Earlier on May 3rd, Governor Kathy Hochul celebrated the historic expansion of the Tuition Assistance Program included in the FY 2025 Enacted Budget to make higher education more affordable and accessible. The Governor also released the New York State TAP Difference Report, which highlights the significant role the New York State Tuition Assistance Program plays in broadening college access, boosting completion rates, and fostering educational equity particularly among low-income families and first-generation college students. Governor Hochul celebrated the TAP expansion today at Farmingdale State College where she also announced $431,000 for new, modernized air traffic control simulation technology to further the institution’s commitment to meeting the critical workforce needs of the aviation industry in New York State.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Thank you so much. It is so great to be back here again, and what a great leader we have in John Nader. I want to thank you for your kind remarks, but also your stellar leadership of this incredible organization. Let's give him another round of applause.

Now, the last time I spoke to a large group here, it was for your 2020 graduation. Except it was large, only online, it was a Zoom graduation. So, that is one of the reasons why I am committed to ensuring that all of our students in the State of New York have the privilege of walking across that stage proudly in front of their families, and we'll make sure we get it through safely. So, thank you, all of my partners.

You know, you mentioned the $75 million computer science center. I was really proud to announce that because that is foundational. That is going to give the new technologies to our students and people who want to get training in these new areas. I'll be mentioning our Empire AI initiative in a few moments, but it all ties together.

But it all happens because I also have incredible partners in our State Legislature, and I want to recognize them. I know they're recognized, but they deserve even more recognition. Our State Senator Monica Martinez, thank you. We'll be hearing from her in a couple minutes. Our home district, Kimberly Jean-Pierre, thank you. You've done a great, great job fighting for all of our students. Appreciate that. Assemblymember Taylor Darling is with us, you've heard, I'll mention her again. Assemblymember Chuck Lavine and our Senator, I think Senator Kevin Thomas is joining. Let's, please, everybody in the Legislature stand up, stand up.

And you don't spend 14 years as a local town board member without giving special credit to our town supervisor, Richie Schaffer, and the entire Town Board, because I know how hard you work.

I'll be introducing John King as well, but we are so blessed that you said yes. We recruited you heavily. We wanted you to be the face of my investment, our investments, in taking SUNY to the place that I've always thought it should be, and that is the premier higher educational institution in the United States of America. And we are on our way there and I want to thank John King for all his work.

Guillermo Linares, thank you, long-time head of the Higher Education Service Corporation. And yes, every other word that comes out of his mouth is, “Can you do more for TAP? Can you do more for TAP?” So, yes, yes, yes, yes, we are.

We'll also be hearing from a student, Marco Iorio, who is on his way to a Ph.D. Is that right? Really proud of that. So, let's give him a round of applause.

As I said when I outlined my vision, my first State of the State address, which was in 2022, I laid out a vision for making SUNY the preeminent higher education system in the nation. I just said that because I believe in it. Since then, we've been laser focused on investing in facilities, in faculty, in research; initiatives to make college education more affordable and more accessible to even more New Yorkers.

I view a SUNY education and all higher education as a ladder of opportunity that students and their families can climb to lift them out of their circumstances. And I've told this story before and you're going to hear it again, about how education, higher education changed my family's circumstances.

My parents started living in a trailer park when they were first married – got married very young. Dad worked at the steel plant, but he decided to go to college at night, at the end of the day. And he worked long and hard. When he finally got that college degree – we have a photo of my brother who is a year old, and my mother very expectant with me any day now. So that's how our family started.

My dad had the power of that degree, that ticket to success, that led him to other opportunities and allowed my family to leave our circumstances and to continue to grow and to prosper. That is what I want and I expect for every student who chooses to do so for their families. To have that same opportunity. That, or workforce training, apprenticeship programs, the countless ways that we do not have to be stuck and mired down because the circumstances for those who only have a high school degree or less, economically, they can't afford to live in a great place like Long Island. It just will not work for them. So, that's what this is all about. That's what this is all about.

So, I'm going to talk about a few more actions – how to make New Yorkers find college, higher education more affordable, starting right here at Farmingdale.

When I realized that the Tuition Assistance Program minimum award had not been increased 25, 30 years, I looked back and said, “This program was started in 1974. It has helped millions attend college, but does anybody think that the cost of college has stayed the same since 1974?” We all wish, it just didn't. And for there not to be a recognition that over the last 25 years – that everything has gotten more expensive, including the cost of tuition, all their expenses go up on our campuses – that we're leaving kids behind, leaving young people behind.

And even the idea of having part-time students eligible, why did it take me to have to become Governor for someone to stand up and say, let's just do it? Why didn't we do this a long time ago?

You know, 60 percent – 10 years ago – 60 percent of TAP recipients completed their 4-year degrees in 6 years compared with the 26 percent completion rate for those who did not get that assistance. You know why? Because if you don't have enough to pay for the 4 years, you're taking a semester off. You're saying, “Well, I'll try to earn some more money.” Then you try another semester. Then you try another semester after you've worked for a little while. You don't have that uninterrupted flow of education because it's just too expensive.

