Dive Brief:
- Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s latest New York State budget proposal includes a shift of one-third of the City University of New York system’s costs back onto New York City in a move that his administration says is a reasonable return of responsibility.
- The New York Times reports that the state assumed control of the city’s so-called senior colleges during its fiscal crisis in the 1970s, and the latest budget shifts much of it back, with Cuomo budgeting $240 million for retroactive raises for university employees that have gone without them for six years.
- The governor’s budgets have reduced per-student funding from the state by 17% since before the recession, a time in which tuition has gone up by $300 each year and CUNY has still been forced to cut the number of courses offered, lay off part-time faculty, increase class sizes, and trim investments in student services and other areas.
Dive Insight:
The New York City system is facing the same challenges public higher education systems are grappling with all over the country. State disinvestment in higher education has precipitated an increase in tuition that has raised the overall debt levels of students and contributed to the national firestorm over average student debt. While many states have begun increasing the amount they spend on post-secondary education, the number of students enrolling in certificate and degree programs has grown much faster, creating a continued decline in actual per-student funding in most places.
U.S. Department of Education officials have called on states to reinvest in higher education and fulfill their end of the financing bargain. If more federal money is made contingent on state investment in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, there could be a real shift.