BILL NUMBER: S5099
SPONSOR: GRIFFO
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to tuition scholarship
award programs for certain resident and non-resident medical students
 
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this bill is to allow students enrolled in a state-sup-
ported medical school to be allowed to participate in the Excelsior
Scholarship program and for non-resident students residing within a
certain distance of the border of New York State to have tuition rates
reduced to 2/3 what they would otherwise be charged as an out-of-state
student.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 extends to eligible medical school students, residing in the
state of New York, to enroll in the Excelsior Scholarship program.
Additionally, this section allows for any nonresident medical school
student residing within 150 miles of any border of New York State to be
charged no more than 2/3 of the tuition rate traditionally charged to
non-resident students attending a state-supported medical school.
Section 2 is the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
New York State is facing a significant shortage of general care physi-
cians. Two problems most often cited as to why this shortage exists are
that the annual salaries paid to general/family care physicians are
lower when compared to specialized disciplines, especially after being
coupled with the high costs of higher education and medical school, and
New York is seemingly unable to retain the students that it trains.
This bill would allow students to keep their overall education to a
minimum, invite students from areas close to but outside of New York to
attend at a lesser overall tuition rate, and, based on criteria already
set forth in the Excelsior Scholarship program enable the state of New
York to retain many of the graduates of its medical schools.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24-S.1927 - Higher Education Committee
2021-2022- S. 4580 - Higher Education Committee
2019-20 - S. 5953/A. 10198 - Higher Ed Committee
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to any eligible
applicant beginning with the 2024-2025 academic year.