News
Governor Hochul Invests in Emergency Aid for SUNY Students — An Idea the Heckscher Foundation Helped to Pioneer
What started as a Heckscher Foundation pilot grant in 2017 is now state policy. Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2026–27 Executive Budget includes $600,000 in dedicated state funding to expand emergency aid grant programs across the SUNY system — a direct outgrowth of the emergency aid program the Heckscher Foundation (alongside the Gerstner Family Foundation) seeded nearly a decade ago at seven SUNY campuses. The program, which provides students facing crises like eviction, medical emergencies, or job loss with small grants to stay enrolled, achieved a 94% persistence rate among recipients — nearly 20 points above the SUNY system average.
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