New York State is facing a massive budget deficit. As a result, some are using the state's bleak financial situation to advocate for hiking the cost of attending public colleges and universities.
As compared with other states, New York families are already paying too much of their own money to attend state public colleges and universities. Any further increase in college costs will have a detrimental effect on college students, institutions of higher education, and New York State as a whole. After an extensive review of available data, it is clear that the cost of attending New York's public colleges and universities is extremely expensive compared to the national average and, in particular, the cost of attending public colleges in other large states.
In the academic year beginning in 2001, tuition and fee costs at New York's four-year public colleges were the 14th most expensive in the nation. California, Florida, and Texas ranked, respectively, 43rd, 45th, and 36th. The state's public community colleges were the 5th most expensive in the nation.
Between 1990 and 2000, the cost of the average tuition and fees charged at New York's four-year public colleges and universities skyrocketed by 97 percent, outpacing the national average and median family income growth in New York.
New York families - not state government - are bearing the brunt of these increases.
As costs for students and their families increased, state support for higher education declined. During the period when cost increased by 97 percent, state support declined by 22 percent. Even when not adjusted for inflation, New York State's meager increase of 12 percent in tax dollars for higher education is far outpaced by the nation's average growth of 62 percent for the same period.
Raising the cost of attending public college will adversely impact students, their families and New York State's economy. When public college tuition was raised by $750 in 1995, undergraduate enrollment dropped by 29,000.
In 1995, when tuition was increased by $750, the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and opportunity programs were slashed, jeopardizing access to higher education for New York's neediest students.
New York State public college and university students are already paying more than the average costs of attending public colleges in other states and the cost is increasing too quickly compared with the increases in median family income in New York.
Moreover, these increases coincide with a drop in state funding for higher education. New York policymakers have been orchestrating a decade-long shift from the state to the families of New Yorkers attending public college.
Additional hikes in the costs of attending public colleges will weaken the state's investments in its long-term economic future by limiting access to training for its workforce.
The Governor and state legislative leaders should take no measures that would undermine the already fragile affordability that exists at New York's public colleges and universities.
Students, their families, and others concerned about the fate of public higher education in New York are urged to join the campaign to reverse the current trend and safeguard access to public higher education in New York by calling 568-1039 or by visiting the NYPIRG office in The Commons.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
