The Campus

Issue date: 9/3/07 Section: News

Who knows what we'll be paying next year?

The battle lines have been drawn. City University of New York (CUNY) students have waged war against Chancellor Matthew Goldstein's proposed Public College Tuition Indexed Policy Plan (PCTIP), which would allow the state legislature to implement annual automatic tuition hikes. Chancellor Goldstein stated that tuition hikes are necessary to keep CUNY fully operational and are due largely to cuts in funding from Albany.
Goldstein said that the PCTIP would provide predictability in cost and guarantee the levels of student tuition for years to come while students have countered that tuition hikes are not necessary because CUNY has a $2 billion surplus. Students are concerned that the PCTIP would allow the state legislature to increase tuition annually, which may push many out of plans to continue their education. The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), which has started a campaign to inform and organize CUNY students about the potential tuition hike, believes the chancellor is making a grave mistake.
"The majority of students are barely able to afford the current tuition," said Tyler Hartshom, a NYPIRG Project Coordinator. "If the PCTIP is implemented, the only guarantee students have, is that tuition will increase annually."
Professor H. R. Clarke of BMCC and LIU said that educational funding has steadily declined since 1995. "There is no denying these cuts have affected CUNY negatively," he said. "The lack of funding has led to overcrowding and left schools without the resources to hire faculty and staff."
Many have predicted an increase will dramatically change the enrollment and demographics of CUNY. When the State University of New York (SUNY) increased its tuition in 1995, a decrease in enrollment of roughly 10,000 students occurred.
"Enrollment will decrease at CUNY if these annual tuition hikes are implemented," said Clarke. "The majority of these individuals will be minority students. It happened then, it will happen now."
A Higher Education Strategy Session was held to discuss what measures students should take to combat a potential tuition hike. A Higher Education Coalition (HEC) was formed, consisting of 500 student groups statewide. On March 7, leaders of HEC took their fight to Albany urging Governor Eliot Spitzer to pass a student friendly budget.
The chancellor's latest proposal comes on the heels of his request for tuition to be increased by 13 percent over four years, which the state legislature denied. CCNY student Moses Acevedo said although he agrees with the chancellor on the point that the state needs to contribute more than the roughly 22 percent of operating expenses it currently gives, he disagrees with the chancellor's statement that these tuition hikes are "modest."

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