Retrieved from Lexis Nexis database on 12/27/03

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company  
The New York Times

March 12, 2002, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A;  Page 26;  Column 1;  Editorial Desk  

LENGTH: 331 words
Keep College Open to the Poor

The New York State Tuition Assistance Program has propelled millions of poor and middle-income New Yorkers through college since the Legislature created the program a quarter of a century ago. The value of the TAP is obvious, given that people with college degrees earn substantially more over their lifetimes -- and pay significantly more in taxes -- than those who do not. This gospel of economic uplift has generally been lost on Gov. George Pataki, who has tried since his earliest days in office to cut the TAP or reshape it in harmful ways. The governor's most recent idea, to replace part of the TAP grant with loans, is another in a long succession of bad proposals.

The TAP offers a maximum of $5,000 in tuition aid to New Yorkers just above the poverty line who attend either public or private college within the state. For state university students, the TAP is capped at $3,400 -- the amount of the tuition. The governor has now proposed withholding a third of a student's TAP aid -- making students take out loans in the interim -- and paying out the final grant only after the student graduates.

The Pataki administration describes this as a "graduation incentive" aimed at students who take too long to graduate. This is a red herring, given that students can receive TAP aid for only eight semesters -- or four years -- no matter how long they take to graduate. The loan provision would serve as a disincentive to poor and immigrant families, which often lack knowledge of the banking system and would be fearful of taking on debt in any case. In addition, working adults who often take time off during the course of their education could be found in default and required to repay their loans before they actually finished school.

The loan provision would save $155 million, and the state is facing a large deficit. But anything that drives the poorest students out of college and back into poverty is too high a price to pay.  

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