By Dave Lucas
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Albany, NY – Last November the SUNY Board of Trustees met and approved a $620 annual tuition increase for all SUNY schools as a component of a greater 2009-10 budget tailored to focus on acquiring more state support, expanding entrepreneurial activity, and increasing operational efficiency. The increase has generated controversy, as we hear in this report from Capital District Bureau Chief Dave Lucas.
A tuition hike will now take place annually in what officials are calling a "rational tuition policy." Hikes are based on the Higher Education Pricing Index that tracks the main "cost drivers" in higher education. These factors include salaries, fringe benefits, utilities, supplies, materials and services. The decision prompted a "first" - for the first time in it's history, the SUNY Student Assembly supported a tuition increase. That support was later withdrawn. 80% of the money is being diverted to the state's General Fund.
Assemblyman Tony Jordan represents the 121st district which includes parts of Saratoga and Rennselaer counties and all of Washington County. He vows to continue to fight and try to point the absurdity of the action and the problems it will cause. David Belski, Director of Government Relations for the SUNY student assembly, says students are consistently lobbying the legislature against any percentage of tuition being diverted elsewhere.
While the current tuition hike is controversial, it's not the largest. In 2003, there was a $950, or 29 percent, increase in annual tuition. The hike is the second SUNY has implemented in 13 years. SUNY tuition and room board runs to about $17,000 for in-state students. Joshua Sussman, President of the University at Albany Student Association, has invited Governor David Paterson to visit the campus and discuss his plans with students.
University officials responded to a request for comment by email, quoting Board Chairman Carl T. Hayden. "SUNY's rational tuition plan will help students and their families better plan for future college costs, and provide them and the campuses the ability to invest in academic quality initiatives, such as attracting more full-time faculty. All of this assumes, of course, that there are no additional reductions to SUNY operating support."