Bill Text: NY A03879 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Permits the commissioner of education to include graduate programs as programs eligible for approval under the state tuition assistance program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-30 - referred to higher education [A03879 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-A03879-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3879 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 30, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. TANNOUSIS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to tuition assistance program awards The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section 663 of the educa- 2 tion law, as amended by section 4 of part J of chapter 58 of the laws of 3 2011, is amended to read as follows: 4 a. In determining the amount of an award for graduate and undergradu- 5 ate students, the income of the parents shall be excluded if the student 6 has been emancipated from [his] their parents. 7 § 2. The opening paragraph of subparagraph 1 of paragraph b of subdi- 8 vision 3 of section 663 of the education law, as amended by section 5 of 9 part J of chapter 58 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows: 10 The applicant is a student who was married on or before December thir- 11 ty-first of the calendar year prior to the beginning of the academic 12 year for which application is made or is an undergraduate student who 13 has reached the age of twenty-two on or before June thirtieth prior to 14 the academic year for which application is made or is a graduate student 15 and who, during the calendar year next preceding the semester, quarter 16 or term of attendance for which application is made and at all times 17 subsequent thereto up to and including the entire period for which 18 application is made: 19 § 3. Paragraph d of subdivision 3 of section 663 of the education law, 20 as amended by section 6 of part J of chapter 58 of the laws of 2011, is 21 amended to read as follows: 22 d. Any graduate or undergraduate student who was allowed to exclude 23 parental income pursuant to the provisions of former subdivision three 24 of section six hundred three of this chapter as they existed prior to 25 July first, nineteen hundred seventy-four may continue to exclude such EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD04297-01-5A. 3879 2 1 income for so long as [he] such student continues to comply with such 2 provisions. 3 § 4. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 667 of the education law, subdi- 4 vision 1 as amended by chapter 622 of the laws of 2008 and subdivision 2 5 as amended by chapter 376 of the laws of 2019, are amended to read as 6 follows: 7 1. Recipient qualifications. Tuition assistance program awards are 8 available for all students who are enrolled in approved programs and who 9 demonstrate the ability to complete such courses, in accordance with 10 standards established by the commissioner provided, however, that no 11 award shall be made unless tuition (exclusive of educational fees) and, 12 if applicable, the college fee levied by the state university of New 13 York pursuant to the April first, nineteen hundred sixty-four financing 14 agreements with the New York state dormitory authority charged for the 15 program in which the student is enrolled total at least two hundred 16 dollars a year, and provided further that, no award can exceed one 17 hundred percent of the amount of tuition charged. Nothing in this 18 section, section six hundred sixty-one of this part, or any other 19 provision of this chapter shall be read to exclude any graduate program 20 from classification by the commissioner as an approved program for the 21 purposes of this section. 22 2. Duration. No undergraduate shall be eligible for more than four 23 academic years of study, or five academic years if the program of study 24 normally requires five years. Students enrolled in a program of remedial 25 study, approved by the commissioner in an institution of higher educa- 26 tion and intended to culminate in a degree in undergraduate study shall, 27 for purposes of this section, be considered as enrolled in a program of 28 study normally requiring five years. An undergraduate student enrolled 29 in an eligible two year program of study approved by the commissioner 30 shall be eligible for no more than three academic years of study. An 31 undergraduate student enrolled in an approved two or four-year program 32 of study approved by the commissioner who must transfer to another 33 institution as a result of permanent college closure shall be eligible 34 for up to two additional semesters, or their equivalent, to the extent 35 credits necessary to complete [his or her] their program of study were 36 deemed non-transferable from the closed institution or were deemed not 37 applicable to such student's program of study by the new institution. 38 No graduate student shall be eligible for more than four academic years 39 of study provided, however, that no graduate student shall be eligible 40 for more than one degree program at the master's, first professional or 41 doctorate level. No student shall be eligible for a total of more than 42 the equivalent of eight years of combined undergraduate and graduate 43 study. Any semester, quarter, or term of attendance during which a 44 student receives any award under this article, after the effective date 45 of the former scholar incentive program and prior to academic year nine- 46 teen hundred eighty-nine--nineteen hundred ninety, shall be counted 47 toward the maximum term of eligibility for tuition assistance under this 48 section, except that any semester, quarter or term of attendance during 49 which a student received an award pursuant to section six hundred 50 sixty-six of this subpart shall be counted as one-half of a semester, 51 quarter or term, as the case may be, toward the maximum term of eligi- 52 bility under this section. Any semester, quarter or term of attendance 53 during which a student received an award pursuant to section six hundred 54 sixty-seven-a of this subpart shall not be counted toward the maximum 55 term of eligibility under this section. 56 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
