Chancellor Zimpher Publishes Op-Ed on NYSUNY 2020, Rational Tuition
January 29, 2016
Albany – State University of New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher today published an op-ed on the importance of renewing NYSUNY 2020. First published by Gannett in the Poughkeepsie Journal and Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin this morning, the op-ed is available online.
"This legislation is crucial to the University, and I want to be sure we do our best job explaining NYSUNY 2020, and how and why it works," Chancellor Zimpher writes. "There are two core purposes of this critical legislation. One, to protect SUNY students from unpredictable changes in tuition, and two, to provide reliablefunding that SUNY can count on so we can provide the world-class education New Yorkers need and deserve."
"Let me be absolutely clear: A reenactment of NYSUNY 2020 is not an automatic renewal of annual tuition hikes. It is a renewal of SUNY’s ability to set tuition based on the immediate needs of SUNY’s state-operated campuses and the students, faculty, and staff they serve," she adds. "It is also a renewal of our commitment to the state’s lowest income, TAP-eligible students and our ability to cover them tuition free. Nearly a third of new resident undergraduatetuition revenue goes to ensure the state’s highest need students are completely covered."
Chancellor Zimpher concludes, "Let’s not throw away the investment and long-overdue reforms we’ve made over the last five years."
Read Chancellor Zimpher’s full op-ed here.
A renewal of NYSUNY 2020 has the support of the SUNY Student Assembly, the official student governance organization representing SUNY students. SUNY SA leadership is elected by their peers across the state, and the organization’s president, Binghamton Student Thomas D. Mastro, serves as a SUNY Trustee. President Mastro reiterated their support today in a statement.
"The representatives of our 64 campuses came together last year to overwhelmingly pass a resolution supporting the renewal of NYSUNY 2020. In a vote of 59-4-1, we said loud and clear that we want fairness, equity, and predictability when it comes to money we spend on our education," said Mastro. "I am tired of the mischaracterization that this support is somehow 'students standing in support of increases in their own tuition' … We support NYSUNY 2020 because we recognize the need for students and families to financially plan ahead."
Read President Mastro’s full statement here.
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2023, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.
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Holly Liapis
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