PLATTSBURGH — The projected budget deficits three North Country SUNY colleges are facing this fiscal year has left many local leaders and officials concerned about the future viability of the institutions.
SUNY Plattsburgh is looking at a projected budget deficit of $7.8 million, while both SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Canton are each projected to have a budget deficit of $5.5 million.
‘SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE’
“This is simply unacceptable, and to speak candidly, cause for very serious concern,” United University Professions President Fred Kowal said at a news conference about the deficits at SUNY Plattsburgh’s Angell College Center Thursday.
Kowal pointed blame at the lack of state funding over the last several years as part of the reason for the financial crises these colleges are facing now.
“These campuses, along with all of SUNY’s colleges, universities and public teaching hospitals drive our regional economies and are vital to New York state’s economy … SUNY is a living, breathing vessel comprised of the future change makers of our world, and right now, state leaders are depriving it of oxygen,” he said.
“We cannot let these campuses and communities fail due to a lack of appropriate funding.”
Jeff Reeder, UUP chapter president at SUNY Potsdam agreed, saying “the SUNY system is something that is beneficial to all of the people of New York, no matter what their station in life.”
“This needs to come forward from Albany, and from the larger groups of people in the State of New York, that this is what you think is important, that the education of your fellow citizens is the highest priority.”
Assemblyman Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay Lake) said he will support giving more funding to SUNY in the 2023 legislative session.
“Once again, we are asking that our students in the North Country are given the opportunity to have a high-quality education. The SUNY system is in desperate financial need and it is time we give our schools the tools and resources they need to set our students up for success,” Jones said.
“As we approach the start of the 2023 Legislative Session, I will advocate for more funding for SUNY in next year’s budget to support our future generation of leaders.”
TAP GAP EXPENSES
SUNY Plattsburgh President Alexander Enyedi said his campus has also been struggling financially because of “unfunded mandates” like the TAP Gap — the difference between the cost of full tuition at SUNY and the amount campuses can charge TAP-eligible students.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2023 budget now looks to eliminate the TAP Gap next year.
“That was an important step to help campuses like Plattsburgh where there were a high percentage of TAP awardees,” Kowal said about the budgeted elimination.
But from 2017 to 2022, SUNY Plattsburgh faced a TAP Gap total of $9.5 million, Enyedi said, adding to their financial burdens.
“We paid for that,” he said. “Try to imagine how you could spend $9.5 million in a slightly different way, but we had to use our reserves to cover that.”
“Another major hurdle that we faced, and this is coming on, the campus has had to adjust and accommodate what we’ll call, unfunded mandates and operations expenses, and we’re facing another $4.5 million of that in this current fiscal year.”
FACING REAL CHALLENGES
Despite the financial concerns facing SUNY Plattsburgh currently, Enyedi reiterated that he and the staff have been “excellent stewards” since he first became president in January of 2020.
“We’ve recognized that we have a budget challenge and we’ve risen to the occasion to address that. We haven’t just stood back and said nothing or did nothing,” he said.
“We have been cutting expenses for the past decade.”
But a decrease in employees and students has only added to their challenges, he said.
“Some realities, with respect to the campus, we have 18% fewer FTE (full-time equivalent) employees on our campus than we did just five years ago; simultaneously, we have 22% fewer students on our campus than we did just five years ago. So there is, in many ways, a confluence of these two factors simultaneously,” Enyedi said.
“The challenges that we face are real. They are incredibly real and we have been, I’ll say, honest and forthright in being able to address those real challenges. We’re solvent this year, because we’re relying on our reserve dollars, so not only have we been good stewards, we’re actually having, in terms of our reserve account, the capacity to cover what we’re projecting to be the structural deficit for the campus.”
PROGRAM CONCERNS
Taiba Azeem, president of the Student Association and a junior at SUNY Plattsburgh, spoke out about her concerns with any potential cuts the college may have to make as they navigate through the budget deficit.
Azeem, who is a native of India, said she is particularly concerned about the college’s philosophy program, which had an early positive impact on her education and currently, has very few staff left to teach it.
“The effects of underfunding and budget cuts have been witnessed by faculty and administration staff that support SUNY Plattsburgh and it has been talked about a lot. But, eventually, the burden will be felt by students as a whole, and I will try to shed a little bit of light on that,” she said.
“Philosophy, as a major, ceases to exist on this campus … Currently, not only our campus fails to provide the options of what freshman Taliba Azeem (had) entering the school and trying to gain a holistic experience by studying, but it also fails to provide our student community those philosophy majors… By underfunding the system, we are taking away the right of our students of gaining affordable quality education.”
COMMUNITY IMPACT
City of Plattsburgh Mayor Chris Rosenquest advocated for more SUNY funding to help the college continue making a positive impact on the surrounding communities.
“Education and workforce development is a major priority for our community and communities like the City of Plattsburgh. As most of our state and federal elected officials recognize, increased funding for institutions like SUNY Plattsburgh is critical to ensure we continue to train and educate our residents, students, and the next generation of workforce talent,” Rosenquest said.
“The Plattsburgh Next strategic plan addresses the need for improved services, educational programs, and increased student enrollment. Additional funding for this initiative and to cover the number of unfunded mandates is absolutely necessary. SUNY Plattsburgh plays a vital economic and workforce development role not only within the city and county, but also in the state.”
Clinton County treasurer and SUNY Plattsburgh alumna, Kimberly Davis, shared similar sentiments, saying “I am keenly aware of the positive local impact that SUNY Plattsburgh has on the local economy.”
“According to the latest SUNY Plattsburgh community impact report, total tax revenue generated by SUNY Plattsburgh activities total more than $56 million per year. and an additional $45.6 million of income and 160 jobs arise because of the education attainment of SUNY Plattsburgh graduates,” Davis said.
“SUNY Plattsburgh student volunteers provide thousands of hours of work for nonprofits and the public sector through programs like Project Help, valued at $1.3 million. Students cannot continue to be saddled with enormous debt upon graduation — money that could otherwise be spent in our local economies,” she continued.
“Graduates should not be expected to forego buying a home, because their student loan payment negatively impacts their debt-to-income ratio. New York state needs to do more to educate its future leaders without … student debt around their necks.”
DECREASING FEES
If the state were to fully fund the SUNY system, like Kowal has suggested they do, the universities would shift back from private funding to more public funding and students wouldn’t have to carry the huge burden of excess college costs like they are now.
“By private funding, I mean tuition and fees that students have to pay,” Kowal told the media after the press conference was over.
“It basically went from a point where the costs being borne by the state went from 75% to 25%, and students were bearing 75% in itself … if we have a system that is based upon enrollment, that stops being a public system and it becomes, in essence, a private system with some state funding. What we are calling for is that has to stop,” he continued.
“Oftentimes, the error is made because people will say, comparatively speaking, SUNY tuition is not that high, but fees and room and board together in many campuses is 75% of the cost for education facing the student. It’s not tuition, it’s these other areas, so there needs to be a fully funded public system so that tuition and fees don’t have to be increased, in fact they need to decrease.”
FULLY FUNDED SUNY
Kowal also said he believes a fully funded SUNY system would fix SUNY Plattsburgh’s decreasing student enrollment issue.
“Not only will the campuses be able to grow, but you’ll be able to attract and retain students across New York state and across the country,” he said.
“Let’s make this the year we put the ‘public’ back in public education, which can only be accomplished through a full financial commitment by the state — ending the reliance on student tuition, and especially fees, to fund the system and harmful privatization practices. SUNY is a public good with real public value and it deserves to be funded as such.”