SUNY Board of Trustees Chairman Tisch, Vice Chairman Perales, and Chancellor Malatras Statement on New York State Assembly and Senate Budget Proposals

March 15, 2021

"On behalf of the entire SUNY community—our leadership, students, faculty, and staff—we applaud the significant investments in SUNY proposed by the New York State Assembly and Senate. In particular, we applaud the proposal to expand SUNY's opportunity programs—programs that will help more students from economically-disadvantaged communities have a chance to get a higher education—essential for their social mobility and achieving their definition of the American Dream. And across SUNY, we are thankful for the Assembly's and Senate's ongoing commitment to public higher education through both operating support for our state-operated and community colleges, and significant capital to ensure academic excellence throughout our campuses and a state-of-the-art infrastructure to meet the needs of our students. Our students have overcome tremendous adversity over the past year, so we thank the legislature for additional student resources for mental health and wellness services, childcare, and supporting students with disabilities. The entire SUNY community looks forward to working closely with the legislature and executive to finalize an agreement on these critical investments. Our thanks in particular to Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Speaker Heastie, Senator Krueger, Assembly Member Weinstein, Senator Stavisky, and Assembly Member Glick, as well as all majority members and staff for investing much-needed funding in our students. Such commitment to SUNY will pay dividends to New York State."

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, 12 Educational Opportunity Centers, over 30 ATTAIN digital literacy labs, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.7 million students across its 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 $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2025, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and annually one in three New Yorkers who earn a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.

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