An interesting article from Inside Higher Ed about the free college announcement and how it may affect private institutions in New York: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/13/new-yorks-free-tuition-plan-leaves-private-colleges-uncertain-about-future
New York has a host of elite privates that have little to worry about, but for the rest...
Probably a big boost for the SUNY schools in terms of retaining New York talent.
A follow-up to the New York story with research that we have long understood: http://www.chronicle.com/article/Incentives-to-Attend-Private/239801
Incentives that go to private higher education help save money overall and raise graduation rates.
One would think that free tuition will increase the number of applicants into the NY public system, and state colleges aren't going to have increased capacity, meaning that the SUNYs and other public institutions will actually have to increase their selectivity to deal with the increased demand - which could impact the pool of available student-athletes as some who formerly could qualify might no longer be able to do so. Some of the private schools, OTOH, might have to lower their admission standards in order to bring in the same number of NY residents; that, and/or increase their out-of-state recruiting efforts.