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State’s new tuition-free program helps SUNY colleges in Potsdam, Canton; Clarkson, St. Lawrence universities not enthusiastic

Posted 12/10/17

By MATT LINDSEY The controversial Excelsior Scholarship program received praise from SUNY Potsdam and Canton officials during its first semester, while representatives at private institutions like …

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State’s new tuition-free program helps SUNY colleges in Potsdam, Canton; Clarkson, St. Lawrence universities not enthusiastic

Posted

By MATT LINDSEY

The controversial Excelsior Scholarship program received praise from SUNY Potsdam and Canton officials during its first semester, while representatives at private institutions like Clarkson and St. Lawrence University says they had mixed results during the program’s first year.

The Excelsior program provides taxpayer-subsidized SUNY tuition to middle class students whose tuition costs are not covered by the federal Pell Grant and the state Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). It was approved as part of the 2017-18 New York state budget earlier this year.

SUNY Potsdam and Canton officials consider the program constructive to New Yorkers.

“The biggest impact we’ve seen is that middle-income students can now receive aid that they’ve never had before,” SUNY Canton Director of Financial Aid, Kerrie L. Cooper said.

More than 300 students were academically eligible to receive Excelsior and about 157 received Excelsior awards at SUNY Canton, Coopers said.

“This is a positive program that can really open up doors of opportunity, by making earning a SUNY Potsdam degree even more affordable for eligible students,” Director of Public Relations Alexandra Jacobs-Wilke said.

Private colleges are less enthusiastic.

Officials at Clarkson will continue to recruit through alumni to maintain enrollment expectations, while St. Lawrence University officials say they have been impacted yet.

This fall enrollment of first-year students at Clarkson University was down by 100 students. The college saw 650 new students compared to 750 last year. “We like to see around 750,” said CU Vice President of External Relations Kelly Chezum.

Chezum attributed the decline to a “lack of time to react” to changes tied to the Excelsior Scholarship program.

“On the admissions front, Clarkson is focused on its engagement with the students who will enter in the fall 2018,” Clarkson University Director of Media Relations Melissa Lindell said. “All early indicators are on track showing strong interest in Clarkson’s rigorous academic programs; the personal approach we take across campus to intersect academic, research and social experiences with each students’ goals and aspirations; and our track record of getting students great jobs that deliver the ROI in the marketplace.”

So far, St. Lawrence University has been immune to the effects of the Excelsior program, college officials said.

“Our enrollment this year was the highest ever first-year incoming class in St. Lawrence’s history,” Ryan Deuel, acting Executive Officer for University Communications said.

SUNY Lauds Excelsior

“We are anticipating even more applications for the scholarship next year. This is consistent across the state for students in SUNY and CUNY,” Cooper said.

SUNY Potsdam had 503 students who qualified to attend tuition-free this year. Of those, 226 received funding through the Excelsior Scholarship Program, Jacobs-Wilke said, “while the remainder had their tuition covered through the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and Pell Grants. That’s out of our overall undergraduate enrollment of 3,650 full-time equivalent students.”

“Our enrollment is about the same this year as it was last year, overall,” she said. “This is the first full year that the program will be available throughout the typical application and admission cycle. We hope that people will learn about the Excelsior Scholarship and take a second look at SUNY Potsdam as a result.”

Jacobs-Wilke says SUNY Potsdam has seen increased interest from prospective students so far this year, but she believes it’s hard to correlate that with any one program.

“However, it is always a plus when we can help students attend college tuition-free,” she said.

The college is meeting with prospective students and their families to offer advice about the program, so those who are eligible can take full advantage.

“Because tuition is only one piece of the cost of attendance, we are also in the process of creating a new SUNY Potsdam campus housing scholarship program that would offer partial or full waivers for the cost of living in residence halls on campus,” Jacobs-Wilke said. “This can really help further reduce the debt load for students, whether or not they qualify for Excelsior.”

“As with any big new program of this nature, there was definitely learning curve for everyone involved across the state in order to get this up and running for our first cohort of students,” Jacobs-Wilke said.

“Our financial aid and admissions staff in particular have worked hard to make sure that eligible SUNY Potsdam students and applicants know how to apply and understand eligibility requirements,” she said.

“There were some hiccups in the processing because the program is so new,” SUNY Canton’s Cooper said. “It will get smoother as time goes on. We’ve never had a program like this before and its benefit to students outweighs any temporary problems.”

If someone is looking to apply, they should fill out their FAFSA and TAP applications first. Once in college, they need to make sure that they stay on track to graduate in two or four years, Cooper warns.

Jacobs-Wilke says the number one thing that people should remember is the importance of filling out their FAFSA and TAP applications, and then applying for the Excelsior Scholarship by visiting hesc.ny.gov.

Full tuition covered for the 2016-17 school year is $6,470. The state sends money to colleges at a later date.

Private Institutions

Speaking about the 100 student enrollment decline, Chezum said most fell into the $75,000 - $100,000 household income bracket. However, one-third of CU students come from households with incomes of $40,000 or less. “Sticker price (of Clarkson tuition) will not be what a person will pay -- financial aid makes it affordable.”

Clarkson hopes to increase enrollment now that the college has more time to approach and talk with prospective students about the opportunities that Clarkson can give them.

The impact has not been felt at nearby St. Lawrence University, according to college officials.

SLU did not see a decline in enrollment this year. “So no, the Excelsior Scholarship had little to no affect on our admission enrollment numbers,” SLU spokesperson Deuel said.

“As such, there are no plans to counter the program,” he said.

For St. Lawrence University, only about a third of their enrolled students are New York state residents, so the impact has been minimal to none, Deuel said.

“There is a right college for everyone,” Chezum said. “Free education doe not always get you to your career goals.”

Clarkson did anticipate lower enrollment this fall and cut costs by eliminating 21 administrative positions this past spring and reorganized duties among its employees. No teaching positions were lost.

Chezum did not expect any of the positions to be restored any time soon.

Clarkson alumni have added scholarship dollars that will help those interested in attending Clarkson get the financial assistance they need, Chezum said. She said the college is “doubling down on its educational offerings” while continuing to tap into its strong alumni network for recruitment.

Excelsior Explained

There are 45,000 eligible students who are all attending SUNY or CUNY tuition free this semester. Of them, 23,000 were fully covered by Pell and TAP. The other 22,000 received Excelsior.

Students eligible for the SUNY scholarship must be pursuing an undergraduate degree full-time and come from a family that made less than $100,000 per year on their 2015 tax return. That will increase to $125,000 by 2019. Students must have lived in New York for at least a year prior to the semester for which they will receive the scholarship and must agree to live in New York and not work outside the state for the amount of years they received the aid.

Students will still be responsible for housing, books and other associated costs.

Information is available on the HESC website here: https://www.hesc.ny.gov/pay-for-college/financial-aid/types-of-financial-aid/nys-grants-scholarships-awards/the-excelsior-scholarship/excelsior-scholarship-faqs.html