New York Is Making College Free – Is This A Good Idea?

So last month, I wrote a story delving into this whole idea of whether college should be free in the United States. I came out in favor of the idea to a certain extent. Although, I cannot honestly say that I expected anything to come out of it anytime soon. But it turns out I was wrong.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently put forth a new program that offers free college tuition in his state, according to the NY Post. So what exactly is this program going to be like? And is it a good idea or not? Let’s take a look.

 
How Will It Work?
Now, one interesting and somewhat controversial part of the law is how New York will require the students who take part in it to live and work in New York for four years after they graduate. Those who don’t will have to pay the money back.
Cuomo added this part because of pressure from republicans in the Senate. They said that they were concerned about students getting educated there in New York, and then moving away to work in another state after they graduate. They basically want to keep the jobs and the well-educated people in their state, at least for a little while.

And although I can understand their desire to do that, I have to say that I don’t think it’s very fair to force people to stay in New York for four years after they finish with school. What if it’s not the best thing for their personal situation? What if their dream job is in another state? What if they need to move to another state to be with their spouse who got a great job opportunity there? It just comes off as selfish on the part of the New York state government.
 
What Parts Are a Good Idea?
Now look, I can understand how they would want students to work for at least a few years after they graduate. They want to know that the students are getting something out of their college degree. They at least want those students to be working towards something, even if they’re not immediately working a job in the field in which they majored.

There’s also some other qualifications that come with this new law. For instance, New York students must maintain a minimum grade point average to qualify for this. And I don’t see anything wrong with this aspect. If someone else is going to pay for your education, I don’t see anything unreasonable about an expectation that you meet a certain level of academic success (at least enough to pass all of your classes).
The new program will also only apply to students from families with a maximum adjusted gross income of $125,000. And there’s definitely something to be said for putting a limit on who can use the program and who cannot in this way. There’s no need to make the option available to youths coming from wealthy families.

So overall, I’d say that this is good program that could easily go onto to be pretty successful.