ALBANY, N.Y. — State lawmakers questioned the price tag of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to make college tuition free for middle class students Tuesday, suggesting the true cost of the proposal could be far higher.
The proposal has won the Democratic governor national attention and applause from education advocates, but lawmakers said during a budget hearing they won’t support it before they can gauge its cost to taxpayers.
Cuomo’s office has predicted the program would cost $163 million — a figure some lawmakers say seems far too low.
“All the bean counters say there’s no way,” Sen. Kenneth LaValle, R-Long Island, said of Cuomo’s estimate. “We’ve got to be able to find out whether the bean counters outside the governor’s office are wrong, or if the governor’s folks are right.”
Cuomo’s proposal would cover whatever tuition costs remain after other sources of federal and state financial aid is factored in for students from households making $125,000 or less. The program would not pay for room and board.
Nancy Zimpher, chancellor of the State University of New York system, acknowledged some of the financial details of Cuomo’s free tuition proposal still are being refined.
“We’ve got a team of people … to try to estimate that,” she said.
