New York State governor Kathy Hochul has released her budget proposal for the 2024 fiscal year, featuring almost $7.5 billion in higher ed spending—a 13% increase from this year’s spending and a 22% increase from the 2022 budget proposed by her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo.
Dr. Tom Harnisch, vice president of government relations at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association
“The governor has proposed some bold new investments in higher education and a comprehensive approach that will pay dividends for years to come,” he said. “It’s clear that she sees SUNY and CUNY as state assets that will help grow New York’s economy. She gets it.”
Harnisch thought that the funding proposal was especially good in light of national trends.
“In other states, higher education has gotten minimal new investments amid robust state surpluses, with lawmakers instead opting for deep tax cuts that could severely constrain higher education in the years ahead,” he said.
However, the proposal has also drawn criticism from those who say that the funding is insufficient to make up for years of stagnation under Cuomo and from some who work in New York’s public colleges.
“[It] dampens our ability to best support students who are looking to come back to school,” said Kevin Adams, director of community standards and student conduct and higher education officer delegate to the Professional Staff Congress at Medgar Evers College, a CUNY school. “We’ve had a loss of employees across the university and hiring freezes. In order to build back up enrollment, you need to better support the infrastructure.”