Our progress has stalled. The minimum TAP award was $500 since 2000. The average tuition was just $3,000 at a college campus. Now, the average at even a public institution is $7,000. And the award was still stuck at $500. So, we'll change that. Why don't we start by doubling that TAP award from 500 to $1,000 starting now. Also, raise the limit for dependent students from $80,000 to $125,000 and recognizing that $125,000 isn't what it used to be either. Married students raising it from $40,000 to $60,000. Independent students raising it from $10,000 to $30,000. This all needs to be adjusted. Otherwise, that ladder of opportunity comes crashing down. We have to build that ladder back up.

And this is a grant. This is not a loan. It does not have to be paid back. And we expect to benefit more than 90,000 more students, and 48,000 of which are newly eligible because we changed those standards. We want students from all backgrounds to come to places like those colleges represented here today. These are outstanding institutions. This is what we brag about all the time. Long Island has the finest public and private schools you can imagine, all right here. And families who live here want to have their children close by if they can. They're young adults because then they'll learn here, they'll stay connected to their communities, they'll come back to become to entrepreneurs, go on for higher education, even beyond, and there's no stopping them.

So, also financial aid is a key, right? Let me tell you about a breakfast I had with John King. I said, “You're my new chancellor, our new chancellor. What are some of your ideas? What have you seen elsewhere? What are we not doing in the State of New York?” And he gave us some observations and perhaps he'll talk about this. FAFSA. Anybody go through the trauma of filling out that form a long time ago? Oh my God. It has been such a hassle that parents and young people just want to throw it away. There was a young woman we were helping who was connected to our family and her nonexistent parents, and I remember sitting in a diner she asked me if I'd help her fill it out and I just like, I didn't want her to see the look on my face, like, I don't know what to do here. Call in my husband. Call in people. How do we figure this out? Why was it so hard?

So, guess what? People didn't do it. They left millions and millions of dollars on the table right here in the State of New York, untapped, no pun intended, because it was just too much of a hassle. Our submissions are now down 24 percent. So, our Budget said, “No, no, we're going to change this. We're going to tell every high school, you owe one more thing to these students is before they pass through your doors. You must make sure that they fill out their application.” Every single high school senior will fill out the FAFSA application. They will have access now.

Because last year, seniors left $225 million in TAP money on the table unused in the State of New York. I want every penny of that gone. So, that's how we start. Guidance counselors, teachers and high schoolers, bring them in, help them fill out the forms, help the parents who are struggling and can't figure it out themselves like most of us. We want the students to use that money. And we don't want them to fall through the cracks just because the paperwork was so complicated. We know the federal government is making it simpler. They have their own challenges right now. They'll figure it out. Everything gets figured out. And we wait for that to occur, because right now it's been a frustrating year. And applications are down, and our college presidents know that.

But we want to make sure that they receive the best education eligible for them, and we're continuing our work here. And I want to make sure we continue investing in SUNY. $396 million in new state operating support for our campuses in CUNY and SUNY Downstate. We have to put money where our mouths are. You can't just say, “SUNY, we want you to be better. Go at it.” We need the resources for you to implement the visions that you've developed with your teams, your trustees, your students.

And also making sure that we have equal funding for every one of our institutions – baseline minimums. We want to make sure we prevent $143 million in lost support that will come back now, $13 million more for community colleges, and that's all on top of $1.13 billion for capital projects for all of our institutions.

And also, how are we going to build these projects? Anybody from labor in the house? You got it. Let's hear it for labor. We've adopted a new project labor agreement with SUNY, which start says large scale projects, big construction projects should be done with fair labor practices in place. And I want to thank Matthew Aracich, President of the Building Trades of Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Ryan Stanton. Thank you, Ryan, Executive Director of Long Island Federation. And Vinnie Alu, the Business Agent for Local 66, for all the work you're going to be doing right here. So, thank you.

Any project more than $10 million will fall under this agreement, underscoring our commitment to ensuring that the men and women of labor have access to these great paying jobs and making sure that our SUNY institutions are made with the highest quality labor there is.

Also, talk about building, I think you've all know this about me. I want to build more housing. Anybody else here want more housing built? Yes. So, a lot of ways to do this. A lot of ways. One way is – and I directed my teams to do this over the last year – identify all the state-owned property that could be repurposed, utilized, especially those next to transportation hubs. What a radical idea. Build housing near transit so people don't have to have a vehicle. They can actually get to their jobs, get around, build little communities around our train stations. I've seen Richie Schaffer do this. He's the master at this. You want to know how it's done, look at what he's done in his community.

So, today we've announced that there's an RFP out there to develop new mixed-use housing on 13 acres of DOT land just down the road. That's how it starts. We'll put out the RFP, look forward to bids, asking developers to bring creative ideas to us, so we can continue doing it. This is part of our landmark housing deal. The one that everybody said we couldn't get done, and we did. And I want to again thank all my partners in the legislature. I know Suffolk County wants housing. Our County Executive was at another event this morning. We had a lot of conversations with Ed Romaine about this. And we saw that in Suffolk County, from 2012 to 2022, you know how much housing grew? I can do it on one hand. I can do it on half of one hand. It is two percent.

