Reports out of New York\u2019s Capitol paint a worsening picture of the state\u2019s finances.\u00a0 It\u2019s been reported that the state is facing an upcoming budget deficit in excess of $6 billion. \u00a0Half of the deficit is attributed to costs relating to the state Medicaid program \u2013 the health insurance coverage for the poor and disabled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Assembly Speaker has raised\nthe idea of closing the deficit by raising revenues instead of cutting public\nprograms. Although more muted, the\nresponse from the governor\u2019s office has been cool to the idea of raising taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If history is any guide,\nlawmakers will be reluctant to enact cuts to popular programs in an election\nyear. The biggest parts of the state\nbudget \u2013 K-12 education and health care \u2013 are fiercely protected by interest\ngroups looking to maintain funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The governor\u2019s office has\ninstructed agencies to prepare their budgets with no expectation of increased\nstate support beyond \u2013 perhaps \u2013 offsetting inflation. Altogether it looks like the debate over how to\nclose the budget deficit will dominate the 2020 legislative session that begins\nin early January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And looking back over the\nrecord of past budget fights, the programs most likely to face the biggest funding\ncuts are those that do not have politically powerful institutional\nsupports. These are the programs that\nare designed to benefit smaller groups of individuals, usually without the\ncapacity to make campaign contributions or hire hotwired lobbyists to represent\nthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One such program is the\nstate\u2019s efforts to aid needy college students. \nThe state offers an impressive Tuition Assistance Program, which offsets\na billion dollars in tuition costs for students in both the public and\nindependent college sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But for students and their families, college costs go beyond\ntuition alone: there are textbook costs, housing, transportation, food,\netc. In an effort to offset these costs\nand to provide other assistance to students in need, the state offers \u201copportunity\nprograms.\u201d Opportunity programs are\ndesigned for educationally and economically disadvantaged students\u2014in general,\nstudents who have come from low-income communities and often rank low on\ntraditional measures of collegiate admissions standards, such SAT scores, high\nschool GPA, and class standing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nNew York State has several opportunity programs in place to help students at\nboth public and independent colleges and universities overcome the financial\nand academic obstacles of completing their education: Search for Education,\nElevation and Knowledge (SEEK), Educational\nOpportunity Program (EOP), Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP),\nCollege Discovery (CD), and Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP). These programs take a comprehensive approach\nto college access and affordability by building in academic counseling,\nmentoring, and often providing waivers for related costs such as transit,\ntextbooks, and childcare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These programs have had a long track record of success. For example, the State University of New York\u2019s\nEOP provides access, academic support, and supplemental financial assistance to\nstudents from disadvantaged backgrounds, many of them the first in their\nfamilies to attend college. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to SUNY, graduation and retention rates of Educational\nOpportunity Program (EOP) students compare favorably to that of the general\nstudent population at comparable schools. First year retention, where a student\nre-enrolls for a second year, for SUNY four-year senior college EOP students is\n91% percent, whereas first year retention rates for the general student body at\nSUNY senior colleges is approximately 84%. \nThe six-year graduation rate for EOP students is 73%, whereas the SUNY-wide\nsenior college rate is 68%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Helping college students succeed is in the state\u2019s interest. Investment in education pays off: For every $1 spent on education, the economy\nreaps $8 in benefits. And\ncollege-educated workers earn more than their high-school educated peers by an\naverage of $17,500 per year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, what\u2019s the\nproblem? Despite their track record of\nsuccess, these programs benefit a relatively small number of students and those\nindividuals and their families lack political clout. Usually, the governor cuts funding for these\nprograms and the Legislature then restores them to the previous year\u2019s\nlevels. But status-quo restorations\noften mean that additional needy students cannot obtain benefits and the impact\nof inflation erodes the funding levels even for those who do obtain help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With New York facing a\nbudget deficit, state officials will be looking for cuts in programs that do\nnot result in a widespread public uproar. \nLet\u2019s hope that this year the governor examines the success of these\nprograms and decides that despite the pressures, he\u2019ll keep the state investing\nin its future and help those college students who need the most help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reports out of New York\u2019s Capitol paint a worsening picture of the state\u2019s finances.\u00a0 It\u2019s been reported that the state is facing an upcoming budget deficit in excess of $6 billion. \u00a0Half of the deficit is attributed to costs relating to the state Medicaid program \u2013 the health insurance coverage for the poor and disabled. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2340,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339\/revisions\/2340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}