Gov. Hochul was set to propose an expansion of New York’s free community college program for adults in her 2026 State of the State address Tuesday, including new opportunities for aspiring nurses just as thousands went on strike in the city.
SUNY and CUNY Reconnect, introduced statewide by the governor during her annual speech last year, gives residents ages 25 to 55 with no degree the opportunity to go back to school for free. The program is open to adults working toward jobs in “high-demand” fields — such as nursing, cybersecurity, teaching in shortage areas, and artificial intelligence.
As part of the expansion, Hochul was expected to open the program up to any adult interested in nursing, even if they’ve already graduated from college with a different degree. The plan, shared exclusively with the Daily News ahead of the governor’s afternoon speech, takes aim at a “pressing need” to expand the workforce: New York is projected to face a shortage of up to 40,000 nurses by 2030.
“When New York invests in these students, we aren’t just supporting their higher education journey,” Hochul said in a statement. “We’re creating a stronger state workforce.”
Nearly 15,000 nurses at some of the city’s top hospitals walked off the job Monday, with labor and management unable to reach a deal that would ensure minimum staffing ratios between nurses and their patients, among other key disagreements. The strike impacted medical institutions across Manhattan and the Bronx, operated by Montefiore Medical Center, Mount Sinai Health System and NewYork-Presbyterian.
The action followed the governor’s executive order on Friday declaring a disaster emergency in the event of a strike.
Barry Williams/ New York Daily News
Striking nurses walk the picket line outside New York-Presbyterian Columbia Hospital in Washington Heights on Monday. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
Also in her speech Tuesday, Hochul planned to increase the number of eligible fields for SUNY and CUNY Reconnect, adding logistics, air traffic control and transportation, and emergency management to the list of industries already considered “high-demand.”
There’s no cap on the number of students served in New York’s free community college program. SUNY and CUNY campuses have received some 16,500 applications and enrolled more than 11,000 students through the initiative, now in its first year. Expanding the number of eligible fields through Reconnect could add hundreds more students to the rosters, depending on interest, state officials estimated.
A spokeswoman for Hochul said the estimated cost of the expansion would be released as part of the governor’s proposed state budget next week. For this school year, the state allocated $47 million to the program across both SUNY and CUNY campuses.
“I’m proud to add more fields like transportation and emergency management so that New Yorkers statewide and across industries can take advantage of this win-win program,” Hochul’s statement continued.
