The state budget signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul last week includes billions of dollars in funding for public colleges and universities. The fiscal year 2026 budget comes amid federal cutbacks and uncertainty over Washington’s continued support for higher education.
WAMC's Lucas Willard spoke with SUNY Chancellor John King Jr., a former Secretary of Education under President Obama, about the state budget, which includes a program to provide free community college for adult learners as part of a workforce development strategy for high-demand fields…
“We're very excited about the governor's initiative to provide free community college for adults 25 to 55 in high demand workforce areas. This will cover not only tuition, but also fees, books and supplies for folks who are pursuing areas like advanced manufacturing in the semiconductor industry, healthcare, including nursing, green jobs, which would be renewable energy, climate resilience and cyber security and IT. The governor also included pathways to shortage areas in teaching. So, these are folks who would start out in community college and then transfer to bachelor's degree programs in areas like teaching of students with disabilities, or teaching high school math and science. All of these areas are places where there are good jobs available but folks don't have the right skills for them. We're going to tackle that in our community colleges, and we appreciate the governor's investment,” said King.
The budget includes $300 million in new support for state campuses. Chancellor King was asked about where SUNY will use its portion of the funding.
“One of the crucial areas of funding is $114 million which is going to help us cover the costs of collectively bargained raises for our faculty and staff. And this is obviously crucially important. People deserve to be paid fairly. We feel good about the contract. Historically, prior to Governor Hochul, the state had not supported the costs of negotiated raises. They negotiated the raises, but they didn't provide the funding to see need to support them. Under Governor Hochul’s leadership, in partnership with the legislature, we've seen funding over these last three budgets that's allowed us to cover those costs. It's really important to ensuring that we're able to deliver a great experience for our students,” said King.
The state budget also includes $435 million in funding for capital investments at research campuses.
“We’re going to put these dollars to a very good use to keep driving research forward, which ultimately creates great return on investment for New York State. When research is happening. It often produces new companies, new ideas that drive economic development,” said King.
The state’s investment in research comes as the Trump administration pulls billions of dollars in research funding through agencies like the National Institutes of Health, and escalates a war with Ivy League institutions over accusations of antisemitism on campuses. Chancellor King is concerned about the administration’s actions.
“Look, I'm very worried about what seems to be an assault on the 75-year partnership between the federal government and higher education around research. You know, the higher education field has delivered the research that has made possible the innovations that are in your cell phone, it's made possible the innovative treatments that your family members may be receiving in the hospital. And folks are working hard to find better treatments for Alzheimer's, a cure for cancer, strategies to ensure renewable energy expands quickly, and that we take on climate change. This is work that is vital to the future of the country, and so to see that work undermined, whether it's through the awful cuts that are proposed in the president's budget, or the agency actions to cancel grants in violation of the law in recent months, or these disputes with particularly the Ivy League institutions that are threatening vital research. Now look, the federal government has a role to play in civil rights enforcement, and if there are places where individual institutions haven't done the right thing to protect students from discrimination and harassment, it's perfectly appropriate for the government to act, but they're supposed to do that through a legal process. There's supposed to be a complaint describing the accusations, a thorough investigation, an opportunity for the institution to respond, and then proportional action based on the nature of the violation. We don't see any of that in the way the administration has handled these cases with Ivy League institutions,” said King.
The federal government under President Trump has detained without due process international students, including high-profile cases of students who had been active in campus protests or voiced opposition to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
In April, thousands of international students across the country had their student visas revoked by the Trump administration without warning, only for the visas to be reinstated days later.
King says the administration’s actions will have a chilling effect on international student enrollment.
“You know, it's an awful situation. We had nearly 2,000 students across the country have sudden, arbitrary, unexplained, in many cases, revocations of their visas. We had about 45, 50 SUNY students who were affected by this. We tried to offer support to those students in navigating their immediate situation. And working with the New York State Secretary of State's office, helped them to seek more appropriate legal support to help them with their situation. It's very scary for those students, very scary for international students, generally. And this is the real departure from an American tradition of being the higher education, envy of the world,” said King.
While the $254 billion state budget has been signed by the governor, an unpredictable climate in Washington could cause New York legislative leaders to call lawmakers back to Albany if necessary. King says the state’s new investments in SUNY help, but warns there could be significant impacts to higher education if trends continue.
“The bad, but realistic news is, if the federal government walks away from its commitment to the Pell Grant program or the federal student loan system, that will be a disaster, not only for SUNY and higher education, but for our economy as a country and our national security, so there's no way states can backfill the scale of those dollars. You know, last year, about half of our entering freshmen were Pell Grant students. Those grants are vital to making higher ed accessible to low- and middle-income folks. If the federal government walks away from its commitment to the National Institutes of Health, the funding through NSF for research in areas like the semiconductor industry or renewable energy, that's going to be terrible for our national economy and our economic competitiveness, and states won't be able to backfill those dollars. So, we really need Congress to step up in this moment and to say we understand higher education is foundational to the country's health, and we're going to insist that these dollars are protected for student financial aid and for vital research activities,” said King.
