New York is staying committed to funding higher education amid federal changes.
Colleges and universities have made cuts in the last year to account for lost federal research dollars or other political shake-ups, but college’s growing unaffordability keeps students from staying in school. Data show public and private college tuitions have grown about 37% since 2010.
Arlen Benjamin-Gomez, executive director of The Education Trust-New York, said Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed Emergency Aid program would help with some smaller everyday costs.
“We know that when students have small-dollar emergencies, but are major life emergencies, that can be the decision about whether to stay in college or have to drop out,” he said. “So, this could be things like a medical emergency, challenges of paying rent one month, food insecurity.”
Similar programs helped students stay in school during the pandemic. New York State received more than $1 billion from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund. But reports find the federal government’s halt on further pandemic relief disbursements could force low-income students to fall through the cracks and drop out before completing their degrees.
Colleges and universities are uncertain about how to help students navigate federal cuts and changes. New York’s higher-ed proposals include more help for student borrowers to keep them from defaulting on their loans.
Benjamin-Gomez said there are concerns about the impact of new federal programs such as Workforce Pell grants, “making sure that short-term credential programs lead to a real job in high-demand fields, and isn’t going to add to the student debt crisis we see in this country and in this state.”
It comes as changes from the U.S. Department of Education make fields such as nursing and social work ineligible for certain loans. An American University report finds rollbacks to the student loan system offer more stringent repayment plans and federal loan limits. These could leave more than 160,000 students without alternate funding sources.
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