CUNY Students Eligible For $125M In Debt Relief

NEW YORK CITY — At least 50,000 City University of New York students are up for debt relief, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.

The CUNY Comeback program will pay $125 million of unpaid debt for students who attended school during the coronavirus pandemic and experienced hardship, a release from Cuomo's office states.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has caused hardships in the lives of so many New Yorkers, and our students were among those most impacted," Cuomo said in a statement. "This landmark new program eliminates millions of dollars in unpaid debt, providing much-needed relief to tens of thousands of CUNY students as they work to get back on their feet after the pandemic and plan for their futures."

Federal stimulus funds will pay for the program, officials said.

The state's 2022 budget included $3 billion in stimulus money for SUNY and CUNY, and lawmakers set aside much of it for financial aid directed toward the neediest students.

CUNY trustees approved using the money this month. Students have an average debt of $2,000 and at least 50,000 will receive a benefit, officials said.

Eligible students who attended school during the pandemic will have their debts wiped clean — and most don't need to go through an application process, officials said. They must meet these criteria, as spelled out by the governor's office:

1. Students determined to have hardship, using criteria similar to what CUNY employed to allocate federal Student Emergency Grants during the spring semesters in 2020 and 2021. This includes any student eligible for Pell Grants, even if the student did not receive Pell, so long as their based on their Expected Family Contribution made them qualify. It also includes students eligible for the New York State Tuition Assistance Program but did not meet eligibility requirements for the maximum award.
2. Students who graduated from CUNY since the national emergency was declared on March 13, 2020 and owe any outstanding balance from Spring 2020 through Spring 2021.
3. Students who have an outstanding balance of $100 or less per semester, for any of the Spring 2020, Summer 2020, Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters.