Public Input Lacking at Public Hearing for Higher Education

By Michael Nevradakis
Editor in Chief

On the morning after a five-day holiday break, a small audience of students and faculty attended the first of four statewide hearings held by the Senate and Assembly Standing Committees on Higher Education, in the Wang Center at Stony Brook University.  On the agenda was public higher education in New York State;  specifically, a proposal for annual "rational tuition increases" for SUNY, which would tie annual tuition increases for incoming freshmen to a price index, and lock in a tuition rate for up to four years for each incoming student.

On the panel were State Senator Kenneth LaValle, Chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, Assemblyman Ronald Canestrari, Chairman of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, Assemblymen Steven Englebright, Michael Fitzpatrick, James Conte, and Assemblywoman Patricia Engleton.

“The mission of the State University system remains clear: to ensure higher education's accessibility, affordability and quality," said LaValle. "Keeping our finger on the pulse of the system is critical for...SUNY and CUNY's continued success."

SUNY Chancellor John Ryan testified that New York State is underproducing bachelor’s degrees by 11,000 annually, especially in the crucial fields of science, medicine and nursing, where there is currently a shortage of employees.

"Both SUNY and the State are facing challenges," said Ryan. "New York needs to complete the transformation into a new economy."

Ryan hailed the rational tuition plan, stating that it would give students and their families a guaranteed tuition rate for four years instead of the uncertainty and constant threat of an unpredictable increase, and also called for a restoration in state funding to the SUNY system back to one-third of its total operating budget. He cited the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) as a successful example of state aid to higher education, helping reduce tuition for 75% of SUNY students.

"A SUNY education is still a bargain," said Ryan.

Stony Brook University Vice President for Administration Richard Mann and Associate Vice President for Strategy/Planning/Analysis Daniel Mellucci, who testified on behalf of University President Shirley Strum Kenny, discussed the aging facilities of Stony Brook, the inability to hire additional full-time faculty, and cuts in state funding. They also supported the rational tuition increase, arguing it would allow for predictable future cash flow, and allow the university to make long-term commitments to faculty, offset funding cuts, and avoid raising student fees.

"We need more [money] to be able to pay our bills and make ends meet," said Mann.

Their call for differential tuition, which would allow individual campuses such as Stony Brook to increase tuition above the SUNY rate, was notable, as was Kenny’s absence.

“We are a system of campuses...with different costs, objectives and focuses," said Mann. "[We need] to consider such things as tuition variances by the cost of programs, by the location in the state. We are 26% more expensive in terms of our operating costs downstate rather than upstate."

LaValle, who questioned the two, was clearly against this proposal, calling instead for increased state aid.

"I'd testify in a different way," said LaValle.

SUNY Farmingdale President John Gibralter discussed his university’s crumbling infrastructure and the budget cut it faced two years ago.

"Farmingdale ended up taking a cut of $3.1 million," said Gibralter. "It was the largest cut of any campus in the system. We've never recovered from it...we simply cannot continue to educate this number of students with [this] amount."

According to Gibralter, many campus services have been cut as a result, and no full-time faculty have been hired. The university has also been unable to repair buildings that are as much as 90 years old and construct a student union.

Stony Brook student Elizabeth Roberts focused on the special programs offered by the university, including the Honors College, and of the importance of strong ties between SUNY and industry. While she “understood” the rationale for the tuition increase, she stated that it would be difficult for many students to afford an increase, in addition to the additional high costs of items such as textbooks.

"If tuition was higher, many of us would not be here," said Roberts.

There was little discussion about TAP, currently capped at $5,000 and likely to be surpassed should the proposed plan take effect, and no mention on how the proposal would affect part-time students who take more than four years to graduate.

I was glad to see both the Senate and Assembly Higher Education committees come out [and] get everybody's input," said John Mascher, chairman of the New York Public Interest Research Group, and Stony Brook student. "I found talk of the automatic annual tuition hikes troubling in light of decreased state support for colleges and also for insufficient aid and failed promises they've made in the past. We know that there's really no guarantee provided by these plans." (Editor's note: Mascher is a founding member of the Independent and is currently on hiatus).

Mascher was joined by of other representatives of the campus chapter of NYPIRG, as well as volunteers outside the Wang Center who urged students to attend the hearings.

Though this was a “public” hearing, the window of time that was allocated for speakers to sign up was brief and not well publicized, not allowing for more citizens to speak.  While LaValle did state that written comments could be submitted to the record, he didn’t specify how or when they could be submitted. However, for our readers' information, the Standard has learned that written comments can be sent to:

Room 806

Legislative Office Building

Albany, NY 12247

Or by e-mail to: lsnyder(at)senate.state.ny.us