SUNY Sullivan is “Investing in the Future” with Tuition-Free SUNY Community College Program

This fall, the State of New York is launching SUNY Reconnect, a tuition-free program for all SUNY Community Colleges for adult learners with no prior degree between the ages of 25-55.

As the cost of higher education increases year after year, New York state is taking steps towards making the pursuit of an education more accessible and affordable.

“What New York state recognizes is that investing in higher education, making it more accessible or affordable, is an investment in the future,” said Dr. David Potash, President of SUNY Sullivan.

Introduced by Governor Kathy Hochul at her State of the State address in January 2025, the program will prioritize degrees in high demand fields, including healthcare, IT, computer programming, drug and alcohol dependency, and green and renewable energy. Specific SUNY community colleges are also working with Hochul’s administration to create more high demand fields that benefit their respective communities.

For SUNY Sullivan in particular, Potash sees the amount of students who will pursue nursing degrees in the school’s highly regarded program as a “window to a better future.”

“The cost of not having an employee in a high demand field,” Potash said. “That can have a direct impact on the state’s budget.”

The program, which is also available for all City University of New York (CUNY) Community Colleges, comes a year after Hochul’s expansion of New York state’s Tuition Assistance Program. However, in a state where four million people still do not have a college degree, the Reconnect Program aims to provide further assistance to adult learners who may already have a job and want to take their careers to the next level.

“You stop investing in people, some folks make it through but a lot of folks don’t get to that next step and everybody kind of suffers,” said Potash.

Potash hopes that this can be another step in making higher education more accessible to all undergraduate seekers in the state of New York, and credits the leadership of SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. for increased collaboration between the CUNY and SUNY systems. Still, he recognizes the needs for contingency plans in the face of significant staffing cuts to the Department of Education by the Trump Administration.

“In the SUNY System, our main objective is to educate people,” said Potash. “Educating people is ambitious enough.”

Image: Governor Kathy Hochul at Onondaga Community College announcing the Opportunity Promise Scholarship for Free Tuition at all SUNY and CUNY Community Colleges. Credit: Governor.NY.gov, Flickr)