Editor’s note: The following is an edited version of testimony delivered on behalf of the PSC to the State Senate’s Finance Committee and the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee, as the legislature and governor negotiate a state budget settlement, which could include major contributions to CUNY.
We are grateful that the legislature has supported CUNY, especially during Governor Hochul’s administration. The legislature has built upon the governor’s investments to accelerate funding for the University after decades of disinvestment. With its help, CUNY now has $53 million in recurring funding for new faculty hires. Thanks to its tough negotiations, CUNY has an additional $40 million in new operating aid this year. That was a much-needed increase above the previous year’s budget. We know it was challenging to increase CUNY funding when the needs were great for the P-12 funding formula, for housing and for health care – but lawmakers heard the needs of PSC members and CUNY students.
Additionally, the recent expansion of TAP, including to part-time students and to the minimum award, has helped open new doors to students.
State lawmakers gathered with PSC members in Albany in support of full funding for CUNY.
These advances lead us closer to realizing our goal of a New Deal for CUNY. This campaign has galvanized our 30,000-member union and many CUNY students. We thank Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assembly Member Karines Reyes for their leadership on this legislation; it deserves to be fully funded and passed.
FED PROBLEM
We can’t discuss the CUNY budget without talking about the effort in DC to dismantle federal agencies and services, including the programs on which our members and students rely. The Trump administration is using higher education as a wedge to divide Americans on everything from free speech to diversity in teaching and the student body to what our members can research. Medical research is in jeopardy, and universities are targeted for cuts. Our students have a target on their backs. Our mayor’s open door to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, allowing access to campuses and other sensitive locations, has amplified the anxiety. You must draw a line. ICE cannot have free rein in our city and in our classrooms. CUNY students must be safe in their academic and career pursuits.
First, we are happy to report that last month our members voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement. We are grateful that the governor has included expenses associated with the contract in her budget. The CUNY administration is asking for an additional $34 million in operating aid to cover its full cost. Our contract encompasses dozens of job titles, full- and part-time. It’s a complicated agreement that was completed just as the executive budget was finalized. Providing the remaining $34 million will fulfill the state’s recent practice of fully funding labor contracts.
The governor’s proposed New York Opportunity Promise Scholarship will provide free tuition to New Yorkers ages 25 to 55 in associate’s degree programs in high-demand fields. That investment will help meet the increasing demand for health-care professionals, teachers and qualified graduates in technology and renewable energy industries. The PSC is excited to support this program, and we hope that it’s a foundation on which we can build a New Deal for Higher Education in New York State.
To that end, we urge you to support the Opportunity Promise Scholarship and join us in advocating to:
- Eliminate the age restrictions that exclude students coming directly from high school.
- Permit students to complete 60 credits for free at any CUNY or SUNY college, not just community colleges.
- Include those who have already completed a degree.
WELCOME NEWS
Other areas of the governor’s budget we welcome include $131 million in new operating aid for CUNY. We appreciate that the governor maintains the funding floor for community colleges, but believe that the floor was set too low. Enrollment in the academic year 2019-2020 should be the set point for the community college funding floor. Restorations are also needed for programs like SEEK, the Black Male Initiative and the Rangel Infrastructure Workforce Training Initiative.
Additionally, we urge lawmakers to support supplemental allocations of the Environmental Bond Act, and to expand the vision and plans of the New York Power Authority to quickly advance decarbonization at CUNY, SUNY and the public schools. This will protect our communities and serve as a model for what progressive states can do to safeguard our climate and health.
DANGEROUS ATTACK
The attacks from Washington are alarming and dangerous. We cannot jeopardize the gains this legislature has worked so hard to achieve. Enrollment continues to rise. Now is not the time to remain still. It is time to make a commitment to a New Deal for CUNY.
As enrollment trends up, Albany must increase investment in the faculty and staff CUNY needs to improve retention and student success. Our six-year graduation rate at senior colleges of 62% is well below the national average; our community college three-year graduation rate of 23% also trails the national average.
Too many of our campuses are vastly understaffed, dependent on a patchwork of adjunct faculty and overworked professional staff. Students need more academic advisers and mental health counselors to help keep them on track to graduation. Students who return to CUNY with an Opportunity Promise scholarship will be in particular need of advisement and support. And we cannot improve students’ progress to completion without the full-time faculty staffing the courses students need to graduate. CUNY is short 5,000 full-time faculty. The legislature should demand investments in faculty and staff this year and embrace the New Deal for CUNY five-year plan to end CUNY’s staffing crisis. Assistance with the cost of books and transportation will also improve graduation rates.
There are many aspects of CUNY’s $3.4 billion budget request that the union is pleased to support. Highlights include:
- $7.3 million to expand its nursing and health-care programs.
- $4.7 million to hire academic and career advisers.
- $10.3 million for the University’s Student Well-Being Initiative.
- $4.1 million to increase staff in Access, Success and Inclusion services.
- $3.1 million to help facilitate transfers.
Income inequality is an acute issue that can’t be remedied without equitable, redistributive policies. We know that investing in CUNY graduates makes our economy strong. Research is clear that CUNY’s return on its investments is significant, bringing billions of dollars to the state. Investing in students, and propelling them into the middle class, is what makes our state strong. We urge you to support the proposals of the Share Our Wealth revenue campaign:
- Increase the top tax rates for those earning over $5 million and $25 million by 0.5%. This raises approximately $1 billion annually.
- Increase the corporate tax rate by 1.75%. The current rate is 7.25%. The new rate would be 9%. This raises approximately $2 billion a year.
- Make these changes permanent. These taxes at their current rates are about to expire due to sunset provisions. If they end, the state will lose an additional $6 billion annually. The governor proposes to extend the temporary personal income tax (PIT) high-income surcharge in its current form through 2032.
The Senate and Assembly included these proposals in their one-house budgets last year. They would generate up to $3 billion annually – funding essential services like childcare, education, health care, transportation and housing, services our students and members rely on.
Related to fiscal equity, we are proud to support Senator John Liu and Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani for sponsoring the REPAIR Act. This visionary legislation would allow NYC to collect revenue from private universities that enjoy more than $100 million in annual property tax exemptions, and direct these resources to CUNY, which educates hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.
UNPRECEDENTED
It is not an exaggeration to say the challenges the University faces from Washington are unprecedented. But you can take action to ensure our state’s great public universities not only survive but thrive. CUNY’s enrollment continues to climb. This legislature and Governor Hochul have worked to turn back years of austerity budgets; this year’s executive budget addresses critical needs in the workforce and sets the stage for 60 tuition-free credits of college.
Students, faculty and staff at CUNY need you to stand with us. Stand with us to defend public higher education from threats from Washington and ensure that CUNY grows, continuing to support the state economy and the contributions that it brings to New York.
Published: March 28, 2025
