In recent years, New York’s public colleges, which educate some 600,000 New Yorkers, have suffered a slew of financial problems and declining enrollment, caused in part by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed tuition hikes for SUNY and CUNY campuses as a way to mitigate the financial challenges, but some lawmakers and advocates say the plan would place an undue burden on students, and the state should be investing more.
