Comptroller Calls for Increase in OOS Tuition at SUNY

Colleges and Universities A-Z SUNY - General
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<p>Finally...a note of reason emanating from Albany. Noting that out-of-state tuition is "dirt cheap" [my edit], NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has recommended that OOS rates be brought more in line with what other state colleges and universities are charging. Tuition at the SUNYs is currently less than $13K per year. </p>

<p>Comptroller</a> says state should charge non-New Yorkers more for SUNY tuition | News from The Post-Standard -</p>

<p>Now, if common sense would only prevail NYS will begin differentiating tuition charges among the various SUNYs. Currently Geneseo and Binghamton charge the same as SUNY Westbury and SUNY Potsdam. Most other states charge more for their best universities. But perhaps it is asking too much for NYS to deal with more than one issue at a time. First things first. No reason SUNY should be charging a Massachusetts or Pennsylvania resident far more than a NYS kid is going to pay to go to college at a MA or PA public.</p>

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<p>Excellent, and about time! Now if they would just use the tuition increase to actually fund the colleges instead of taking it into the general fund. I resent the “tax” put on SUNY families which is called a tuition increase.</p>

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<p>excellent point vehevala – sunys have only been able to keep 10-20% of the recent tuition increases – the rest of the money went straight into the state’s pockets – NOT the sunys’ – and on top of that they had to deal with state budget cuts!</p>

<p>

[State</a> report eyes SUNY’s out-of-state tuition rate](<a href=“http://www.newsday.com/long-island/state-report-eyes-suny-s-out-of-state-tuition-rate-1.1486465]State”>http://www.newsday.com/long-island/state-report-eyes-suny-s-out-of-state-tuition-rate-1.1486465)</p>

<p>any further tuition increases must be allowed to be kept by the sunys. anyone interested in the future quality of the suny system should contact their legistors about this NOW, before it is too late.</p>

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<p>Yeah, but the proposal is a smokescreen because of the very low proportion of non-state residents who matriculate at SUNY. Also, some SUNY campus actively attempt to diversify their undergraduate population by offering tuition-breaks to enrollees from the New England states, just as some colleges in western Massachusetts offer resident tuition rates and scholarship/discounts to New Yorkers.</p>

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<p>OOS tuition is dirt cheap because we need young people to come to NY and stay here. An essay from the Rockefeller Institute explains the situation: [Out-of-state</a> students at SUNY: A problem, or a solution?](<a href=“http://www.rockinst.org/observations/shafferd/2009-10-out-of-state_students_at_SUNY.aspx]Out-of-state”>http://www.rockinst.org/observations/shafferd/2009-10-out-of-state_students_at_SUNY.aspx).</p>

<p>From the essay:</p>

<p>“Particularly alarming is what’s happened to upstate’s population of young adults — the people who are starting careers, buying houses, having children and putting down roots. Between the 1990 and 2000 Censuses, the 25-34 age cohort upstate dropped by 372,000, or more than 24 percent.” </p>

<p>“In the absence of strong, dynamic job growth, upstate’s economy seems to be caught in a vicious circle — people leave if there aren’t enough job openings; and then declining population hurts economic growth even more.”</p>

<p>Further comments:</p>

<p>“Upstate’s best hope for making up its loss of young people may well be the ability of its colleges and universities — both public and independent — to attract students from out of state. These colleges and universities are also our key resource for producing the highly educated workforce that a dynamic economy will need.”</p>

<p>“To hard-pressed taxpayers, of course, $340 million sounds good. But it bears noting that higher education is one of the few areas in which New York spends less than other states. In fact, according to the Public Policy Institute of New York State (an affiliate of The Business Council of New York State Inc.), New York ranks 46th in per-capita state spending on higher education. And the calculations from the comptroller’s office appear to assume that after the tuition increase there would be no drop in the number of out-of-state students the State University attracts. Few businesses would believe that a two-thirds price increase would result in no loss of sales.”</p>

<p>“The state Commission on Higher Education concluded last year that SUNY needs a flexible tuition policy that enables it to reflect the different needs and costs of its campuses. One consideration could be: What might upstate stand to gain if New York encouraged, rather than discouraged, out-of-state students to come here for college? It seems a reasonable bet that if more came, more would stay. They won’t all take off for Boston or Atlanta. A survey of about 1,000 SUNY graduating seniors conducted by The Business Council in 2007 found that most liked the idea of spending their adult lives in upstate New York, or someplace like upstate — a medium-sized city, or its suburbs, in the Northeast. Most even said they enjoyed the four-season weather that upstate offers.”</p>

<p>“In addition to the demographic potential these young people offer, out-of-staters could be important to the future of New York’s colleges and universities, both public and private, in the years ahead.”</p>

<p>Such an increase, I believe, would be penny wise and pound foolish.</p>

<p>Further I do not agree that charging more for schools that have a general ranking better than others. Some schools are “best” in different areas like dance, nano-tech, various sports and so on.</p>

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<p>Interesting stuff. Nonetheless, dirt cheap tuition hasn’t had much effect attracting OOS students for the past 30 years so what is to say that continuing the policy is suddenly going to change things? On the other hand, reasonable increases in tuition rates for OOS (and in-state students who can afford it) that are REINVESTED in SUNY (and not in the State’s general fund) might go some of the way towards improving SUNY quality and therefore making the SUNY education a more attractive option to OOS families.</p>

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<p>NYS OBVIOUSLY has to start charging OOS students more. First, they receive preference before IS students because of their mere double tuition and are stealing valuable spots from IS students whose parents pay taxes. Second, is ~17k tuition that much for OOS? UMICH would cost me $35k at least, hence why I did not apply.</p>

<p>Why make IS suffer? OOS are admitted with less stats, accepted earlier, and are preferred more. I HOPE OOS tuition goes to a minimum of 30k to remain equal with all other state schools.</p>