This report contains recommendations for changes to New York's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) to be considered during the 1997 legislative session. It outlines the principal options addressed by the task force, the historical context of the TAP, and the cost of meeting full tuition and non-tuition allowances through state and federal grants and the expected family contribution. The task force recommended changes that would simplify for students and families the entire process of applying for and of determining TAP awards. It recommended that the separate TAP application form should be eliminated; the method of calculating TAP should be simplified and, while maintaining net taxable income as the base, should allow for use of federal data elements; the federal and state criteria for determining financial independence should be reconciled; the award schedules for determining TAP awards should be consolidated; and future increases in TAP funding should be used first to restore TAP schedules to 1990 levels. Appendixes provide TAP task force costings and a discussion of the policy issues involved in reforming TAP. (MDM)