Expands eligibility for the tuition assistance program by restoring eligibility to graduate students; makes optional semesters, quarters or terms eligible for awards.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9522
IN ASSEMBLY
January 14, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CLARK, SEAWRIGHT, SIMON, COLTON, JACOBSON,
KELLES, CRUZ, ZINERMAN, GIBBS, RAMOS, SAYEGH, CUNNINGHAM, LEVENBERG,
REYES, RAGA, FORREST, GONZALEZ-ROJAS -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Higher Education
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
26 student receives any award under this article, after the effective date
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04328-02-6
A. 9522 2
1 of the former scholar incentive program and prior to academic year nine-
2 teen hundred eighty-nine--nineteen hundred ninety, shall be counted
3 toward the maximum term of eligibility for tuition assistance under this
4 section, except that any semester, quarter or term of attendance during
5 which a student received an award pursuant to section six hundred
6 sixty-six of this subpart shall be counted as one-half of a semester,
7 quarter or term, as the case may be, toward the maximum term of eligi-
8 bility under this section. Any semester, quarter or term of attendance
9 during which a student received an award pursuant to section six hundred
10 sixty-seven-a of this subpart shall not be counted toward the maximum
11 term of eligibility under this section. For the purposes of this
12 section, an academic year shall include any optional academic semester,
13 quarter or term and any award made for such optional academic semester,
14 quarter or term shall not reduce the maximum term of eligibility under
15 this section.
16 § 2. Paragraph c of subdivision 3 of section 667 of the education law,
17 as relettered by section 2 of part J of chapter 58 of the laws of 2011,
18 is relettered paragraph d and a new paragraph c is added to read as
19 follows:
20 c. Amount. The president shall make awards to graduate students in the
21 following amounts:
22 (i) For each year of graduate study, assistance shall be provided as
23 computed on the basis of the amount which is the lesser of the follow-
24 ing:
25 (A) Five hundred fifty dollars; or
26 (B) One hundred percent of the amount of tuition (exclusive of educa-
27 tional fees).
28 (ii) Except for students as noted in subparagraph (iii) of this para-
29 graph, the base amount as determined in subparagraph (i) of this para-
30 graph, shall be reduced in relation to income as follows:
31 Amount of incomeSchedule of reduction
32 of base amount
33 (A) Less than two thousandNone
34 dollars
35 (B) Two thousand dollars orSeven and seven-tenths per centum
36 more, but not more thanof the excess over two thousand
37 twenty thousand dollarsdollars
38 (iii) For students who have been granted exclusion of parental income
39 and were single with no dependent for income tax purposes during the tax
40 year next preceding the academic year for which application is made, the
41 base amount as determined in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, shall
42 be reduced in relation to income as follows:
43 Amount of incomeSchedule of reduction
44 of base amount
45 (A) Less than one thousandNone
46 dollars
47 (B) One thousand dollars orTwenty-six per centum of the
48 more, but not more thanexcess over one thousand dollars
49 five thousand six hundred
50 sixty-six dollars
51 (iv) If the amount of reduction is not a whole dollar, it shall be
52 reduced to the next lowest whole dollar.
A. 9522 3
1 (v) The award shall be the net amount of the base amount determined
2 pursuant to subparagraph (ii) or (iii) of this paragraph but the award
3 shall not be reduced below seventy-five dollars. If the income exceeds
4 the maximum amount of income allowable under subparagraph (ii) or (iii)
5 of this paragraph, no award shall be made.
6 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
7 the date on which it shall have become a law.
