The following statement was issued on April 1 by SUNY Student Assembly President Marc J. Cohen.
“SUNY students were encouraged to see the
restoration of many proposed cuts to higher education funding in the final FY
18-19 New York State enacted budget.
“Thanks to the stewardship of Senator Ken
LaValle and advocacy from the Student Assembly, funding for SUNY's mental
health tele-counseling network was doubled from $300,000 to $600,000. This
added funding will allow this crucially important program to expand, and
demonstrates Governor Cuomo’s and legislative leaders’ commitment to
improving mental health resources in our state.
“While the Student Assembly continues to stand
with SUNY in support of a new funding model for community colleges, we
appreciate the $100 increase per FTE to base funding for SUNY's thirty
community colleges. This increase, though, is not enough to combat the
continued underfunding of community colleges throughout the system.
“The Educational Opportunity Program provides
invaluable resources to students across SUNY, and is tremendously successful in
putting thousands of disadvantaged young New Yorkers on a path to
success. We very much appreciate funding being restored to this vital
program.
“Increased investment in capital for projects
on SUNY campuses will help to ensure that we remain a world-class institution.
SUNY's massive infrastructure must be maintained and enhanced to improve
quality of life for students, faculty, and staff, and to remain competitive
with universities around the country.
“The Student Assembly appreciates the
continuation of Maintenance of Effort for our state-operated campuses. We urge
the Governor to finally support a true Maintenance of Effort however, which
would prevent increasing inflationary costs from being born by students and
families.
“On behalf of SUNY's 600,000 students, the
Student Assembly thanks Governor Cuomo, Speaker Heastie, and Leader Flanagan
for their work to ensure that SUNY is funded at the level necessary to provide
access to an affordable, high quality education to all. Every dollar invested
in public higher education yields five dollars in economic growth. We hope that
our elected leaders continue to expand investment in one of our State’s
greatest economic engines, the State University of New York.”
Source: SUNYSA
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