S 6399 NY
Expands eligibility for the tuition assistance program
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Summary
This bill expands New York's tuition assistance program by restoring eligibility for graduate students who had previously been excluded from the program. Graduate students are eligible for up to four years of study and can receive awards of up to $550 per year or 100 percent of tuition, whichever is less. The bill makes optional academic semesters, quarters, or terms eligible for assistance without reducing a student's maximum eligibility period. Graduate student awards are reduced based on income using specified reduction schedules, but awards cannot be reduced below $75. The bill takes effect July 1 following its enactment.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Official abstract
Expands eligibility for the tuition assistance program by restoring eligibility to graduate students; makes optional semesters, quarters or terms eligible for awards.
Sponsor (1)
- Robert Jackson Democratic · primary
Action history (4)
- Mar 13, 2025 REFERRED TO HIGHER EDUCATION · upper
- Jan 7, 2026 REFERRED TO HIGHER EDUCATION · upper
- May 7, 2026 AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO HIGHER EDUCATION · upper
- May 7, 2026 PRINT NUMBER 6399A · upper
Text versions (3)
Full text
Full text imported from assembly.state.ny.us
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Bill No.: Summary Actions Committee Votes Floor Votes Memo Text LFIN Chamber Video/Transcript S06399 Summary: BILL NO S06399A   SAME AS SAME AS A09522
  SPONSOR JACKSON   COSPNSR   MLTSPNSR   Amd §667, Ed L   Expands eligibility for the tuition assistance program by restoring eligibility to graduate students; makes optional semesters, quarters or terms eligible for awards.
Go to top S06399 Text:
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________
6399--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 13, 2025 ___________
Introduced by Sen. JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education -- recom- mitted to the Committee on Higher Education in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to expanding eligibility for the tuition assistance program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 667 of the education law, as 2 amended by section 5 of part D of chapter 56 of the laws of 2025, is 3 amended to read as follows: 4 2. Duration. No undergraduate shall be eligible for more than four 5 academic years of study, or five academic years if the program of study 6 normally requires five years. Students enrolled in a program of remedial 7 study, approved by the commissioner in an institution of higher educa- 8 tion and intended to culminate in a degree in undergraduate study shall, 9 for purposes of this section, be considered as enrolled in a program of 10 study normally requiring five years. An undergraduate student enrolled 11 in an eligible two year program of study approved by the commissioner 12 shall be eligible for no more than three academic years of study. An 13 undergraduate student enrolled in an approved two or four-year program 14 of study approved by the commissioner who must transfer to another 15 institution as a result of permanent college closure shall be eligible 16 for up to two additional semesters, or their equivalent, to the extent 17 credits necessary to complete the student's program of study were deemed 18 non-transferable from the closed institution or were deemed not applica- 19 ble to such student's program of study by the new institution. No grad- 20 uate student shall be eligible for more than four academic years of 21 study provided, however, that no graduate student shall be eligible for 22 more than one degree program at the master's, first professional or 23 doctorate level. No student shall be eligible for a total of more than 24 the equivalent of eight years of combined undergraduate and graduate 25 study. Any semester, quarter, or term of attendance during which a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD04328-03-6
S. 6399--A 2
1 student receives any award under this article, after the effective date 2 of the former scholar incentive program and prior to academic year nine- 3 teen hundred eighty-nine--nineteen hundred ninety, shall be counted 4 toward the maximum term of eligibility for tuition assistance under this 5 section, except that any semester, quarter or term of attendance during 6 which a student received an award pursuant to section six hundred 7 sixty-six of this subpart shall be counted as one-half of a semester, 8 quarter or term, as the case may be, toward the maximum term of eligi- 9 bility under this section. Any semester, quarter or term of attendance 10 during which a student received an award pursuant to section six hundred 11 sixty-seven-a of this subpart shall not be counted toward the maximum 12 term of eligibility under this section. For the purposes of this 13 section, an academic year shall include any optional academic semester, 14 quarter or term and any award made for such optional academic semester, 15 quarter or term shall not reduce the maximum term of eligibility under 16 this section. 17 § 2. Paragraph c of subdivision 3 of section 667 of the education law, 18 as relettered by section 2 of part J of chapter 58 of the laws of 2011, 19 is relettered paragraph d and a new paragraph c is added to read as 20 follows: 21 c. Amount. The president shall make awards to graduate students in the 22 following amounts: 23 (i) For each year of graduate study, assistance shall be provided as 24 computed on the basis of the amount which is the lesser of the follow- 25 ing: 26 (A) Five hundred fifty dollars; or 27 (B) One hundred percent of the amount of tuition (exclusive of educa- 28 tional fees). 29 (ii) Except for students as noted in subparagraph (iii) of this para- 30 graph, the base amount as determined in subparagraph (i) of this para- 31 graph, shall be reduced in relation to income as follows:
32 Amount of income Schedule of reduction 33 of base amount 34 (A) Less than two thousand None 35 dollars 36 (B) Two thousand dollars or Seven and seven-tenths per centum 37 more, but not more than of the excess over two thousand 38 twenty thousand dollars dollars
39 (iii) For students who have been granted exclusion of parental income 40 and were single with no dependent for income tax purposes during the tax 41 year next preceding the academic year for which application is made, the 42 base amount as determined in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, shall 43 be reduced in relation to income as follows:
44 Amount of income Schedule of reduction 45 of base amount 46 (A) Less than one thousand None 47 dollars 48 (B) One thousand dollars or Twenty-six per centum of the 49 more, but not more than excess over one thousand dollars 50 five thousand six hundred 51 sixty-six dollars
S. 6399--A 3
1 (iv) If the amount of reduction is not a whole dollar, it shall be 2 reduced to the next lowest whole dollar. 3 (v) The award shall be the net amount of the base amount determined 4 pursuant to subparagraph (ii) or (iii) of this paragraph but the award 5 shall not be reduced below seventy-five dollars. If the income exceeds 6 the maximum amount of income allowable under subparagraph (ii) or (iii) 7 of this paragraph, no award shall be made. 8 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding 9 the date on which it shall have become a law.
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