New legislation to affect tuition policy, pricing
Ashley Reviere
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: News
Just one week before the start of the State University of New York's spring semester, Governor Paterson announced the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act to be included in his Executive Budget for the 2010-11 year. The act will provide flexibility to the SUNY and City University of New York (CUNY) system.
The act will inadvertently affect the rate in which tuition costs fluctuate. Since more power will be given to the universities, tuition is expected to change at a more moderate rate.
Currently , tuition rates are decided by the state, not giving universities much say in how quickly costs are raised. Students may experience a sudden significant increase in tuition price, especially at a time when the state is looking to boost the dwindling economy.
"At least once my parents have mentioned a large tuition increase in my three years at Brockport," Alyssa Farruggio said. Farrugio works at the circulation desk at Brockport's Drake Memorial Library. She said that she pays for everything that her loans don't cover and her parents help with tuition.
"My loans have definitely gone up," she said.
Although the act will not solve New York's current economic crisis, it does plan to help create approximately 52,000 jobs within SUNY campuses in upcoming years.
"We must…prepar[e] our students for the New Economy jobs that will propel New York forward," Paterson said in a press release.
Specifically, the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act's tuition policy includes "moving tuition outside the state budget process" thus allowing SUNY and CUNY to receive and disburse revenues without an appropriation.
"This (the act) will positively impact every community in the state," SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher said in a statement.
The act authorizes the board of trustees to implement a "responsible tuition policy, providing the universities with the discretion to raise tuition to an annual cap." This would make it "easier for students and families to anticipate and plan" for the true total cost of attendance.
President Halstead responded to the "long awaited flexibility to our SUNY campuses" by urging area legislators to support the act. He said the act, "benefits the hundreds of thousands of students who attend our state university."
The act balances power over tuition, ultimately protecting the ones paying it.
"The college is more sensitive (than the state) to students' needs," Farruggia said. "It makes more sense."
A full outline of the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act can be found online at www.ny.gov.
The act will inadvertently affect the rate in which tuition costs fluctuate. Since more power will be given to the universities, tuition is expected to change at a more moderate rate.
Currently , tuition rates are decided by the state, not giving universities much say in how quickly costs are raised. Students may experience a sudden significant increase in tuition price, especially at a time when the state is looking to boost the dwindling economy.
"At least once my parents have mentioned a large tuition increase in my three years at Brockport," Alyssa Farruggio said. Farrugio works at the circulation desk at Brockport's Drake Memorial Library. She said that she pays for everything that her loans don't cover and her parents help with tuition.
"My loans have definitely gone up," she said.
Although the act will not solve New York's current economic crisis, it does plan to help create approximately 52,000 jobs within SUNY campuses in upcoming years.
"We must…prepar[e] our students for the New Economy jobs that will propel New York forward," Paterson said in a press release.
Specifically, the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act's tuition policy includes "moving tuition outside the state budget process" thus allowing SUNY and CUNY to receive and disburse revenues without an appropriation.
"This (the act) will positively impact every community in the state," SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher said in a statement.
The act authorizes the board of trustees to implement a "responsible tuition policy, providing the universities with the discretion to raise tuition to an annual cap." This would make it "easier for students and families to anticipate and plan" for the true total cost of attendance.
President Halstead responded to the "long awaited flexibility to our SUNY campuses" by urging area legislators to support the act. He said the act, "benefits the hundreds of thousands of students who attend our state university."
The act balances power over tuition, ultimately protecting the ones paying it.
"The college is more sensitive (than the state) to students' needs," Farruggia said. "It makes more sense."
A full outline of the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act can be found online at www.ny.gov.
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