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HEARING ON
TUITION INCREASES
CITY COUNCIL / COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
JANUARY 31, 2003
TESTIMONY: ANNE FRIEDMAN,
VP FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES, PSC:
Charles Barron, Chair and
Esteemed members of the Higher Education
Committee:
Thank you for the opportunity to address you today in support of the
City Council resolution calling for the Mayor and the Governor to
ensure adequate funding for CUNY, hold the line on tuition increases
and maintain current TAP levels.
I speak to you in my official capacity as PSC Vice President for
Community Colleges. But it is my 20+ years as a reading and
writing teacher, working with our most at-risk community college
students, that inform my remarks.
Over 60% of community college students work and 60% earn less than
$25,000 a year. More than one-third support at least one child and
more than one-third are over the age of 25. Two-thirds of our
students are women.
Less than 40% receive TAP and not all of these are full grants.
With six semesters of TAP, those students in need of compensatory,
non-credit work use up their TAP funding long before they are able
to complete degrees. We know that our students, given adequate
support, do graduate. It may take them 6, 8, 10 years to do so
but they do. We know that after five years our community
college graduation rates surpass the national average.
And after six, seven and eight years graduation statistics continue
to rise.
My students, our students, are on the front line as city and state
fiscal and political policies place increasingly onerous obstacles
in their way. We have lost 20,000 students because of punitive
workfare rules. It is no accident that harsh fiscal and political
policies began 30 years ago, coinciding with the inauguration of
open admissions at CUNY. We know that a significant drop in
enrollment accompanied the original imposition of tuition in 1976
and followed every tuition increase thereafter.
I have recited a litany of statistics, but I know, we all know, as
we gather together in this historic chamber, that statistics have
faces and voices and stories. After only a week working with
my new students I am humbled by the aspirations and determination
reflected in a rich and vibrant spectrum of complexions and panoply
of voices. Community college students are deserving and
tenacious. They ARE our city and they are our future.
I thank you for your continued support of CUNY. We face a long
and arduous struggle; it is heartening to know that this City
Council honors its commitment to serving its populace. You are
an inspiration in these times when so many elected officials have
broken their covenant with the poor and working people of our city,
state and nation. The PSC and UFS proudly join with you in
fighting the good fight and doing the right thing. |
