Friday, February 10, 2017

Sen. DeFrancisco Has 7 Questions for Gov. Cuomo on 'Free' College Tuition (Commentary)


Sen. John A. DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, is the deputy majority leader of the New York State Senate. He represents the 50th Senate District.

By Sen. John A. DeFrancisco

This letter is in response to the Jan. 29, 2017, letter to the editor from Jim Malatras, Director of State Operations for Gov. Andrew Cuomo ("Cuomo aide: Critics of free college tuition plan are wrong"), wherein he claims he "wants to clear up the white noise and false information" aimed at the governor's free college tuition plan. For me, he didn't.

First of all nothing is "free," especially something of the magnitude of a college education. Someone has to pay for it, and in this case, it is obviously the taxpayer who will have to do so. The taxpayer who, in many cases, has already helped pay for the college education of either a child or grandchild, and the taxpayer who is barely getting by, living in a state that leads virtually all other states in its appetite to tax its residents.

The governor claims that this "free" tuition will only cost approximately $160 million. Malatras claims that 900,000 families will be eligible. What? If only one child in one-half the eligible families were to take advantage of the program, each student would receive only some $350. Tuition alone for a four-year SUNY or CUNY college is at least $6,300 per year. 

Click here for the full article.

Source: Syracuse.com (via The Empire Report)

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