News
Dynarski says NY’s Excelsior Scholarship Program could crowd out low-income and minority students
January 16, 2017
Susan Dynarski says the ‘Excelsior’ plan to offer free tuition at NY state colleges to residents making up to $125,000 could crowd out low-income and minority students unless the state college system increases capacity. These students tend to do less well on standardized tests, and – with the offer of free tuition – will be competing for college acceptance against a larger pool of applicants. “Cutting prices across the board for 80 percent of the applicants is going to result in a surge in demand, and if they don’t expand capacity, the [state’s university systems] will have to ration in some way.”