There is a plan for free tuition in the works to begin Fall 2017. Back when Senator Bernie Sanders was a Democratic candidate for the presidency, he proposed a plan to cover the cost of university tuition for low-income families. This meant going into college and coming out debt-free after at least the first four years which would help students focus on their studies. Once he lost the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton, that plan seemed to have disappeared but reappeared later in Clinton’s campaign when she collaborated with Sanders. Again, the possibility of free tuition reemerged only to be stolen away once Donald Trump won the election.

During Obama’s presidency, a few states made two years of community college tuition-free, but the State of New York is going big this year and is trying to get free university for its college students. New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, wants to execute his proposed plan,“the Excelsior Scholarship”, inspired by Sanders and Clinton to grant free tuition to New York public universities for families who have a low annual income. Unlike Hillary’s plan, Cuomo is planning on executing this plan by Fall this year for students with an income of $100,000 or less until finally in 2019 where the income required to receive free tuition is $125,000. Right now, New York is the nation’s largest public university system and offering free tuition is relieving almost half a million students from future debt ranging in the thousands of dollars.

The problem is, it’s easy to promise a plan and to bring students’ hopes up for the third time in just a year, but to actually execute this plan is the question. New York State Assembly Republican Leader Brian Kolb, along with a lot of other Republican leaders, are on the opposing side of this plan which will make it harder for it to pass legislation and go into effect. Governor Cuomo is confident that it will pass and college students across America are hopeful for this New York attempt to turn into a success since then maybe other states will be influenced to follow through with similar plans to reduce overpriced college tuition.