Statement from SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher on Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's Executive Budget
January 17, 2012
“Governor Cuomo has once again proven to be SUNY's champion. He has clearly made the improvement of our state’s education system a top priority for 2012-13, and I applaud him for doing so in what continues to be a difficult economic climate.
“By presenting an executive budget that, for the first time in recent memory, holds the line on state funding for SUNY, Governor Cuomo has kept his promise to position the state university as a world-class leader in higher education that will help to create jobs and move the dial on our state's economic revitalization.
“This preservation of the state’s financial commitment to SUNY will allow us to better serve our students as we directly reinvest their tuition dollars in student support services and hire more full-time faculty. It also enables us to better serve New York, as curricula and initiatives on our campuses target workforce needs in every region, and the extended NY SUNY 2020 challenge grant program incentivizes our campuses to boost economic development.
“In a show of the governor’s commitment to education across the board, he maintains base operating aid not just at our four-year campuses, but also at our 30 community colleges – a recognition of the great capacity these campuses have to meet New York’s enrollment and workforce needs.
“At SUNY, we share the governor’s focus on driving efficiency and accountability. As we work to achieve these goals within our system, I look forward to working in partnership with Governor Cuomo, and with the members of the State Legislature, as they carry out this vision across the state.”
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, 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 2022, 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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