NEW YORK – New Yorkers are divided over free tuition at public universities, but can agree on one thing: Cuomo’s Excelsior Scholarship missed the mark.

“I think the intent is good,” says Duffy Zimmerman, a 19-year-old biology major at Stony Brook University. “But in the state that it is being forced out, it seems like it might do harm.”

Zimmerman opposes the notion of free tuition. He feels that college should be something that you earn, rather than something you receive for just existing.

This program is set to provide free tuition at all CUNY and SUNY two and four-year colleges, for those making up to $125,000 a year, by 2019. This could potentially help over 940,000 middle-class families with college-age students.

According to New York State, “Every child will have the opportunity that education provides.”

This statement is inaccurate because the students who will benefit are limited. SUNY claims that this will only affect one-fifth of their undergraduate students, based on how many attend full time and graduate within four years.

“It’s not going to cover undocumented students or part-time students,” says Alyssa Adamson a 25-year-old logical and critical reasoning professor at Stony Brook University. “Which is a pretty big contingent of SUNY students.”

At Stony Brook University specifically, 1,168 students out of 17,026 were part-time and 12.8 percent are non-U.S. citizens. Although these numbers aren’t too large, these students are still excluded from Excelsior.

Adamson believes university should actually be free for everyone, yet clearly dislikes the Excelsior Scholarship.

“It seems like a misnomer to say that it is free,” says Adamson. “So okay, they cover the tuition, but then students still have to come up with money after fees and housing.”

The average cost of tuition for New York State residents is $6,470. This number reflects less than a third of the estimated total cost, $24,680. With tuition being a minor hurdle in the grand scheme of affordability, the real costs stem from housing, fees, etc.

For low-income students, tuition is often already covered by Federal Pell grants or state aid. Pell offers students up to $5,815 per year, based on need. This covers tuition almost entirely if you qualify.

“[Cuomo] is coming in with the right idea,” says Jia Cao, a 23-year-old higher education administration graduate student. “But there are easier ways to increase the way we get aid to students. TAP is a great system. All this money that you are throwing towards the Excelsior program, why can’t you just raise people’s TAP?”

New York State Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) helps more than 370,000 students fund their education. At CUNY, more than 58 percent of full-time undergrads were able to attend college tuition-free because of TAP and Pell.

Where Excelsior differs from pre-existing state and federal aid is in its target audience. The income limit for TAP is $80,000 or less to qualify. Excelsior seeks to cover middle-class New Yorkers, rather than the lower class.

Those who don’t benefit from Excelsior are worried about its implications.

“We had to pay for everything for our daughters’ undergraduate,” says Mary Costello, a 57-year-old mother of two from Bayport, New York. “We didn’t get anything for free.”

Costello is against the idea of free tuition because she feels that students should have to work to receive an education. She feels it will breed mediocracy because when people don’t have to pay for things themselves, they are less likely to treat it with care.

There are strict requirements to receive the scholarship, though. Students must be enrolled full-time, take an average of 30 credits per year, and maintain a certain grade point average. Universities are not lowering their standards either, you still have to apply and get accepted to attend.

“I'm all for affordable education,” says Victoria Logan a 20-year-old health science major at Stony Brook University. “I think it's ridiculous how expensive college is, but I don't think it should be free.”

Logan is working to pay for college on her own and urges that others do the same.

“Who can complain about low tuition rates?” she questions. “Everyone will be paying the same equally low price.”