Let’s create pathways for all New Yorkers to access college, and to succeed there.

Offering universal FAFSA access and ending legacy preferences can help ensure all students can access college. A New Deal for CUNY and SUNY ensures they get a high-quality education once they arrive.

To ensure New York is a place where all families can put down roots, grow, and thrive, we need to take bold action. That starts by creating pathways for young people to access a high-quality, affordable education.

Ensuring Universal FAFSA Access

How many high school graduates have chosen not to attend college because they think they can’t afford it? Students learn whether they qualify for federal Pell grants and the state Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) aid by filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). But students who never fill out the FAFSA can’t make an informed decision about whether to continue their education.

Studies show 90% of high school seniors who complete the FAFSA go to college directly after graduation, compared to just 55% who don’t complete the FAFSA. For the lowest-income high school students, FAFSA completion correlates with a 127% increase in immediate college enrollment. In other words: for high school seniors in the bottom 20% of household wealth, completing the FAFSA makes it more than twice as likely they’ll be in college the following fall.

In short, when more students fill out the FAFSA, more students attend college—because they’ve learned they can actually afford it.

That’s why I’ve proposed legislation to create universal FAFSA access, ensuring every high school senior who wants to can access higher education. 

My bill would require all public, charter and private schools to provide FAFSA or TAP forms to every student before they graduate. Undocumented students would complete a New York State Dream Act application, and families who choose to forgo aid or have other postsecondary plans can opt out. The proposal would also require schools to share data on FAFSA and TAP completion rates.

In 2022, more than 80,000 graduating seniors across New York did not fill out the FAFSA, including many first-generation Americans who would be the first in their families to attend college. And last year, students in New York left over $200M of unclaimed federal financial aid on the table because they didn't apply for the FAFSA.

Requiring FAFSA completion means showing prospective students a door to a prosperous future, showing them it’s unlocked, and putting them in position to fling that door open.

Ending Legacy Admissions Preferences

For years, colleges have given the family of alumni an advantage when they apply for admission. These legacy preferences favor wealthy, predominantly white families, leading some to describe them as “affirmative action for the rich.”

Nearly 70 New York colleges provide a legacy preference; that’s over 40% of all four-year institutions in the state. Almost none publish data on how many legacies they enroll each year, but data we do have makes clear that legacy preferences undermine racial and economic diversity. Nearly a quarter of New York residents are immigrants and almost one-fifth have at least one immigrant parent. Many could be the first in their family to go to college. Legacy preference shuts the door on these applicants.

My Fair College Admissions Act would prohibit legacy preferences in all New York colleges, public and private. Schools that continue to use this exclusionary practice would be penalized 10% of their tuition revenue, which would be used to bolster the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) for low-income students. 

This idea should not be radical. In 2021, Colorado became the first state to ban legacy preferences in admissions, and other states, including Massachusetts, are considering similar laws. More than 100 colleges have voluntarily done the same, including Amherst College, California Institute of Technology, Pomona College, and Johns Hopkins University. Unsurprisingly, the sky did not fall and these institutions continue to thrive. 

Given the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate affirmative action, New York must take bold action to dismantle the systems that perpetuate inequality and bar marginalized students from accessing opportunity. 

Enacting a New Deal for CUNY

New York has always thought big about public higher education: when voters approved the creation of the Free Academy of the City of New York, they did so based on the idea that college should be available to "the children of the whole people," not only a "privileged few."

For much of CUNY's history, it remained true to this founding principle, charging limited fees for a handful of programs while keeping the university free for others. In the process, CUNY became a crucial pathway to economic opportunity for countless New Yorkers of all backgrounds. But in 1976, at the peak of the city's financial crisis, CUNY imposed full tuition.

Since then, chronic underinvestment has forced CUNY to cut academic offerings, short-change students, reduce counseling, and delay buildings repairs, even as tuition keeps rising. While funding from the state's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and various scholarships help close the opportunity gap, they have not been enough to counter New York's austerity approach to funding higher education.

Far too many CUNY students fall through the cracks, forced to take second jobs to cover educational and life expenses in an increasingly expensive city. CUNY is often the best chance at upward mobility for low-income New Yorkers, communities of color, and new immigrants. Yet these students are confronted with ever-larger classes run by underpaid adjuncts, limited access to academic advisors, and just one mental health counselor for every 2,700 full-time students.

My New Deal for CUNY represents a wholesale transformation in our state's approach to higher education. My proposal would:

• Make CUNY tuition-free for all students once again.

• Increase the number full-time faculty members while providing a pathway for more adjunct professors.

• Increase the number of academic advisors and clinical mental health counselor to ensure students have the supports they need.

• Create a five-year capital plan for both CUNY and SUNY in the state’s annual budget to address critical maintenance needs.

My New Deal for CUNY is a comprehensive approach to providing the academic, social, and emotional supports students need to graduate. These changes, combined with more robust federal, state, and city investment in our public university systems, can put CUNY back on track to be the engine for social and economic equity that it was always meant to be.