Statement From Kevin Cahill On SUNY Tuition Hike

June 24, 2011

(Albany, NY) Tonight’s action to increase the tuition burden on New York’s students and families without also ensuring a full commitment to our public universities from the state is unacceptable. This $1,500 SUNY tuition increase is simply unaffordable and unsupportable. It is particularly unacceptable due to the failure of the state to finally fulfill its responsibility to provide appropriate resources to our institutions.

The decision to raise tuition should come as an absolute last resort. This guaranteed increase in student charges runs the risk of diminishing severely the opportunity to garner a greater share of resources from the state’s general revenue fund. It is unfair to ask students and their families to shoulder this disproportionate burden in this time of great need.

Accessible and affordable public higher education is our surest path to economic success. Our public universities are critical to our future. There is no better investment that the state can make when it comes to economic development than increasing support for SUNY in the state budget. Making access to higher education even less affordable for working New Yorkers is simply the wrong approach.

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