Delegates from all 64 SUNY schools are set to discuss potential tuition increases this weekend at the the semi-annual State University of New York Student Assembly board meetings in East Syracuse.
The conference begins today and runs through Sunday at the Double Tree Hotel.
Tuition has been frozen at $4,350 per semester for in-state students for nearly five years. According to a press release from David Belsky, director of communications for the SUNY Student Assembly and a 2008 Binghamton University graduate, the SUNY system is facing a $210 million funding gap. A 3 percent annual increase is proposed.
Josh Berk, Binghamton University’s lead representative at the conference, said after state-wide budget cuts and the recent worldwide economic crisis, BU is going to find it harder to hire new professors, teaching assistants, make purchases and begin construction projects, making increased cash flow a priority.
“I would be reluctantly inclined to vote for a tuition increase,” Berk said, adding that the tuition increase will help to marginalize the extent of the damage, as long as the extra tuition money goes back to the school and helps keep public education prospering, as promised by Gov. David Patterson.
Belsky estimated tuition 50 years from now to be $9,257 per semester. According to Belsky, the hike is to be gradual increase instead of jumping at once to increase predictability.
“Rational tuition is gradual, moderate increases year after year, rather than keeping tuition frozen for many years, forcing a much larger tuition hike in the end,” Joseph Antonelli, treasurer of the Student Assembly, stated in the press release. “SUNY right now is on a dangerous pattern of unpredictable 30 percent hikes every few years. This plan would increase tuition every year, but at a predictable rate probably based on an index like CPI [Consumer Price Index] or HEPI [Higher Education Price Index]. By doing this, SUNY, individual campuses, students and their families can all better plan their finances going into the future.”
Belsky and Berk both said the vote set to occur over the weekend does not necessarily mean tuition increases for students.
The process takes some time and requires an affirmative vote from the SUNY Board of Trustees, then it continues to the state legislature and finally it must be ratified by Patterson to take effect.
Other topics slated for discussion during the Syracuse conference include a measure in legislature allowing mid-year TAP adjustments, asking SUNY administration to give class credit for leadership extracurricular activities and issues concerning the bylaws of the semi-annual meetings.