State lawmakers are urging Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the Veterans Tuition Awards Program Bill, to expand tuition access to New York veterans.
Assemblymember Marianne Buttenschon joined local veterans and advocates in Utica to promote the bipartisan VTAP Bill. It was part of a statewide push to urge Hochul's executive signature. The bill looks to expand tuition assistance to veterans regardless of whether they served in combat, something the current program does not allow. Buttenschon said the bill would use funds already included in the state budget.
"This is funding that has been set aside through the TAP program for our veterans and is not being utilized to its full extent," Buttenschon said. "We do not need to add any other funding in the budget, it is there for our veterans."
Because the current legislation excludes non-combat veterans from accessing tuition assistance, Buttenschon reports almost 800,000 New York veterans miss out on education assistance. Buttenschon said the decision should be an easy one.
"It's our veterans," Buttenschon said. "And what do they want to do? They want to educate and better themselves, why wouldn't we support that."
The bill also calls for tuition assistance to expand to graduate-level education.
