S 2424: Establishes the community college merit and mobility scholarship for the purpose of granting merit based scholarships to students who attend a New York state community college; provides for eligibility and awards.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2424 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE January 17, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. ORTT -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing the community college merit and mobility scholarship The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 669-i 2 to read as follows: 3 § 669-i. The community college merit and mobility scholarship. 1. 4 Purpose. The community college merit and mobility scholarship is hereby 5 established for the purpose of granting merit based scholarships to 6 students who attend a New York state community college. 7 2. Eligibility. To be eligible for such awards, an applicant must have 8 graduated from a New York state high school within the top twenty 9 percent of their high school class and achieve the following: 10 a. remain in good academic standing, and 11 b. maintain a grade point average of 3.3 or above. 12 3. Awards. One thousand scholarships shall be awarded in the two thou- 13 sand twenty-five--two thousand twenty-six academic year, and thereafter. 14 The annual scholarship shall be awarded to eligible applicants in the 15 amount of one thousand dollars per year for not more than two academic 16 years. The maximum scholarship award shall not exceed two thousand 17 dollars. The president shall promulgate rules and regulations necessary 18 to make such scholarship available on an annual basis to full-time 19 recipients or per credit basis to part-time recipients. Part-time 20 students shall not be impacted by the two-year academic year award limi- 21 tation. Up to one thousand scholarships may be granted to new recipients 22 annually. The receipt of such scholarships shall not affect tuition 23 assistance eligibility. In no event shall the amount of the annual 24 award exceed the recipient's cost of attendance at the institution 25 attended. Cost of attendance shall mean tuition, required fees, labora- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD05907-01-5 
 S. 2424 2 1 tory and other instruction related to expenses, books, transportation, 2 and room and board. 3 4. Priority. In the event that there are more applicants who have the 4 same priority than there are remaining scholarships, the president shall 5 distribute the remaining number of such scholarships by means of a 6 lottery or other form of random selection. 7 5. Rules. The corporation is authorized to promulgate rules and regu- 8 lations, and may promulgate emergency regulations, for the necessary 9 implementation of the provisions of this section. 10 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 11 it shall have become a law.