PSC members and supporters advocating for CUNY at the City Council. (Credit: Paul Frangipane)
PSC members and other advocates have fought against Mayor Eric Adams’s austerity agenda, including devastating funding cuts to CUNY, especially community colleges. Due to union pressure and organizing, Adams reached a city budget agreement with the City Council that delivers necessary funding to CUNY.
These budget wins are on top of the Adams administration’s restoration of budget cuts earlier this year, which were, once again, a product of constant agitation and organizing by a coalition of social justice advocates, including the PSC.
Hopeful
“We are hopeful that with a strong state budget and our new collective bargaining agreement, PSC members will have the opportunity to continue building the University system that students and New York City deserve,” PSC President James Davis said in a statement.
He said the budget includes:
- $109.5 million: $94.5M baselined, $15M in general operating funds from the City Council
- $10.1 million for CUNY ACE
- $7.8 million for CUNY Reconnect
- $5.5 million for CUNY ASAP for All
- $5.5 million for Research Institutes and the Research Foundation
- We are grateful to see $3.1 million for CUNY Citizenship Now!
- $2 million for Social Work Fellows
- $1.2 million for the School of Labor and Urban Studies
- $1 million for CUNY STEM
- $150,000 for the New York Immigration Coalition’s work to protect immigrant New Yorkers during this time of unprecedented attacks on their rights.
“We thank the New York City Council, especially its leader, Speaker Adrienne Adams (whose CUNY Reconnect Program helped to boost CUNY), and Committee on Finance Chair Justin Brannan for their steadfast support of CUNY,” Davis said.
“CUNY has also recovered the immense funding loss over the course of past financial plans, and those investments are now baselined,” Speaker Adams said in her budget announcement. “We also restored and expanded over $135 million in CUNY funding because we all know the path to the middle class runs straight through our public colleges.”
In his budget announcement, the mayor also praised CUNY Reconnect. “We’re taking steps to get working class New Yorkers back on track by supporting CUNY Reconnect, something that the speaker has talked about often, which will enable adults to achieve their education and career goals,” he said. “Many drop out, never return. We want them to get back into school and finish their goals of being a college grad.”
Published: September 12, 2025
