STUDENT GROUPS CRITICIZE MAYOR’S HIGHER EDUCATION BUDGET, SEND LETTERS TO COUNCIL LEADERS URGING FOR INCREASED FUNDING

In response to the Mayor’s Executive Budget, the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) and the University Student Senate (USS) sent letters to Speaker Peter Vallone, City Council Finance Committee Chair Herbert Berman, and City Council Higher Education Committee Chair Helen Marshall, advocating for their support to increase funding for the City University of New York (CUNY). The letter encouraged an increase in funding to community colleges, full-time faculty lines, College Now, and the New York City Council Achievement Award.

The Mayor’s Executive Budget proposal includes $1.6 million in cuts to community college funding, including no additional funds to cover his recommended $5.5 million to replace part-time with full-time faculty and $5 million for the College Now program. In addition, Mayor Guiliani’s preliminary budget eliminates $6.5 million from the NYC Council Achievement Award, formerly the Merit Scholarship program. These reductions hurt community college students’ access to the high quality and affordable community college education they deserve.

"We’ve called on the Council leaders to urge Mayor Giuliani to do right by CUNY students," said Camille Rivera, NYPIRG Board of Directors Vice-Chair and CUNY Queensborough Community College student. "We have been neglected and overlooked for too many years, and this period must come to an end," she added.

Desiree Morgan, USS Legislative Vice-Chair and CUNY Queens College student, echoed Ms. Rivera’s words. "It disturbs me that the Mayor is shortchanging CUNY again. His bullying tactics are becoming tired; instead of attacking CUNY, he should be working to guarantee a final budget that includes restorations of and increases to essential programs and infrastructure," she said.

New York State’s two-year colleges are already the fifth most expensive in the nation, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. Lack of city funding for CUNY, in the form of operating costs and financial aid programs, is a major cause for this high cost to students and their families.

Higher education significantly contributes to personal socio-economic welfare as well as has a substantial impact on the city economy. The College Board reports that college degree holders earn, on average, over 80% more in annual salaries than their counterparts with high school diplomas. In 1999, CUNY reported that, each year, New York derived $708 million more in taxes from CUNY's 1970-1997 graduates than if these taxpayers had not earned a college degree. These same individuals spend $4.6 billion more in New York each year than they would have spent had they not earned a college degree.

"Increased funding to higher education is a win-win situation for the city and its residents," said Miriam Kramer, NYPIRG Higher Education Project Coordinator. "It only makes sense to put more money—tax dollars earned by college graduates—back into this important investment," she added.

For more information contact Miriam Kramer