Do Tennessee Promise and New York’s Excelsior Scholarship Help Students With Limited Means Afford College?

As college costs steadily rise, students face unprecedented financial barriers as they pursue higher education. Many federal, state, and institutional policy makers tout free-college programs as solutions to addressing college affordability challenges. But IHEP analysis of two state free-college programs, Tennessee Promise and New York’s Excelsior Scholarship, show that to help low-income students afford college, free-college programs must be designed with equity at their core. The report identifies opportunities to better target existing programs and puts forth recommendations to help design equity-driven federal and state free-college programs.