By David Brooks
Donald Trump sets the bar very high, but the award for the worst public policy idea of the year goes to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Cuomo
presides over a state with a rich diversity of educational
institutions. But he also presides over a state, like all states, where
many students don’t complete college and where many are unprepared for
the information economy. For example, fewer than half of the
African-American and Hispanic students in New York public colleges
graduate within six years.
Cuomo
could have done many things to improve New York’s higher ed system. He
could have poured all available money into the Tuition Assistance
Program, which is directed at poorer students. He could have spent more
to help students become academically ready for college, which is the
biggest barrier to graduation. He could have done more to help students
pay room and board expenses. He could have massively improved
overstretched mental health services. He could have massively improved
career counseling.
But
in 2016 Bernie Sanders made a big splash on the campaign trail with a
plan to make college “free.” So Cuomo proposed and on Wednesday signed
legislation to make tuition free
at New York public colleges for anybody coming from a family making no
more than $100,000 a year, with the cap rising to $125,000 in 2019.
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Source: The New York Times (via The Empire Report)
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