QUALMS WITH CUOMO: It seems New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has taken a few notes from the Bernie Sanders (and later Hillary Clinton) playbook. This week he announced a plan to cover tuition for residents whose families make less than $125,000 a year. But unlike plans from Clinton and Sanders—which as proposed would have eliminated tuition while allowing students to keep their grant aid—Cuomo’s proposal would make up for the difference between students’ aid and their tuition bill.
Critics of the plan say it does not do enough to support the state's lowest-income students. “Those who get the most aid benefit the least from the proposal,” writes Matthew M. Chingos, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. Others, however, have pointed out that low-income students who receive government aid, such as Pell grants, already have their tuition covered, and that Cuomo’s new plan is meant to help middle- and upper-middle-income families.
