<p>what's not addressed, at least in this article, is whether such increases will result in corresponding decreases in the state's funding -- ie whether Paterson plans to pocket at least part of any such increases as he did with the last SUNY tuition increase (in first year, state took 90% of the increase, i believe they keep 80% of it in year two). </p>
<p>in general, the idea of giving the SUNY's more control over their tuition sounds good and has often been suggested on this forum -- i'm just suspicious of Paterson given his past treatment of the SUNY's</p>
<p>i would just urge that as more info become available, people contact their legislators to make sure that any change in SUNY's tuition plan actually allows the SUNY's to maintain (and improve!) their quality while remaining affordable for state residents.</p>
<p>According to an article on UB’s website, the proposal "moves tuition outside the state budget process, allowing SUNY and CUNY to receive and disburse revenues from tuition and self-supporting program activities without an appropriation.</p>
<p>For those who may be wondering about tuition increases, the proposal mandates that campuses cannot increase tuition by more than 2.5 times the 5 yr rolling average of HEPI. That would be a maximum increase of around 9.6% right now. It also stipulates that TAP eligible students would not have more unmet need than they currently have.</p>
<p>the issue still remains as to whether the state will use this as an excuse to cut the amount they allocate to the SUNY’s – even though tuition setting may be outside of the budget process, the state will still be determining what to allocate to the SUNY’s from the state budget – tuition does not fund the full cost of the state university system by definition.</p>
<p>i’m just urging people to remain vigilent on that issue and not to assume that Paterson is offering to give the SUNY’s something without taking something back with the other hand down the road in the budget allocation.</p>
<p>the Governor giveth and the Governor taketh away.</p>
<p>Not surprising, the plan to give SUNY’s and CUNY’s tuition control is just going to make it easier for him to justify the slashes in their budgets. I’d like to hear from SUNY as to what type of tuition increase would be needed to make up for such cuts.</p>
<p>As much as it’d be nice for SUNY to have more autonomy, I think Pateson is in essence trying to make them the bad guys – not his fault SUNY tuition is going to skyrocket. Meanwhile his budget cuts are what will make such skyrocketing tuition increases necessary.</p>
<p>I would urge people to contact their legislators BOTH to support more autonomy for SUNY but ALSO to oppose significant budget cuts for SUNY. SUNY is still suffering from huge cuts that were already imposed in the past budget year – when tuition increases went 90% into the state’s pocket.</p>
<p>Although this sounds bad, I’m not sure the numbers really translate into skyrocketing tuition…at least not immediately. The 2009 tuition increases alone amounted to approximately $150M in additional revenue this year. Eliminating the state’s sweep of tuition, along with eliminating the current tithe on research funding and other “self supporting programs” - approximately $48M in FY09 - would seem to make up for the proposed SUNY cut. Given that SUNY is enjoying unprecedented enrollment highs and the SUNY unallocated general fund (which is used to fill budget gaps at campuses that may have a shortfall due to declining enrollment) had a balance close to $500M last year, and seems to be growing, the two proposals make fiscal sense in a time when there must be massive cuts to the state budget. </p>
<p>I’m sure this is not a popular opinion, but I would rather have SUNY cuts/tuition increases than to see deeper cuts to healthcare, police, and school districts. The latter has the shameful effect of forcing the elderly and low income population out of their homes due to skyrocketing property taxes as the counties and school districts scramble to make up the shortfall.</p>
<p>Bumping this up to update…the governor and Senate are still a go for the SUNY autonomy plan. According to this NYT article, the majority in the Assembly are vehemently opposed to the plan which is now holding up the state budget:</p>
<p>I saw no mention of the “two-tier” system in earlier reports…has anyone seen a clear explanation of this? If this would allow SB and Hunter to rise at a higher multiple of the HEPI, I assume the same would be true for Bing, Geneseo, and UB.</p>
<p>Not sure how to define what an elite institution is in the SUNY system…they site SB and Hunter, but do not explain why…If I had to guess, I’d say the research centers. But, yeah it seems that another multiplier would be used.</p>