S 8685 New York Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Relates to the qualification of an applicant for the New York opportunity promise scholarship

This bill removes a requirement that applicants for New York's Opportunity Promise Scholarship must not already hold a postsecondary degree. It directly affects students who previously earned a degree (e.g., a bachelor's) but now qualify if they enroll in an associate degree program at a SUNY or CUNY community college. The key change amends eligibility rules to allow these students to apply, while maintaining other requirements like enrollment in a high-demand field (e.g., nursing, cybersecurity, or teaching) and tuition residency rates. The bill takes effect immediately, applying to the 2025-2026 academic year.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 7, 2026 Last action Mar 24, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

S8685A S8685B · 3 edits
MINOR
This bill version (S8685-B) is a revised version of the original (S8685-A) with minor formatting adjustments and a procedural update. The substantive policy content regarding the New York Opportunity Promise Scholarship eligibility criteria remains largely unchanged, though there is a slight formatting correction to the list of high-demand fields and a procedural note about committee actions.
Scope change
The bill's scope and applicability remain unchanged; it continues to govern eligibility for the New York Opportunity Promise Scholarship.
TECHNICAL

Minor formatting adjustment to the list of high-demand fields, adding 'or certification' to clarify the types of programs eligible for the scholarship.

Procedural update in the Senate record indicating the bill was reprinted with amendments and recommitted to the Committee on Higher Education.

Bracketed text in the explanation section was updated to reflect the new bill version number (LBD13129-05-6 instead of LBD13129-03-6).

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
5
Key actions
4
Committee
1
Amendments
4
Mar 24, 2026
Upper · Passed
PRINT NUMBER 8685B
upper
Mar 24, 2026
Upper · Passed
AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO HIGHER EDUCATION
upper
Jan 15, 2026
Upper · Passed
PRINT NUMBER 8685A
upper
Jan 15, 2026
Upper · Passed
AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO HIGHER EDUCATION
upper
Jan 7, 2026
Committee
REFERRED TO HIGHER EDUCATION
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Pat Fahy
Pat Fahy
DDemocratic
NY
46