NOTE: This announcement has been amended to reflect the extension of the fee waiver period through April 30. It was initially scheduled to expire on April 15.
The City University of New York announced today that it is waiving the $65 application fee for New York City public high school seniors who apply between March 1 and April 30 to attend a CUNY college in Fall 2023.
“We are trying to motivate seniors who may still be undecided about applying to college to take this important step toward their future at no cost. We are also removing a financial roadblock that has deterred many students from applying,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “This initiative is an example of how the University and the New York City public schools have a powerful partnership and are working together to help make the transition from high school to CUNY a seamless one.”
“New York City Public Schools work to prepare our city’s young people to become the next generation of leaders and scholars,” said New York City Schools Chancellor David C. Banks. “Taking that charge seriously means partnering with another dynamic leader in public education like CUNY to continue giving our children bright starts and bold futures by making high-quality education accessible and equitable.”
The fee waiver initiative is part of CUNY’s multipronged approach to doubling down on the University’s historical mandate to expand access to higher education — particularly to first-generation college students, immigrants and working-class Black and Latinx New Yorkers who bore the brunt of the pandemic’s most severe effects and have been most impacted by the enrollment declines that followed.
This eight-week initiative applies to all New York City Public Schools seniors who are graduating between January and August 2023 and planning to start college in Fall 2023. About 82% of CUNY’s first-time freshmen attended city public schools.
CUNY already waives the application fee for thousands of eligible city public school students each year, including those who are homeless or in foster care; are living in subsidized public housing or receiving public assistance. Eligible students currently need to request a unique fee waiver code which is generated by CUNY’s University Admissions Office and distributed through their school guidance counselors.
This eight-week fee waiver will cast a much wider net, allowing all seniors in New York City public schools to apply at no cost, without having to request a waiver code, and regardless of the family’s financial circumstances. The free application is intended to incentivize thousands of seniors who have come to believe that college is not an option and still have not applied.
The program will also free high school guidance counselors from distributing the fee waiver codes allowing them to spend more of their time helping students choose a CUNY college that fits their academic profile and career goals.
NYC Public School seniors can get more information on the fee waiver here.
The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving over 243,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 55,000 degrees each year. CUNY’s mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. CUNY’s graduates and faculty have received many prestigious honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur “Genius” Grants. The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background.
