Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces More Than 16,500 Have Applied for New York's Free Community College Program Covering Full Tuition for Adult Learners Pursuing In-Demand Fields

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul rallied with students, staff and faculty at LaGuardia Community College, a CUNY campus, to celebrate the more than 16,500 New Yorkers Statewide who have applied to her landmark free community college program for adults in high-demand fields through CUNY and SUNY Reconnect. Beginning in Fall 2025, CUNY and SUNY Reconnect builds upon Governor Hochul’s ongoing commitment to expand access to higher education, strengthen New York’s workforce, and provide pathways to good-paying careers for adult learners.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

I've got a microphone because I'm moving around a little bit, but I'm so excited to be here. I cannot tell you, this is a dream come true for me as well. To all of you starting with the leadership we have, Chancellor Matos Rodríguez. What an extraordinary leader and I want to thank you for helping drive change in our community colleges here in the city, and also an inspiration for many others across the State. And I know you have some good news to tell us about perhaps enrollment's going up? Okay, enrollment's going up, that's all I need to hear.

There cannot be a greater leader of this institution than Ken Adams. Who is the word he himself uses, but I see it in his face, the passion he has for investing and supporting all the students who come to these doors to make sure they have a world class education and prepared for the careers of today and tomorrow. Let's give another round of applause to our President. Assemblymember Hyndman, you'll be hearing from her in a couple minutes. I want to thank her for her incredible support of this program as well, and all the members of the legislature. Carl Heastie, our speaker, Andrea Stewart–Cousins as well, the leader of the Senate.

We also have a nursing student, Rebecca Ramos. You'll be hearing her story about what this means for her. All the members of the family, the trustees, Bill Thompson, Sandra Wilkin, vice chair, and all of you show up in all of our community college presidents.

But let me tell you why this is a personal journey for me. Every summer since I've been governor, we start thinking about our policies that we want to talk about the next spring, when the governor announces her State of the State address. And as I made a trip back home to Buffalo, to the little trailer park where my parents once lived. I stopped in the diner nearby and I saw a lot of people, their families who never got outta that trailer park. They still live there in the shadow of the Bethlehem steel plant —It is shuttered now. 20,000 people lost their jobs, but there was a time when my grandfather couldn't find any other work. An Irish immigrant, the doors were closed when he arrived here as a teenager with my grandmother, two young people in search of a better life. Like all the immigrants who come here looking for that better life.

Grandpa had to become a migrant farm worker in the wheat fields of South Dakota because nobody would hire the Irish. The signs literally said “Irish need not apply.” He found his way as domestic servants in Chicago. He and grandma worked hard and finally found his way to the promised land of Buffalo, New York and got a job at the steel plant. And his eldest son, my dad joined him there doing that hard dirty work in those mines —where you just see how hard they worked. They'd come home at the end of the day just covered in grit. But my father believed in himself that he could do better for his young wife, my mom, my older brother, a year older than me. And with that little life that lived in that trailer park, he decided to go to college. And it was hard because mom had to raise the baby in the trailer park. She was very pregnant with me, Lot more babies to come, we are Irish as I mentioned.

But dad worked hard by day, got a college degree at night, and when he got that degree, it was like a ticket. Because all of a sudden he was employable, people would help him find another job, and he worked his way, able to leave the factory, work in the offices for a while, worked in an office, he was so proud of that.

And eventually took an incredible risk, joined a couple of other guys back in the 1960s. Three other guys, starting a technology company where computers were the size of this room. What a different world that was. And people said, “Jackie you're nuts. What are doing leaving Bethlehem Steel? Those jobs are secure, they'll be there forever. What is this little computer thing called? What are you doing? You've got six kids. How are you going to feed them?” My dad had that drive and that passion. And as a result they ended up being very successful.

But they always went back to that trailer park. We always go back to Fran-Ceil’s ice cream around the corner — and I'll never forget where I came from and the power of education to transform not just their lives, but the lives of their children and their children's children. That's what today is all about. That's what today — why this matters to me.

