BUFFALO, NY (WGRZ) — Part of the governor’s budget includes a proposal to allow people ages 25 to 55 to get free tuition for certain programs at community colleges.
Last week, a 2 On Your Side viewer asked us to look into the Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to offer free SUNY and CUNY community college tuition for New York residents ages 25 to 55 who pursue associates degrees in high demand fields such as nursing, teaching, technology, engineering, and more.
The viewer said, “I would ask the Governor how she feels she can put age requirements on this item when it’s using public money. As a NYS taxpayer I plan to make my voice heard through contacting my State representatives regarding this issue. This is age discrimination and I don’t see how she thinks this is acceptable using taxpayer (public) funding. Hopefully others will speak to this as well. I was a Civil servant for many years and am now a self employed person who has no plans on not working for many years. Why should I not have an opportunity for a free two-year degree when I’m still in the workforce?”
We asked attorney Donald Chesworth whether this could be age discrimination. He says he doesn’t think so.
“I think it’s OK for the state to restrict it like that, but it doesn’t seem to me to make any sense, so, you know, common sense would be to think that whoever went and increased their educational level, that it wouldn’t matter how old they were,” Chesworth said.
Chesworth also thinks the program restrictions are legal, but says in his opinion there could be a better way to set this up.
“What the state could do is reduce the cost for everybody going to community colleges for any kind of a course, and then they could, with some sort of a stipend or some sort of a bonus, pay those who go into the fields that they want them to go into some extra incentive to do that,” Chesworth said.
