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NEW YORK STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SERVICES CORPORATION 


                         Adjusted      Executive    Legislative                       
                           Approp.        Request        Approp.
                           2000-01        2001-02        2001-02        Change


STATE OPERATIONS
  General Fund          10,007,000      9,593,000      9,593,000             0 
  Special Rev.-Fed.      3,930,000      5,000,000      5,000,000             0 
  Special Rev.-Other    82,400,000     83,669,000     83,669,000             0 
  Total for 
  STATE OPERATIONS:     96,337,000     98,262,000     98,262,000             0 

AID TO LOCALITIES
  General Fund         672,948,000    672,948,000    694,110,000    21,162,000 
  Special Rev.-Fed.      2,400,000      2,400,000      2,400,000             0 
  Special Rev.-Other     7,000,000      7,000,000      7,000,000             0 
  Total for 
  AID TO LOCALITIES:   682,348,000    682,348,000    703,510,000    21,162,000

Agency Mission

The Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) is the centralized processing agency for student financial aid programs in New York State. The agency administers the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), the Federal student loan programs and other state and federal aid programs.

Year-to-Year Change

The Executive recommends a total State Operations appropriation of $98,262,000 for the Corporation. This represents a net increase of $1,925,000 or 2 percent. This reflects an increase of $1,070,000 in federally supported State Operations, a $1,269,000 increase in State Operations supported through Special Revenue Funds and a decrease in State Operations supported by the General Fund of $414,000 or 4.1 percent.

The Executive maintains the Aid to Localities appropriation for the Corporation at the prior year level of $672,948,000. The Governor continues support for the enhancements to the TAP Program which were enacted as part of the 2000-01 State Budget. These include:

-- increasing the maximum TAP award to $5,000 over a four year period;

-- phasing out the tuition percentage limitation on TAP awards;

-- providing college juniors and seniors with an additional increase of $100 in their TAP awards; and

-- increasing the minimum TAP award to $500 and increasing income eligibility to $80,000.

The Executive maintains support for Scholarships for Academic Excellence at the prior year level of $14,000,000 for the 2001-02 Academic Year.

The Executive maintains funding for the Aid to Part Time Study at the 2000-01 level of $14,630,000.

Legislative Proposals

The Assembly recognizes the important role that State supported student aid programs have in providing access to a higher education for all New Yorkers. In order to meet this vital responsibility, the Assembly offers a comprehensive proposal aimed at providing greater State support for students pursuing a higher education.

The Assembly recommends increasing support for the TAP program by $21,162,000 above the Executive proposal. The Assembly proposal provides the following enhancements to the TAP program:

-- Doubling the maximum award for Graduate TAP from its current level of $550 to $1,100;

-- Eliminating the current law provision that reduces the maximum award for college juniors and seniors by $100;

-- Expanding the income deduction for the purposes of calculating TAP awards for families with more than one student currently enrolled in college. The current law deduction of $3,000 for the first additional child attending college and $2,000 for each additional child would be expanded to a deduction of $6,000 for the first additional child and $4,000 for each additional child;

-- Adjusts the award schedule to provide that students first becoming eligible to receive TAP prior to 1993-94 may receive an award based upon the current schedule;

-- Authorizes student financial aid administrators to adjust family income for purposes of calculating TAP awards in extraordinary instances where the administrator currently has discretion to make similar adjustments for Federal aid programs. In addition, the financial aid administrators would be required to provide HESC with notification of such changes including reasons for such adjustments; and

-- Provides $4,000,000 for the creation of a Supplemental TAP program to provide an additional semester of TAP eligibility on a pro-rated basis. In addition, the Assembly recommends that support for the Supplemental TAP program be expanded in future years to provide $20,000,000 in state support by SFY 2005-06.

Finally, the Assembly recommends that HESC, in joint collaboration with the State University of New York (SUNY) develop a part-time TAP pilot program to be implemented at one SUNY state operated institution and one SUNY community college. The pilot program would allow students pursuing a higher education on a part-time basis to receive a TAP award on a pro-rated basis.


TUITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM - ENHANCEMENT.
SUPPLEMENTAL TAP.
GRADUATE TAP INCREASE. 		$14,187,000
$4,000,000
$2,975,000 		ATL/GEN
ATL/GEN
ATL/GEN