Statement from Chancellor King and SUNY Board of Trustees on the Enacted FY2026-27 State Budget
May 28, 2026
"SUNY is on the move, and we are grateful for the strong support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the State Legislature and their continued investment in our students and campuses. SUNY is expanding what it means to deliver affordable academic excellence—growing academic and research programs led by our esteemed faculty, helping all students complete their degrees, and giving our students opportunities to prepare both for thriving careers and engage fully in our civic society.
"The 2026-2027 State Budget reaffirms that there is a place at SUNY for every New Yorker. New State investment will help make SUNY more accessible and will help ensure we are able to offer more academic excellence, career preparation, internships, and enrichment programs for our students. We thank Governor Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, and the many SUNY champions in the State Legislature for their commitment in this budget to keep SUNY State-operated campus resident undergraduate tuition flat, to invest in our community colleges and expand the successful SUNY Reconnect program for eligible adult learners to earn free associate degrees in high-demand fields, to double the Empire State Service Corps, to provide emergency aid to students, and to invest in proven student success programs like the Arthur O. Eve Educational Opportunity Program and the ASAP|ACE completion models.
"SUNY has a $10 billion critical maintenance backlog, and the final Enacted Budget provides an increase in the capital funding that will strengthen the student experience. SUNY will be able to improve buildings and facilities at campuses throughout New York State and help create good jobs for New Yorkers in the process. For a second year in a row, the enacted budget also provides capital funding for research facilities at State-operated campuses. Capital investment is critical for SUNY to continue attracting world-class researchers and educators, while also encouraging more potential students to select SUNY campuses for where they want to earn a degree and prepare for life after graduation.
"As the nation's largest comprehensive system of higher education, SUNY is at the forefront of academic excellence and advancing research for the public good, while also being the premiere institution for trade skills, apprenticeships, and other applied learning and workforce development opportunities. The 2026-2027 State Budget will help build on these strengths, and we applaud Governor Hochul and state legislators for their forward-looking vision of investing in SUNY, our students, our campuses, and our state's future."
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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Holly Liapis
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