Giving Compass' Take:

• Restrictions on New York's free college tuition program meant that only 4000 students in New York City were able to use the program. 

• How can this program be improved to better serve students? 

• Find out how to improve free college tuition programs to support the students that need it most. 

New York City students largely aren’t benefiting from the state’s program promising free college tuition, according to numbers released Friday by a nonpartisan policy think tank.

Across the city, 4,000 students received the award.

“A lot of students are being excluded,” said Tom Hilliard, a researcher who authored the report for the Center for an Urban Future, which draws on state data obtained through a public information request. “Are we really meeting the state’s larger goals of helping all students afford college so they can get a degree?”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the scholarship program in January 2017, calling it a first-in-the-nation plan to make college more affordable. But experts had long warned that the scholarship’s strict requirements — especially the rule that students earn 30 credits a year — would exclude many students juggling additional responsibilities while attending school. Sixty percent of CUNY students report a household income under $30,000.

There are other reasons why New York City students may have been shut out of Excelsior, and the small numbers don’t necessarily mean students aren’t receiving tuition help. Since the scholarship is only a “last dollar” program — meaning it fills the tuition gap not covered by other scholarships — city students may be qualifying for other types of aid to pay for their classes.

Read the full article about free college tuition by Christina Veiga at Chalkbeat.