Expands the veterans tuition awards program to include all persons who were honorably discharged and were residents of the state before and after serving in the armed forces of the United States; provides veterans an award equal to the in-state tuition paid at a state university for each semester the veteran is engaged in undergraduate, graduate or vocational study.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6571
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 27, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. ASHBY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
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. Subdivision 1 of section 669-a of the education law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph d-1 to read as follows:
3 d-1. "Veteran" means a person who: (i) is a resident of the state;
4 (ii) served in the armed forces of the United States; (iii) was a resi-
5 dent of the state immediately prior to his or her entry into such armed
6 forces; and (iv) received an honorable discharge from the branch of the
7 armed forces of the United States in which he or she served.
8 § 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 2 of section 669-a of the education
9 law, as amended by section 3 of part N of chapter 57 of the laws of
10 2008, is amended to read as follows:
11 a. Tuition awards are available for all Vietnam veterans, Persian Gulf
12 veterans, Afghanistan [and] veterans, other eligible combat veterans,
13 [as defined in subdivision one of this section] and veterans, who are
14 enrolled, pursuant to paragraph a of subdivision four of section six
15 hundred sixty-one of this part, in approved undergraduate or graduate
16 programs at degree granting institutions or enrolled in approved voca-
17 tional training programs and who apply for a tuition assistance program
18 award pursuant to section six hundred sixty-seven of this subpart.
19 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09806-01-3
