STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8596--A
IN SENATE
February 20, 2024
___________
Introduced by Sen. SCARCELLA-SPANTON -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Veterans, Home-
land Security and Military Affairs -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to expanding eligibility
under the veterans tuition awards program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph d of subdivision 1 of section 669-a of the educa-
2 tion law, as amended by section 46 of part PP of chapter 56 of the laws
3 of 2022, is amended to read as follows:
4 d. "Other eligible [combat] veteran" means: an individual who (i) is a
5 resident of this state, (ii) served in the armed forces of the United
6 States [in hostilities that occurred after February twenty-eighth, nine-
7 teen hundred sixty-one, as evidenced by their receipt of an Armed Forces
8 Expeditionary Medal, Navy Expeditionary Medal, or Marine Corps Expedi-
9 tionary Medal], and (iii) was either discharged under honorable condi-
10 tions, including but not limited to honorable discharge, discharge under
11 honorable conditions, or general discharge, or has a qualifying condi-
12 tion, as defined in section one of the veterans' services law, and has
13 received a discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable from such
14 service, or is a discharged LGBT veteran, as defined in section one of
15 the veterans' services law, and has received a discharge other than bad
16 conduct or dishonorable from such service.
17 § 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 2 of section 669-a of the education
18 law, as amended by section 3 of part N of chapter 57 of the laws of
19 2008, is amended to read as follows:
20 a. Tuition awards are available for all [Vietnam, Persian Gulf,
21 Afghanistan and] other eligible [combat] veterans, as defined in subdi-
22 vision one of this section, who are enrolled, pursuant to paragraph a of
23 subdivision four of section six hundred sixty-one of this part, in
24 approved undergraduate or graduate programs at degree granting insti-
25 tutions or enrolled in approved vocational training programs and who
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13592-03-4
S. 8596--A 2
1 apply for a tuition assistance program award, for up to the equivalent
2 of eight full-time semesters, pursuant to section six hundred sixty-sev-
3 en of this subpart.
4 § 3. Subdivision 4 of section 669-a of the education law, as amended
5 by section 4 of part N of chapter 57 of the laws of 2008, is amended to
6 read as follows:
7 4. Every recipient shall receive an award equal to the amount of
8 undergraduate or graduate tuition for residents of New York state
9 charged by the state university of New York or actual tuition charged,
10 whichever is less, for each semester, or the equivalent, of full time
11 study, or a pro-rated amount for part-time study; provided, however,
12 that such award shall not be reduced by any benefits available under the
13 federal Montgomery GI Bill act of 1984 or the federal Pell grant program
14 pursuant to section one thousand seventy-a of title twenty of the United
15 States code.
16 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
