Mayer Met With Purchase Students On SUNY's Future

From New York Public Interest Research Group: Facing rising costs of education, skyrocketing student loan debt and a shortage of funding for facilities maintenance, students from Purchase College met with Westchester State Senator Shelley Mayer to discuss how the state government can better assist students and make improvements to the SUNY system.

The discussion, hosted by the Purchase chapter of the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) and the Purchase Student Government Association (PSGA), allowed for members of the Purchase student body to bring their concerns, questions, and experiences directly to the campus’s representative to the New York State Senate. Senator Mayer is the Chair of the New York State Senate Education Committee. She assured attendees and participants that she intends to bring the concerns she heard today back to her colleagues in Albany, including those serving on the Senate Higher Education Committee, as this year’s legislative session enters its final weeks.

“Thank you to SUNY Purchase, NYPIRG, and the PSGA for bringing this forum together to discuss the challenges facing SUNY students, graduates, and the college. In this year’s One-House Budget, my colleagues and I in the Senate Democratic Conference prioritized increased funding for higher education by including in our One-House Budget increases for the TAP award, expanding TAP eligibility requirements, and increasing reimbursements for SUNY schools. Unfortunately, we were unable to get these improvements included in the final adopted state budget due to an unexpected state revenue shortfall. We will continue to fight for fair funding to ease the financial burden of higher education on SUNY students and to provide adequate assistance to SUNY for infrastructure maintenance and improvements,” said State Senator Shelley Mayer (SD-37, Westchester).

“This was an awesome opportunity for anyone who ever had a complaint about our college. To be able to meet your representative and give your story a voice and ask, person-to-person, for the help that we need to make Purchase as great as we know it can be is a great experience and we hope to continue to work with Senator Mayer in the future.” said Teresa Wheeler, senior at Purchase College and Chair of Student Senate for the PSGA.

“The students of Purchase College were very excited for the opportunity to share their personal stories and struggles to afford their educations with Senator Mayer. We’re grateful for her readiness to listen to her constituents, and look forward to her continuing to fight for all of us in Albany” said Charlie Caspari, junior at Purchase College and member of NYPIRG’s statewide Board of Directors.

Since 2010, 4-year SUNY colleges have increased in-state tuition prices by 38% without a significant increase in investment from New York State leading to the following issues for students:

• Student Loan Debt: Without an increase in financial aid opportunities, New York’s students have increasingly turned to student loans to fund their college educations. As of 2018, 58% of New York’s college graduates finish their educations with an average of $30,346 in student loan debt. New York must enact policies to provide assistance to those currently holding student loan debts, and ensure that future college students can limit their debt burdens as greatly as possible.
• TAP Gap: New York does not reimburse CUNY and SUNY campuses the full cost per student who receives free tuition through the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and the Excelsior Scholarship. Currently, the maximum TAP reimbursement to campuses is $5,158, creating a funding gap of $1,700 per student. The difference is absorbed as a loss in revenue to the colleges-- adding up to $67.44 million for the SUNY system in total for the 2017-2018 year. The State Assembly and State Senate
• Inadequate Financial Aid: Programs such as the Excelsior Scholarship have given students some assistance, but do not nearly go far enough. The current terms for students to receive Excelsior force students to take full class loads every semester plus sign a pledge to live in New York after graduation, at the risk of the scholarship turning into a loan. These terms make it difficult for working students, students who are caretakers, and students who must take non-credit bearing classes to receive the assistance that they need to attend college. The Excelsior Scholarship program must be expanded to provide necessary assistance to more than the 4% of SUNY students currently enrolled in the scholarship.
• Infrastructure Issues: College students have reported issues such as sloping dormitory floors, falling ceiling tiles, poor internet access, and a lack of running water. As students become burdened with annual tuition and fee increases, a lack of proper capital investment from New York has led to the deterioration of academic buildings and living quarters across the SUNY system.

NYPIRG and the SUNY Student Association, of which PSGA is a member, have called on state officials to adopt a “New Deal for SUNY” to increase foundation funding to close the “TAP Gap”, expand financial aid and opportunity programs for students, and adopt a plan for large-scale capital investments to bring SUNY campuses into the 21st century.