High school senior Lia Issa received a hand-delivered letter Monday, offering her admission at the City University of New York’s community colleges — and encouraging her to apply for CUNY’s other schools, too.

“I was kind of shocked cause naturally we would just do the application and wait. But I feel like I just kind of skipped that step and they already accepted me. Which was quite awesome,” she said.

Schools Chancellor David Banks and CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez visited Lia’s class Monday to hand out the letters to every student — and soon every high school senior on track to graduate from a public school will get their own letters, too.

What You Need To Know

  • All students who are on track to graduate from a public high school will get a letter accepting them to CUNY's community colleges

  • The letters will also offer information on applying to four-year CUNY programs

  • The goal is to get students thinking about their options for after high school

“Even for those who are thinking ‘I’m not sure I want to go to college,’ when they get that letter, with your name on it — it’s not a generic letter, it’s with your name on it — you know that you have a college acceptance, it can affect just how you move from then on. And it’s a feeling of real empowerment. You’ve got choices now,” Banks said.

Students with a high school diploma can attend any of CUNY’s seven, two-year community colleges, though some popular programs may have limited space. The letters also provide information on applying to CUNY’s four-year undergraduate options.

“We also wanted to make it easy. So the letter’s going to have a bar code. And you scan the barcode and you go directly to the CUNY application website, right? If you apply this month, there’s no fee. It’s free,” Matos Rodriguez said.

That was welcome news to senior Christian DeJesus, who was already considering attending a CUNY school.

“My mom works very hard and so does my dad, but we still struggle with money, so the fact that it’s being waived, I appreciate that,” he said.

More than 80% of CUNY’s freshman class each year are graduates of city public schools. And for some of these high school students, knowing they have a place there makes a big difference.

“It was really relieving to know that even if — applying, I’m going to get accepted, I’m going to have a chance,” student Cristal Paulino said.