ALBANY – New York’s Empire State Development agency revealed Wednesday that it has tapped a $50 million fund designed to promote job growth and tourism to market  Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s free tuition program for middle class students at public colleges.

Exactly how much did those commercials cost New York taxpayers?

The Cuomo administration isn’t saying.

The television ads ran all across the state from early May until July 21, the deadline for applicants seeking to be included in the free tuition program.

The spending on the commercials was blasted by Assemblyman Kieran Lalor, R-Hopewell Junction, as a waste of public money.

“People wanting to go to college should be doing their due diligence to find out about how they are going to afford college,” he said. “If they can’t find out about the free tuition program with a simple Google search or by talking to their guidance counselor, these are people that don’t belong in college.”

Lalor also questioned the appropriateness of using funding from an agency designed to entice companies to move to and expand in New York to promote a tuition affordability program when the state Higher Educational Services Corp. is already set up for that purpose.

Jason Conwall, an ESD spokesman, said in an emailed reply to a query from CNHI that the cascade of TV commercials to promote the governor’s free tuition program is part of his agency’s “economic development strategy as we work to retain young, talented New Yorkers and show business leaders that New York is investing in the workforce of tomorrow.”

Lalor said he believes the ads, while not mentioning Cuomo by name, are designed to prop up his political fortunes at a time when there is speculation that the governor is preparing for a White House candidacy in 2020.

CNHI first asked ESD on July 20 to provide information about how much money was being spent on the advertisements promoting the free tuition plan.

The first request for information was not acknowledged until July 24, when Conwall, the agency’s senior communications manager, discouraged a reporter from filing a Freedom of Information request for it, maintaining he was working on acquiring the details from his agency.

But on Wednesday, Conwall still did not have the information. It was not immediately clear if ESD does not know how much it has spent on the commercials.

In addition to the advertising, SUNY sent out direct mail pieces to the homes of high school seniors across the state that also promoted what Cuomo has branded the “Excelsior” program.

More than 75,000 students have applied for the Excelsior scholarships to cover tuition at the State University of New York and City University campuses.

The program, initially, is aimed at in-state students from families with an annual income of $100,000 or less. Over three years, that threshold goes to $125,000.

Recipients of the scholarships are required to attend full time and, once they graduate, remain in the state for the same number of years they got the award.

Those who move out of the state before that requirement is met must pay the scholarship back as a no-interest loan.

Joe Mahoney covers the New York Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jmahoney@cnhi.com