the state's public colleges for students from low- and middle-income families.
RELATED:
US Report Shows Who Profits from $1.3 Trillion in Private Student Loans
Under Cuomo's plan, which he called the first of its kind in the nation, the state would cover tuition for any student from a family earning less than US$125,000 a year by 2019.
"College is a mandatory step if you really want to be a success," the Democratic governor said as he announced the plan, which requires approval by the state's legislature. About 70 percent of jobs in the state now require a college education, he added.
Graduating with thousands of dollars of debt as "like a starting a race with an anchor tied to your leg," according to Cuomo, who is widely seen as a future Democratic presidential candidate.
Sanders, a senator from Vermont and a Brooklyn native, joined Cuomo for the announcement at the LaGuardia Community College in the New York City borough of Queens, where he repurposed familiar talking points from his campaign.
"The Democrats and Republicans and independents understand that technology has changed, the global economy has changed," the self-described socialist said to a crowd of Queens students, who had been chanting his name minutes earlier.
He said a college degree was virtually mandatory in a way that a high-school diploma had been in previous decades. From the start of his presidential campaign in 2015, Sanders promised to make tuition free for everyone who attends state colleges.
RELATED:
Democratic Party Should Be Embarrassed, Says Bernie Sanders
The promise helped draw huge crowds of young people to his campaign rallies which forced Clinton to endorse some of his progressive policies, including on university tuition. She originally only promised to reduce student debt but then endorsed a plan more similar to Cuomo’s.
For undergraduate students who hail from New York, tuition for a bachelor's degree costs US$6,470 per year at the State University of New York's colleges, and US$6,330 per year at the City University of New York's four-year colleges.
Other expenses such as room and board, which can cost up to US$12,590 at SUNY colleges, would not be covered under the plan.
The plan would potentially benefit some 940,000 families with college-age children in the state, according to Cuomo, who also said it would cost the state up to about US$163 million a year.
Newsletter
