The Cuomo administration says roughly 24,000 students at SUNY and City University campuses are getting free tuition this year.
That's a 20 percent increase over last year -- the first year of the so-called Excelsior Scholarship free tuition program.
To qualify, students must be full-time, with 15 credits or more, per semester.
Since the program began, the universities have seen an increase in the percentage of freshmen taking a full course load.