It’s not even clear how “outrageously ambitious” the program is. By one legislative estimate, it will reach only about 32,000 students. The program’s strict income limits leave a lot of people out. It is not for part-time students, a huge portion of the community-college population. Students have to earn 30 credits a year to participate. It’s not for poor families, who are expected to use the state’s Tuition Assistance Program or Pell grants or other aid to cover tuition. And even though the cost of room and board and books is what’s keeping many poor students out of college, the Excelsior Scholarship covers none of that.
Excludes part-time students (poorer, more likely to be disabled, etc.), piggybacks onto the existing morass of financial aid formulas, also has a post-college state residency requirement that no one can realistically plan for...
But, hey, free college!
This is why nobody thinks the government can do anything nice.