NY Colleges Face Massive Funding Cuts

Buffalo Business First

December 11, 2009

In the past 18 months, Fredonia State College has lost $7.1 million in state funding.

So it has stopped buying equipment, reduced faculty travel and cut back on the number of matching grants it pursues because it doesn’t have the money to match the awards it could win.

But it won’t end there. New York state’s $2.7 billion Deficit Reduction Plan means the Chautauqua County public college will lose another $1.4 million in state funds as it moves into the 2010-11 academic year. That leaves one major area for reduction.

Full Story

Tuition Hike Must Go to the Campuses

Letter to the Editor, from the SUNY Student Assembly

Times Union

December 9, 2009

Full Story

SUNY New Paltz Spiffs Up Its Solar Car

Times Herald Record

December 8, 2009

At SUNY New Paltz's nascent Solar Car Club, small is beautiful.

The club played David to some big-time Goliaths last spring at the Formula Sun Grand Prix closed-track competition in Texas. Competitors came from across the country.

Some of the Goliaths spent upwards of a million dollars on their vehicles; SUNY New Paltz spent $30,000.

The SunyHawk looked good — something like the wheeled offspring of a Stealth bomber — but its beauty was only skin deep. The club's current faculty adviser, electrical engineering professor Mike Otis, called its electrical wiring "100 percent embarrassing."

But when the sun set on the multiday competition, SUNY New Paltz had finished sixth in a field of 11 finalists.

Full Story

SUNY Continues to Work Through Cuts

Dunkirk Evening Observer

December 3, 2009

Neverending Story: SUNY Continues to Work Through Cuts

While word spread over the New York State Assembly-approved state deficit reduction plan Wednesday, the SUNY Fredonia College Council was discussing mid-year cuts to the SUNY system that were approved more than four weeks ago.

During the council meeting Vice President of Administration Tracy Bennett addressed the mid-year reduction of an additional $90 million to the SUNY system bringing the two-year total to more than $425 million. The mid-year cuts were estimated to be approximately $2 million for the SUNY Fredonia campus, bringing the 2009-2010 deficit to $4.9 million.

Full Story

SUNY Must Be the Priority

Press Republican Editorial

December 3, 2009

If the state is serious about wanting to find fertile areas for spending cuts, it ought to consider Bundy Aid — a program that gives state money to private colleges.

Bundy Aid is named for McGeorge Bundy, the national security adviser under presidents Kennedy and Johnson who was perhaps best known for advocating for the Vietnam War. Then-Gov. Rockefeller in 1967 appointed Bundy to chair a committee to look into what the state should do to support private higher education in New York. The unanimous conclusion of the committee was that the state ought to be helping fund private colleges and universities with direct financial assistance.

Full Story

SUNY Seeks $2.2B as Enrollment Soars

Legislative Gazette

November 24, 2009

The State University of New York Board of Trustees approved a $2.17 billion budget request Nov. 17 for the 2010-2011 fiscal year that includes a proposed 2 percent hike in annual in-state tuition from $4,970 to $5,070.

Shortly before it announced the proposed tuition increase, SUNY touted it had recorded a record-high, single-year enrollment increase of nearly 6 percent or 25,458 new students, bringing the total fall 2009 semester enrollment to 464,981.

"What we have seen in the last 12 years is a continuing increase in enrollment of students," said SUNY spokesman David Henahan. "What's interesting this year is the particularly strong growth of community colleges at nearly 10 percent."

Full Story

Community Colleges Grow

Buffalo News (Opinion)

November 24, 2009

It would be nice to note that Erie County's community college is in a great position to capitalize on huge new increases in community college enrollments, and in the recruitment of two-year college students into the four-year colleges that tried for years to ignore the competition.

It isn't. At least, it isn't as well-positioned as it should be.

Full Story

SUNY Geneseo Students Protest Against Cuts in State Funding

Democrat & Chronicle

November 19, 2009

About 100 State University College at Geneseo students on Wednesday protested cuts in state funding to higher education.

Since the start of the 2008-09 school year, funding to the State University of New York has been slashed by more than $400 million, said Geneseo President Christopher Dahl.

Full Story

SUNY Has Biggest Enrollment Boost

Times Union

November 17, 2009

This fall, 464,981 students were enrolled in the 64-campus system, an increase of 6 percent, or 25,458 students, over last year.

"These historic enrollment numbers clearly demonstrate that more people view SUNY as the best option for a world-class education at an affordable price," Chancellor Nancy Zimpher said in a prepared statement.

The biggest increase was at community colleges, at which the number of students jumped 9.8 percent over the prior year. The baccalaureate- and doctoral-granting campuses enrolled 1.7 percent more students.

Full Story

SUNY Weighs the Value of Division I Sports

New York Times

November 17, 2009

New York’s state university system is among the largest in the country, but it has never been known for athletic prominence, unlike major public institutions in states like Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Full Story