Gov. Cuomo seems to think it’s a slap at Team Trump, but his For-Profit College Accountability Act is actually a slam at low-income minority New York students.
The bill, part of his budget, claims to crack down on for-profit colleges that rely on taxpayer funds but fail to graduate most students. Cuomo says it’s needed because the Trump folks are “expected” to scrap federal minimum-performance standards for proprietary colleges.
Yet, for all the issues surrounding for-profit schools elsewhere, no New York school even stands accused of such abuses.
And his “cure” would be worse than the disease.
Consider the bill’s ban on for-profits getting more than 80 percent of their revenue from public funds, including state, local or federal student loans or grants. Sounds fine — but the impact would be to force students to come up with more of their own money for tuition. Many, especially from low-income families, can’t afford it.
The cap targets “low-income and minority students who depend on federal and state grant and loan programs,” the Association of Proprietary Colleges’ Donna Stelling-Gurnett told lawmakers.