SUNY Students Ask for Tuition Hike
It looks as if things have gotten so bad over at the State University of New York that students are actually agreeing that tuition hikes are necessary to keep the system's 64 campuses viable, the Times Union reports. The SUNY student assembly, which represents the system's 427,000 students, overwhelmingly backed a new policy that would implement moderate tuition increases each year.
"It's not often that students come together for a public university and say, 'We need higher tuition,' " said the assembly's spokesman. "I think this is a strong indicator of the state that New York is in right now ... that we're in such a dire economic situation that students themselves are standing up and saying we're willing to pay a little more for a public education to protect the quality."
The unusual student request was made as SUNY faces the largest budget reduction in its history, which some estimate could be up to $210 million, with maybe more to come.
Tuition, meanwhile, has remained at $4,350 since 2003, when it was raised 28 percent. SUNY has typically kept tuition flat for several years then instituted a huge increase to offset widening budget gaps. The students are advocating a "rational tuition policy" of "modest, predictable increases" with hikes around 2.5 to 4 percent.
"It's not that we want a tuition increase," the student assembly's spokesman added. "It's that we understand that one is necessary."
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NOW It's official
Well, now we can all say for sure that the tuition increase is going to happen. According to an article in Cardinal Points, the student newspaper at Plattsburgh State University, the Board of Trustees for SUNY voted on Tuesday to approve a tuition increase of $310 for the spring semester, $620 for the 2009-2010 academic year, and then further increases tied to the inflation rate of the Higher Education Price Index every year until 2013. (Maybe by then, we'll be living in happier times).
According to Benjamin Pomerance, presumably a student, who wrote the article, this plan is very similar to the rational tuition plan endorsed by the students of the Student Assembly. He quotes the president of the student assembly as saying the Board's plan was very close to the student's plan that the above Times Union article talks about, with the main exception being the mid-year increase of $310.
Pomerance also quotes the president of the Board of Trustees saying he was sorry to announce that tuition is going up in such bad economic times, but it basically just had to be done. Thank you, Mr. Preisdent. Glad you are sorry. I bet you're also glad you're not the student who has to spend their Christmas break figuring out how to pay $310 more next semester, or the parent who has to find away to help their student do the same thing with money they didn't think they had to spend.
Someday, America's financial situation will get better, but not now. Not with rich people in government pulling the strings that effect "the common man" far more than it will ever effect them.
article now true
the students did vote on it, i am here now at the conference and was witness to the vote. and the money is going to more than just professors checks. they help keep classes small, keep a variety of classes available, and other long term effects.
not to mention, 4% each year is not 16% over 4 years is 16.985856%.
SUNY Students Don't Want an Irrational Tuition Plan!!
I am incredibly disappointed that the SUNY SA executive board has voted to endorse a "rational tuition plan." Students do not want annual tuition hikes, we want the state to deliver its promise to support and fund NYS higher education!
Research shows that of the 6 states that have passed similar tuition plans (Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio) where tuition increases are set to an index like the CPI or the HEPI- ALL of the states have seen annual tuition increases far above that index.
At Ohio State University alone tuition was raised by 13% from the '03-'04 academic year to the '04-'05 academic year, even though the index ranged from 2.1% to 4.6%.
According to NYPIRG, New York already neglects to pay its state mandated one-third of community college funding and the state's public community colleges are the third most expensive in the nation. New York State has failed to deliver adequate financial support to SUNY and CUNY!
SUNY students deserve a leadership that defends their interests on the statewide level. They should vote down the ir"rational tuition plan"!
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