Outreach & Engagement

Comprehensive Reform

Advocacy Issues

Zero-Cost Solutions 

SUNY has brought zero-cost solutions to the table – these proposals cost the taxpayers nothing while helping to address SUNY’s budget problems:

We must cut the red tape that is strangling SUNY’s procurement of essential goods. If our hospitals cannot quickly purchase the life-saving tools they need … if our campuses cannot provide our students with the educational tools they need in a timely manner … then we simply cannot do our jobs efficiently. The hurdles we face in the procurement of goods force us to spend more tax-payer dollars and to fall behind on our promise of excellence to New Yorkers.

We must allow SUNY to enter into public-private partnerships with more cost efficient and growth-oriented regulatory relief.   We know that these reforms will advance our core mission and values, and that they can at the same time protect collective-bargaining rights. It’s essential that we attract the interest of the private sector, while simultaneously protecting the interests of the public, allowing us to generate additional revenue and create the jobs our state so desperately needs.  One only need to look closely at the extraordinary partnership that exists at UAlbany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering with the private sector.

Balance Economic Reality with SUNY's Core Mission 

New York’s economic reality cannot be ignored, and we applaud the Governor for facing our current budget crises. However, after years of significant cuts, many are concerned about SUNY’s ability to provide access and a quality education.

We must reach a mutually acceptable agreement on “maintenance of effort.”  We must begin a genuine and productive discussion regarding the State’s long term commitment to funding the State University of New York.

We must revisit State support for the life-line in three of New York’s key communities through the public hospitals that serve our Academic Medical Centers and the patients of Syracuse, Brooklyn and Long Island.  We are deeply troubled about the Governor’s proposal to eliminate state support for SUNY hospitals. We’re looking at an impact of approximately $209 million in the coming year, bringing the four-year impact on just three hospital facilities to over $700 million. I urge reconsideration of the approach to the SUNY hospital subsidy.

We must also take this opportunity to ask the Governor and State Legislature to consider restoring at least some of the massive reduction of state aid to SUNY’s community colleges, and state operated institution. In the Governor’s budget, community colleges were cut by $226 per full time equivalent student – $33 million in total – which is in addition to $56 million in cuts over the past three years. The state operated institutions were cut $150 million, added to $619 million over the past three years.

SUNY needs a 5-year tuition plan that is fair, predictable and responsible.
Fair because it protects access and affordability.
Predictable because it allows students and families to plan over a 5-year period.
Responsible because all of it is invested in completion.

Download the Board of Trustees Presentation on Rational Tuition Proposal