2008 Woodie Awards
SUNY budget calls for rational tuition increase
Ryan Hayner
Issue date: 12/1/06 Section: News
Originally published: 11/30/06 at 9:17 PM EST
Last update: 11/30/06 at 9:46 PM EST
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The State University of New York Board of Trustees approved on Tuesday the University's 2007-2008 budget request that calls for $2.22 billion in tax-payer support for operational costs along with a rational tuition plan that has already failed the past two years to make it past the state legislature.
The budget price tag exceeds last year's total by $239.8 million, a 2.4 percent increase of SUNY's all fund budget, and will cover the state-operated campuses, the contract colleges at Cornell University and the statutory College of Ceramics at Cornell, community colleges and the University's three teaching hospitals.
Of the total budget, $116.8 million will go toward base-level and mandatory costs and $123 million for strategic new initiatives.
The rational tuition plan was proposed to help provide SUNY with a predictable source of tuition revenue and allows resident students in undergraduate and first professional programs to plan for financing college while being protected from unexpected tuition raises, according to SUNY spokesman David Henahan.
"What we're trying to do is provide parents and students with predictability," Henahan said. "The incremental revenue generated by the program would be used to enhance the quality of education that we provide to the students."
SUNY tuition is currently set at $4,350 a year, and if the rational tuition plan passes along with the budget, it would be implemented in fall 2008.
Henahan said that it is too early to tell if the rational tuition plan would affect current students or just first year students for the fall 2008 semester, and that will be decided "if as and when the legislature adopts the plan."
SUNY administrators are also seeking money within the budget to meet the demand associated with the continuous growth of enrollment numbers at schools.
The State-operated campuses' Mission Review II strategic plan expects to see student population growth over 5,600 between 2006-07 and 2007-08.
The budget price tag exceeds last year's total by $239.8 million, a 2.4 percent increase of SUNY's all fund budget, and will cover the state-operated campuses, the contract colleges at Cornell University and the statutory College of Ceramics at Cornell, community colleges and the University's three teaching hospitals.
Of the total budget, $116.8 million will go toward base-level and mandatory costs and $123 million for strategic new initiatives.
The rational tuition plan was proposed to help provide SUNY with a predictable source of tuition revenue and allows resident students in undergraduate and first professional programs to plan for financing college while being protected from unexpected tuition raises, according to SUNY spokesman David Henahan.
"What we're trying to do is provide parents and students with predictability," Henahan said. "The incremental revenue generated by the program would be used to enhance the quality of education that we provide to the students."
SUNY tuition is currently set at $4,350 a year, and if the rational tuition plan passes along with the budget, it would be implemented in fall 2008.
Henahan said that it is too early to tell if the rational tuition plan would affect current students or just first year students for the fall 2008 semester, and that will be decided "if as and when the legislature adopts the plan."
SUNY administrators are also seeking money within the budget to meet the demand associated with the continuous growth of enrollment numbers at schools.
The State-operated campuses' Mission Review II strategic plan expects to see student population growth over 5,600 between 2006-07 and 2007-08.
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