No student or parent wants to pay more for education, yet tuition for New York State public colleges increases by hundreds of dollars every year. The “Stand with SUNY” campaign wants to curb these hikes.

The campaign calls for an increase in funding for SUNY 2020, a program that began in 2011 and aims to distribute funding to SUNY Albany, Binghamton University, University at Buffalo and Stony Brook University. This would fund predictable tuition until 2020, which means increases would be planned and capped at a certain amount opposed to without warning, as well as enable the hiring of more staff members and create new degree programs.

The campaign is built around the idea that though only 45 percent of NYS residents have degrees, and 67 percent of jobs will require one by 2020. More funding would help increase the number of SUNY students from 93,000 to 150,000 in that time. The 2015-16 New York fiscal budget currently allots $18 million to the program, and some say this isn’t enough.

According to Casey Vattimo, records access officer of SUNY system administration, the campaign has three components. One component serves to increase base aid, which is money that “keeps the lights on” in state-operated colleges, community colleges and teaching hospitals. Other components include investment in the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), Finish in Four and academic and financial support programs that have proven successful on SUNY campuses.

“We know these programs work, and the investment fund will help us bring them to more students,” Vattimo wrote in an email. “This is all money dedicated to helping students do better and, ultimately, to finish their degree.”

The renewal of SUNY 2020 ensures that tuition will remain predictable for students. The campaign asks for a maximum threshold in which annual tuition increases will not exceed $150 for the fall and spring semesters, or a combined $300 for the academic year.

Provost Donald Nieman said the campaign is beneficial to students and families in planning future expenses.

“A rational tuition policy makes sense because we need state support to improve facilities, add faculty and staff and improve services to students,” Nieman wrote in an email. “SUNY 2020 replaced an era of sudden tuition increases with a system that is predictable and empowers students and parents to plan ahead for college expenses.”

President Harvey Stenger said that he supports the renewal of this legislation, and that it is beneficial to the University and its students.

“As a result of the original NYSUNY 2020 funding, we have hired faculty, expanded academic programs and increased our enrollment,” Stenger wrote in an email. “We would welcome renewal of NYSUNY 2020 legislation enabling Binghamton University to continue on its path to becoming the premier public university.”

The SUNY Student Assembly is an organization that allows students to provide input on the SUNY level. Its president, BU senior Thomas Mastro, says students should urge for SUNY not to reach that $300 maximum, and if it does, they should ask to see an outline for where that money is going.

“More communication, that’s we want,” said Mastro, who is majoring in human development. “Communication of where it’s going and what it’s going for.”

Without this predictable tuition plan in place, tuition raises were able to fluctuate between $200 and $900. Mastro said he supports the plan but does not support raising tuition by $300. The increases will be decided once the New York state legislature votes on it during budget season in April, which will determine if more funding will be available.

“Tuition is a big deal to us right now and ensuring that students are satisfied with it and students support this type of plan, which we do,” Mastro said. “But another key aspect is the support of maintenance of efforts: what the state is giving back to students and campuses.”