by Ilyssa Weiner

OSWEGO, NY — Governor Andrew Cuomo’s recent Excelsior Scholarship is the first program in the United States to offer free tuition to four year public colleges. The program, however, has its setbacks, critics say.

SUNY Oswego Financial Aid Director Mark Humbert says the hard part for students who receive the scholarship will be keeping it.

“You have to successfully complete 30 credit hours per year and most of our students don’t do that,” he said.

SUNY Oswego currently has a 48% acceptance rate. Humbert says the Excelsior Scholarship will cause the rate of all SUNY schools to decrease.

“It’s going to make SUNY more selective, which in some way goes against our mission which is affordability and access,” he said.

The initial cap for students who qualify will be an annual family income of $100,000. By 2019, the cap will rise to $125,000. Humbert says many students will still need loans despite the qualification.

”The cost of college is more than just tuition,” he said. “The same students that might be eligible for this still are going to need their loans to help pay for room and board.”

Students eligible for the program must stay in New York State for four years after they graduate. If they move out, the free tuition turns into a loan.

SUNY Oswego student Asha Bey is a broadcasting major and is concerned if she ends up with a job outside of New York.

“I know there’s plenty of job opportunities in other states other than New York,” Bey said.

While she is hopeful about the scholarship, Bey believes the kinks need to be worked out.

“I just want a group of people to just go through it so we can see what is there or what we can expect,” she said.

The Excelsior Scholarship program will take effect Fall 2017.

By Michael Allchin

OSWEGO, N.Y.– The Association of Black Psychologists specializes in different programs around campus. One program they run is Humans of Oz.

Based off the idea of Humans of New York, Humans of Oz gathers stories from students around campus. Students can share their personal stories or obstacles they have faced to help people in the community and themselves.

Secretary of Black Psychologists Kimberly Brown said that she enjoys listening to these stories because the answers that people give have a great impact on the people who visit their page.

Brown said she interviewed SUNY Oswego Student Asha Bey and said that Bey did not even realize that what she had spoken about had impacted Brown.

If you would like to share your story through Humans of Oz, or to check out stories from others, you can visit the their Tumblr page at http://humansofoz.tumblr.com/.

The fourth ranked Oswego State men’s hockey team defeated seventh ranked Geneseo 4-2 on Friday in what was a crucial SUNYAC matchup. With the win, the Lakers move to 17-3-2 overall while also clinching home-ice advantage throughout the conference playoffs. The Knights drop to 15-5-3 on the season.

Oswego came out strong on the offensive end in the beginning of the game scoring three goals. One of the scores came from Mitch Herlihey, off of an assist from Josh Zizek. The assist was Zizek’s team-leading 17th of the season. Geneseo’s top-five nationally ranked offense would not go down easily though as they cut the Lakers’ lead to just one in the final period. With 19 seconds remaining, Oswego put the game away on Herlihey’s empty net goal. The goal secured the senior captain a spot in the 100 point club making him the 56th Laker to reach the milestone.

Oswego will look to extend their winning streak tomorrow when they travel to Brockport for their last away matchup of the regular season. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm.