Governor Hochul has announced a combined $1.5 billion increase in operating support for CUNY and SUNY over the next five years, including an additional $170 million for CUNY senior colleges next year (briefing book pg 105). It’s heartening to see that Governor Hochul is acting decisively to begin reversing the years of austerity funding for CUNY, New York’s most powerful force for economic mobility for low-income New Yorkers, immigrants, and students of color.
We thank the Governor for her proposed senior college funding increase, made without increasing tuition, and her plan to hold community college funding harmless against temporary COVID-related enrollment losses. We are also encouraged by the Governor’s plans to expand campus childcare and reform the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). After many years of disinvestment, CUNY needs this increased state funding and we look forward to reviewing the budget in detail. CUNY identified $313 million in needed investments in its University Budget Request, and our students need additional full-time mental health counselors and academic advisors. PSC members are ready to work with the Governor and the Legislature to further increase the State’s investment in CUNY and to enact New Deal for CUNY legislation so that the public college students of New York City can have the free, fully funded, high quality education that they deserve.