So, back to the idea. I said, “how can we make community college more accessible, more affordable for people? Because people struggle.” I mean so many have to work part-time jobs and number one, tuition assistance, It didn't keep up with the times. The TAP program, we doubled it, so it went from five–hundred to a thousand dollars with the support of the legislature. We also made it available. I'm like wait a minute, So many people have kids at home, single parents have to have a part-time job. They weren't able to get tuition assistance through the TAP program unless they were full-time workers. That made no sense to me at all.

It is now available for part-time workers to give them that lift up, but I'm also looking at the jobs that I'm working so hard to bring here to New York. The green energy jobs of the future. Advanced manufacturing, good paying jobs. Nursing skills, we are desperate. Since the pandemic, we've had this enormous shortage of nursing skills. I have professions and employers all over the State of New York looking for workers, so we put two and two together. How can we fill those needs of our employers to get them the educated workers they need, but also lift more families like my own up to the power of education when it is so out of reach for many? We said for people who are adults, 25 — which still sounds kind of young to me — but adults 25 to 55, they want to rethink about where they are. Some maybe even never went to any education, that's fine. But they're trying to figure out — they’re like, “Now I want to be part of the workforce. How do I get there?”

We opened up free community college for 25 to 55-year-olds to give them a whole new lease on life. And this just passed in the spring with our Budget. It's a couple months, weeks late, but who cares? Doesn't matter, right? Doesn't matter. Who's hung up on deadlines? The press is going to eat that up.

Just since we started getting the word out, just since a few months ago when this became the law of New York State — we have over 16,000 people who've already signed up for this, and these are the lives that we're going to be changing forever. So, I'm going to keep doing my part, focusing on families — my fight is for your family — focusing on affordability, this is a major part of it, but also putting money back in people's pockets.

I was a struggling mom myself. I had to leave a job I loved in Washington D.C. when my baby was born. There wasn't child care — no affordable child care, nothing in reach. It's like my husband was working for the government, all of a sudden we went down to one income, and I was that mom going out to the big-box stores trying to find diapers at a discount and formula. My daughter's there today with a one month old — the cycle of life, right? But I never lost that sense of empathy for those young families today that have to buy the diapers, the formulas, the little outfits they grow out of every three months. Literally, I just bought her all these clothes. There's newborn, then zero to three — I said, “Wait, what's the difference between zero and newborn?”

Somebody ask somebody that question for me. But it's hard for our families, but I want them to have the same advantages that I eventually had in life. Yeah we started buying our clothes at used clothing stores, we had to eat a lot of spam for dinner — I know some people like it, I hated it. But through those struggles, I persevered and became stronger. My children will be stronger, people are stronger, but it shouldn't be so hard to just live here the way it is for so many families — utility prices. And weren't we promised lower prices for everything on day one after the last election? Anybody been to a bodega, grocery store lately? Tell me — any prices going down? Because I'm missing something. No, didn't think so.

So, I'm putting more money back in people's pockets. $1,000 for families with 4-year-olds and under. It used to be zero when I first became Governor, zero, and now it's $1,000 — $500 for older families. The cost of food for your kids’ breakfast and lunches. New York State is covering that cost, so no child has to be stigmatized for being that child that people say their parents don't have enough money, we removed the stigma — let's feed our babies, let's feed our kids. No more tummies growling in school.

An inflation rebate — why? Because more money went to the State government through sales tax because the cost of everything went up because of inflation. I said, “That money doesn't belong to us. It belongs to you. Put it back in their pockets.” Over $400 coming back to people. Middle class tax rate cut, the largest rate cut in 70 years. All this adds up to families, not even including this. Upward of $5,000 to help them not just survive, but thrive. So I'm going to continue on this focus, making New York safer, more affordable and giving people the dignity of an education which is going to open so many doors, especially for all those new jobs — and many of those careers are taught right here at LaGuardia Community College. And our other community colleges have embraced these technologies, these new jobs, because I want to welcome our young people who, right now, feel like they're sitting on the sidelines, not sure what the future is going to be for them — let them know that future is bright.

We can change their lives — Just walk in the door, apply for this and your life will forever be more enriched, and your families will benefit just as mine did.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me bring up our great Chancellor, Félix Matos Rodríguez. Mr. Chancellor.