Create, Iterate, Evaluate, and Sustain: CUNY’s Opportunity Programs Provide Roadmap for Long-Term Investments

Read the second blog in this series here.

Evolving to serve today’s students takes time, research, innovation, and funding. For the past 50 years, the City University of New York (CUNY) has been creating student success programs, iterating program design, evaluating outcomes, and sustaining its wraparound student support experiments with local, state, and philanthropic funding. Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York Legislature created a line item in the FY2026 state budget for two proven programs that originated at CUNY: Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) and Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE). For the second year in a row, the New York State budget includes funding for ASAP and ACE for both CUNY and State University of New York (SUNY) students, creating a model for converting institutional innovation to a path to sustainability. Other states, including Ohio, California, and Tennessee, have replicated ASAP according to their state contexts.

Background

Founded in 1847 as the Free Academy, the state created CUNY to provide access to a high-quality college education, particularly for students who were excluded from or unable to afford private institutions. It set a precedent as the first free public institution of higher education in the country. Over time, CUNY recognized that access alone is not enough, and that students also need meaningful, sustained support to succeed, and launched a set of opportunity programs to address that need.

CUNY’s Opportunity Programs

CUNY’s opportunity programs include College Discovery (CD), the Percy Ellis Sutton Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge (SEEK), ASAP, and ACE. CUNY Educate, Develop, Graduate, Empower (EDGE) is offered in partnership with the New York City Human Resources Administration. These programs provide a combination of financial assistance, academic advising, career guidance, and social supports—recognizing that what happens both inside and outside the classroom contributes to student success.

While ASAP and ACE have become nationally known, CUNY created its first opportunity program, SEEK, back in 1965. Becoming the nation’s first state-funded program in 1966, SEEK has provided additional academic and financial assistance, counseling, and mentorship to generations of students and celebrated its 60^th anniversary in February 2026. CD and SEEK were born out of the Civil Rights Movement and calls for CUNY to address racial inequities and boost enrollment of Black and Latino/a students, who made up less than five percent of total enrollment at the time. Today, those numbers are greater than 27 percent for each group. CD operates on six of the seven community college campuses across the city and enrolls several thousand students annually. CD participants have higher college retention and graduation rates than those in the general student population. SEEK operates at all 12 CUNY Senior Colleges—campuses which offer bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees—and has supported upwards of 100,000 students.

CUNY EDGE is a unique partnership between CUNY and the New York City Department of Social Services’ Human Resources Administration (DSS HRA) designed for students who participate in cash assistance programs to access higher education and find employment. EDGE provides individualized academic, personal, and career planning support in addition to paid work opportunities through the HRA Fellowship program and vouchers for a “Career Closet” for students to rent professional work attire. A 2025 DSS study found that EDGE-eligible students attempted more credits and achieved slightly higher grade point averages when they participated in EDGE versus when they did not. EDGE participants more commonly earned associate degrees compared to a general CUNY cohort, as well, though the evaluation was not causal.

CUNY’s flagship programs, ASAP and ACE, take the earlier models further by adding critical financial assistance and building a track record of evaluation. Prior TICAS research shows that New York’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), plus institutional aid, generally covers tuition and fees for students who are low-income. However, other costs—such as books and supplies, transportation, housing, food, and personal expenses—have been rising and may require students to work more, which in turn can affect academic success. ASAP’s goal is to support associate degree completion within three years by providing a package that includes textbook stipends and transportation support, in addition to structured schedules and intensive advising.

ASAP began in 2007 with support from the NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity. The program has served over 120,000 associate degree students and operates on nine campuses where associate degrees are offered. ACE started as a pilot program with funding from the Robin Hood Foundation in 2015 to extend similar assistance to bachelor’s degree students. ACE has served over 6,000 students since program inception and operates at seven CUNY colleges.

Causal research shows that students in ASAP graduate at more than twice the rate of their peers. ACE participants also experience significantly higher completion rates, with particularly large impacts for Black and Latino/a students. A 2024 evaluation by Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy valued the social benefits to be nearly $43,000 per ACE participant, driven in great part by higher lifetime earnings, and nearly $125,000 per ACE participant, factoring in benefits to their children. These programs don’t just improve outcomes—they transform trajectories, particularly for students who are low-income, first generation, or come from historically marginalized high schools and communities.

Continued Investment Must Match Today’s Realities

Changes in the higher education landscape necessitate that programs evolve to meet student needs. Federal policy shifts threaten access and pathways to equity. Rising living costs make college increasingly unaffordable, even at institutions like CUNY where tuition remains relatively low compared to other public and private colleges. Today’s students are more likely than in the past to be older, independent, and balancing family and other financial responsibilities. Many students are working more hours or full-time to afford the higher cost of living that drives up the total cost of attendance.

By investing in students holistically through academic and financial supports, sustaining that investment over time, evaluating what works, scaling programs based on evidence, and finally, working with state leaders to build long-term funding streams, CUNY has created a national model for how campuses can test and grow student success initiatives.