“I am very concerned with the governor’s spending of $7 million to finance the college education of up to 2,500 criminals who are currently incarcerated. While the plan is to spend money from bank settlements, I can think of many other ways to spend millions of dollars that benefit law-abiding citizens of this state including additional funding for the state Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and youth programing. The average student loan debt for New York state residents is $32,200. This state should be taking any additional financial windfalls and helping students who did the right thing, made the right decisions and are now struggling to make ends meet, rather than rewarding convicted felons with a free college education.”