NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8704
SPONSOR: Lucas TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to expanding the New York
opportunity promise scholarship to include all state university of New
York or city university of New York approved programs which award
certain associate's degrees
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purposed legislation would be to amend education law to allow SUNY
and CUNY approved programs to award certain associates degrees to be
offered for free to qualifying New Yorkers
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 6311 of the educa-
tion law, as added by section 1 of part F of chapter 56 of the laws of
2025, is amended to read as follows:(c) is matriculated at
a community
college of the state university of New York or the city university of
New York, as defined in subdivision two of section sixty-three hundred
one of this article or subdivision four of section sixty-two hundred two
of this title, respectively
Section two sets forth effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
There are many SUNY and CUNY degree granting institutions that are four-
year institutions that are not classified as community colleges, this
amendment will further the original intent of the bill to include
schools that assist with Associate degrees within the SUNY and CUNY
Network
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8704
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 30, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LUCAS -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to expanding the New York
opportunity promise scholarship to include all state university of New
York or city university of New York approved programs which award
certain associate's degrees
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 6311 of the
2 education law, as added by section 1 of part F of chapter 56 of the laws
3 of 2025, is amended to read as follows:
4 (c) is matriculated at [a community college of the state university of
5 New York or the city university of New York, as defined in subdivision
6 two of section sixty-three hundred one of this article or subdivision
7 four of section sixty-two hundred two of this title, respectively,] any
8 state university of New York or city university of New York colleges,
9 universities, or community colleges in an approved program directly
10 leading to an associate's degree in a high-demand field; provided that
11 for the two thousand twenty-five -- two thousand twenty-six academic
12 year, such fields shall include but not be limited to advanced manufac-
13 turing, technology, cybersecurity, engineering, artificial intelligence,
14 nursing and allied health professions, green and renewable energy, and
15 pathways to teaching in shortage areas, provided further that such
16 fields may be updated annually thereafter by the department of labor no
17 later than one hundred eighty days prior to the first start date of the
18 fall term of such state university of New York or city university of New
19 York colleges, universities, or community colleges[,]; and provided
20 further that the eligibility of such approved program established in the
21 semester for which the applicant makes initial application shall contin-
22 ue;
23 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13037-03-5
