Endowment Fund. Proposes a Higher Education Endowment Fund, which will serve as a permanent funding source for New York’s colleges and universities. This will be financed by leveraging funds from the New York State Lottery system in a manner that ensures promised levels of support for school aid will still be delivered.
Five-Year Capital Plan. Begins a new, five-year, $9.3 billion capital plan for SUNY and CUNY that will help build a world-class infrastructure for our higher education system.
Tuition. SUNY and CUNY tuition will remain unchanged for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
Tuition Support for Veterans. Provides veterans returning from combat with a tuition grant of up to the value of in-state SUNY undergraduate tuition, which can be used at any public or private college or university in the State. This program is projected to cost $2 million.
Savings
Operating Efficiency. Requires SUNY and CUNY to increase operating efficiency by 2.5 percent, resulting in $50.9 million in General Fund savings for the State, ($34.2 million from SUNY and $16.7 million from CUNY). To help campuses achieve these reductions, the Executive Budget advances legislation consistent with the Commission on Higher Education’s recommendations that SUNY and CUNY have enhanced flexibility in certain aspects of procurement and administration.
Bundy Aid Reductions. Reduces State Aid to Independent Colleges and Universities (Bundy Aid) by 2.5 percent or $1.05 million from base level funding estimates. After this action, funding for Bundy Aid will be $41 million for the 2008-09 academic year.
Community College Aid. The Executive Budget recommends reducing funding for base operating aid by $50 per student, from $2,675 to $2,625, for SUNY’s 30 community colleges and CUNY’s 6 community colleges. As a result of this recommendation and current services funding increases to reflect enrollment growth, State aid for SUNY community colleges will total $451.1 million (a net decrease of $77,000) and $174.5 million for CUNY community colleges (a net increase of $1.7 million). This increase was added at the time of Budget enactment last year.