By Kathleen Moor
Albany Times Union

ALBANY — Adults ages 25 to 55 will be able to go to community college for free in New York this fall, if they don’t yet have a college degree and pick a “high demand” field.

The new policy, approved in the state budget, is aimed at getting adults into college. The birthrate is falling nationally, so there are fewer 18-year-olds every year to enroll in college.

There are more than four million adults statewide in the age range targeted by the policy who do not yet have a degree or similar credential.

Now they can attend for free: the state will cover tuition, books, fees and supplies. The program is dubbed SUNY Reconnect.

Students must pick a major aimed at a career for which New York state needs more workers. Those include nursing, teaching, technology and engineering. A web page announcing the details of the programs was activated this week. However, community colleges will also hold information sessions this summer to explain the eligible programs.

SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. said community colleges are ready to launch SUNY Reconnect.

The program “will help break barriers to a college degree,” he said in a statement.

It will also help them get new careers, said state Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon.

“Offering free community college to adult learners will provide a gateway to new career opportunities in high-demand fields and feed critical workforce pipelines,” she said in a statement.

Community college enrollment has been a bright spot in SUNY’s enrollment figures.

Last year, community college enrollment was up 1.8%.

But almost half of that growth came from one program: students who take classes in their high school from their high school teacher, for college credit.

These students never set foot on a college campus for the class. They take the class on the ordinary high school schedule, with other high school students. And they pay only a fraction of the full cost for college credits — in some cases $210 for a three-credit class.

At SUNY Schenectady, 58 percent of the students described as “enrolled” last year were College in High School students.