NY isn’t just randomly raising the threshold. It was a planned phasing, announced right away. They have not indicated they plan on reading it above $125k.
There is no excelsior for private schools. The comparable award is the enhanced tuition award. That is only for those private schools who agreed to participate. As part of the agreement, the state will give the student $3k and the private must fund the difference up to what the student would have received at a public. I don’t believe St. Bonaventure is participating in the program.
Additionally, it’s not exactly just excelsior being $5500 at publics. Unless the student also has TAP, Pell or another award that makes the difference, the student will get a tuition credit so that they get “free” tuition. I put free in quotes because there are strings and if a student doesn’t follow the rules, the award converts to a loan with interest that is calculated from when the student received the award.