Sever budget cuts proposed by Governor Pataki may trigger a 41% tuition hike for more than 45,000 students attending five City University [CUNY] colleges in Queens.
Full time CUNY students, currently paying an annual tuition of $3,200, will have to dig deeper for an additional $1,300 charged State Senator Toby Stavisky Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Higher Education Committee. Additional registration fees amy also be added.
The Governors budget proposals, say borough legislators and members of CUNYs University Student Senate, could cause thousands of students, mostly from working class, immigrant and minority families, to drop out of Queens and York Colleges, City University Law School, along with LaGuardia and Queensboro Community colleges.
Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin called the increase "a tax on the working class. He [Gov. Pataki] is just shifting the burden over to working people."
The angry charges came as the Governor slashed $82 million from the CUNY budget, and also cut one-third from the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), a fiscal support program which provides monetary assistance for need full-time college students who maintain passing grades.
Reductions of the local colleges operating budgets, may also compel them to cut back on library services, faculty appointments, as well as limit future enrollments.
McLaughlin warned that 30,000 full and part-time students dropped out of SUNY and CUNY schools in fiscal 1995-96 when New York State tuitions were increased by $750.
The Governors budget proposal prompted a concerned CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein to propose that all future tuition hikes be linked to changes in national economic indicators, such as the federal Consumers Price Index.
The New York Public Research Group [NYPIRG], which has been battling the budget cuts, also pointed out that New York State ranks 44th in the nation in terms of appropriations of state tax funds for operating expenses of higher education during the past 10 years.
Ms. Stavisky was quick to denounce the Governors "job killing" tuition hike and his deep slashing of TAP funding.
"According to the Governor, adding even a penny in the State income tax will kill jobs," declared an angry Stavisky. "What do you call a 12% cut for CUNY, if not a job-killing tax increase, when so much of our States job creation is based on a well-educated workforce?
The City University of New York has five colleges, with an enrollment of over 40,000 student, located in Queens, Queens College, [16,370 students], York College [5,880 students], LaGuardia C.C. [11,670 students],Queensboro C.C. [11,250 students], and City University of Law [465 students].
Key to Gov. Patakis initial budget presentation are the long and complex legislative battles that are fought before the final budget is approved.
Under the New York State Law, its budget is required to go into effect on April 1st, but it never does. In reality, the Governors initial budget is considered a bargaining ploy, and is usually approved during the Summer months…sometimes six months late. During this extended period, compromises are hammered out by the state legislators and the A Governors office, until a budget can be agreed upon.
Testifying at an Albany budget meeting this past Monday, Queens BP Helen Marshall told state Senate and Assembly finance committees, "CUNY has helped millions of New Yorkers achieve the dream of higher education. This budget would move it out of reach fir a whole generation of New Yorkers."