That's the housing growth here. You know what other suburban areas around us – Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington Metro Area, Philly – I don't want to tell you, but they cleaned our clock. They built, and when you think about the places that New Yorkers migrate to when they make that wrong decision to leave our State.

They're going not just to warmer states, the three top out of five: New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. The only reason is, is they build more housing and so therefore, because there's more supply, prices go down. Supply and demand. We've been dwarfed. Our ambition has been dwarfed by other areas.

Is anybody okay with that? I'm not. I'll tell you right now. I am competitive. We have a little bit of catching up to do. We'll start with looking at these properties and working with our forward-thinking Supervisors and local officials and the County Executives who do understand that the way you keep people living on Long Island, is you give them housing options.

So, seniors have a place to downsize to so they can stay close to their families when they don't need the big house. Their families can raise their kids in the same great neighborhood, in the same great schools that they had access to. Why would we deny that? And we're going to continue investing. And the Long Island Railroad, which was an incredible lifeline that creates so many more opportunities for people to get to jobs that otherwise would have been not accessible.

So that's what I'm talking about. You know, so we're going to build the housing, we're going to give young people the training, and we're also going to make sure we have the jobs for them to stay right here on Long Island. And that's why we're committing $431,000 for new modern air traffic control simulation technology to train the next generation of air traffic controllers.

You know why we have such a difficulty with airlines and how long you're waiting on the tarmac and why you can't get flights that are accessible anymore? It all comes down to a shortage of air traffic controllers. I've talked to all the CEOs. We have more young people training, and these are great paying jobs.

Federal government's listening to us to make it easier so everybody doesn't have to go to one place in Oklahoma to get their training. I said, “No, we're pretty smart here, too. I guarantee we can do this in New York.” So, we're going to invest the money to allow for more capacity to allow more people — and I want more people of color and young women heading into these careers because you can support your own family.

This is how we start changing lives, these kinds of investments. Right now, we have 1,000 fewer air traffic controllers than we did 10 years ago. Does that make you feel safe? No. We can fix it right here. So, the TRACON facility in Westbury, which handles air traffic control for New York City airports, is only staffed at 58 percent right now.

Okay. We're going to solve that. This is part of my commitment. Finding areas where help is needed because when we fix this, the growth can be explosive around this. So, we're going to continue doing this. The simulator is on the way, our investments – talk about investments in new technologies.

All right, this is the one I get to brag about: Empire AI. You know what that means? It means we are on the cusp of greatness, that we have seized the future. I said whoever owns this next era of artificial intelligence will own our destiny and the future. No other state in the nation has decided to make the kind of commitment we have. Yes, you hear about supercomputers, but you know what, they're all being built by large private companies.

They're not saying let's invest millions of dollars into this great computer. And shouldn't we be sharing this resource with the community and students, researchers? Nobody's doing it, and it's wildly expensive. That's why the State of New York says we're in. Thank you, Legislator, for buying into this vision of $275 million to build a powerhouse supercomputer.

We'll have a consortium. I have private dollars coming in. I have universities that are buying into this. SUNY has bought into this. CUNY has bought into this. Private institutions have bought in to create access for their students and their faculty. To innovate the solutions that we've all been waiting for.

Medical breakthroughs, how we deal with climate change, how we can look at buildings and our coastlines and places here on Long Island and figure out using artificial intelligence, how we solve those challenges of climate change and resiliency and how we can make sure our roads and bridges are safe.

There's no limit to this and it will be responsible AI. It will be responsible. I've been working with the Legislature to continue legislating to make sure that we're protecting our kids and others and individuals from falsifying images. We know there's some dark side to it too. Just like there was a dark side to the internet.

But does anybody think it's smart to go back to the pre-internet days just because of some challenges? I say no. I say we lean into this. And I will tell you this. Other governors, other states are saying, “We wish we had thought of this”, but you will be first. We are going to make sure that we are the home of the emerging AI industry, and we know that this is going to be part of the global economy.

It's expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2030, and I want a piece of that. I want a piece of that. We're getting that right here. So, I've already heard from some of our professors that they were thinking of leaving their positions because they've been lured to other states. And when they heard about this, they changed their plans. And they decided they could go after federal research dollars. They could attract more students here.

When you can tell students from other places, and our own, “Don't go anywhere else because you're going to miss the great wave.” We're going to build this on a SUNY campus. We're going to make sure the money is there. And my goal is to get this moving as fast as possible. I have two chairs of my commission overseeing this.

One is the CEO of IBM, and the other one is the CEO of Girls Who Code, a program that I believe in, as we can help bring in more young women of color into these jobs, because again, just like the others I've mentioned, this is where you can take care of your family. You can be self-supporting if you need to.

So, this is what I get so excited about with education. There's no stopping us. We continue investing in our young people. Let them know they matter, they have value, and we're expecting great things from them. High expectations. This is investing in the prosperity of our state. And I can't think of a better endeavor.

And all of you here today are equally committed. I'm grateful for that, and I want to thank all of you for being here to hear these announcements. Thank you.