Higher student fees. Larger class sizes. Fewer classes to choose from. Fewer professors to teach them.
These are some of the possible actions local state colleges say they may have to take if Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed state budget cuts pass the state legislature. The colleges are part of the State University of New York system, called SUNY.
“We don’t know what our exact cut will be yet,” said Jodie Maroney, budget officer of SUNY Cortland. The school has been told to expect a 10-percent cut in funding, she said. “We do know that we won’t be able to continue an active search to fill open positions,” said Maroney. “That will mean larger class sizes.”
Cuomo’s proposed 2011-2012 budget calls for $148.5 million in cuts to the SUNY system. That means Onondaga Community College, SUNY Cortland and SUNY Oswego will all have to figure out how to cover their respective funding shortfalls. The cuts break down like this:
- $100 million cut from the SUNY campuses statewide.
- $15.4 million cut from so-called “statutory colleges affiliated with the SUNY system, such as the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell. These are created by state statute and funded by the state but not controlled by SUNY. Four of the five colleges are located on the Cornell University campus.
- $33.1 million cut from state aid to community colleges. Community colleges receive a set amount of aid from the state based on each student who is enrolled full-time. This aid is being reduced by $226 per student, from $2,260 to $2,034.
The schools’ budget dilemmas are complicated by New York’s traditional struggles in passing a state budget by the April 1 deadline. Since 1975, the state has passed the budget by deadline only six times. Last year, the state budget wasn’t passed until Aug. 2 — that’s 125 days past the deadline.
That means schools’ budget planning is largely based on guess-work until they get the actual final figures passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor. This has administrators worried about how they’ll cover the gap and still manage to provide a quality education to their students.
At SUNY Cortland, for example, the potential cuts are likely to mean leaving open positions for faculty, staff and custodial workers unfilled, said budget officer Maroney. Along with suspending the search for new employees, the school plans to raise three out of four mandatory student fees by $30 each.
Those fees are the athletic fee, the healthcare fee and the technology fee. If the school president’s cabinet approves the fee increases, students at Cortland will pay $1,467 in student fees for the 2011-12 academic year.
Cortland also plans to dip into the school’s cash reserves to help bridge the gap and keep student costs down, Maroney said.
At SUNY Oswego, administrators agree, if these cuts pass as they now stand, the school will be forced to make some tough choices.
Oswego is luckier than most SUNY schools because it also has some cash reserves to rely on, said Nick Lyons, the vice president of administration. But beyond that, cuts will likely have to be made once the final budget passes.
“We’re looking at a cut of around $2 to $3 million,” Lyons said. “We’re trying to stay away from academic cuts. That and safety are the last things we want to touch.”
At Onondaga Community College, the school stands to lose $2 million under the current budget cuts as well, said Amy Kremenek, the chief public affairs officer. While it was much too early to tell how harmful the cuts will be, Kremenek added, the school is reacting to the proposed cuts already.
“Currently, some budget lines such as office supplies have been frozen, anticipating the budget cut. Should the cut be passed, the college will need to look at its budget and make a determination for other modifications,” she said.
While OCC’s plans are vague at the moment, school officials express hope that state legislators find a way to lessen the severity of the proposed cuts. “It is our hope that higher education will be a priority due to the number of students and citizens who depend on the SUNY system for affordable higher education,” Kremenek said.
Any changes in the cuts will require the state to find the money somewhere else, said Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, D-Cortland. Lifton represents the 125th Assembly District, which includes SUNY Cortland.
The chances of that happening however are slim at the moment. “I’m not very hopeful,” Lifton said, “that we’ll be able to do a lot to mitigate these cuts.”
(Stephen Hughes is a graduate student in magazine, newspaper and online journalism.)
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