SUNY "rational tuition plan" provides annual increases

NICK DHIMITRI
Special to The Leader

Tuition for SUNY campuses across the state could begin to increase as early as next year, as the SUNY chancellor, presidents, and board of trustees put continued pressure on the New York State legislature to adopt a rational tuition plan.

The rational tuition plan, which has continued to receive a great deal of attention in Albany will raise SUNY tuition annually in relation to inflation rates. The proposed plan would be the first major change in tuition policy in recent memory and would allow the SUNY board of trustees rather than the New York State legislature, to set tuition across the state.

Under the current system some students receive a better bargain than others, according to political science professor James Hurtgen. For example, a student entering Fredonia prior to the 2003 hike was subject to a huge increase in tuition, while students entering in 2004 may graduate without seeing any tuition hikes. In addition, each year that tuition remains the same and inflation increases, students are paying the same for an education that is costing more.

"I think it's unfair to burden some families disproportionately with increases in tuition that come irregularly," Hurtgen said. "When they come, they fall disproportionately on one class of students and one group of parents."

According to an Oct. 18 article in The Buffalo News, the tuition plan is designed to allow families to plan by administering predictable annual increases rather than large increases when the state sees necessary.

"On the surface, it's attractive to me," said Carl Hayden, the new chairman of the SUNY board of trustees, according to the article.

President Dennis Hefner said the proposed plan would prevent big jumps in tuition like the one seen in 2003, when SUNY tuition was raised 28 percent ($950).

He also said that the new plan would also allow for increased funding for SUNY schools across the state because the plan would not allow student tuition to be used to make up for gaps in the state budget.

"It has been nearly 25 years since a tuition hike has brought increased funding back to the students of Fredonia," said Student Association President Dahn Bull. "While I do support the new plan because it gives families a chance to plan ahead, I do not support the fact that it is a mandatory hike on tuition for the students."

Bull said that in 1995, the last tuition hike prior to 2003, the state raised tuition $750 but also cut the school's funding from the state. In effect, Fredonia lost $150 per student despite the fact that each student was paying more. However in 2003 the state raised the tuition $950 but cut funding by $1,200 per student costing Fredonia $250 per student.

He said that while it is impossible to tell where exactly this money went, it more than likely was used to fill holes in funding for fixing roads, Medicare costs and other state expenditures.

Hefner said that charging students more while cutting funding for education "has been the norm for Fredonia for 24 years" and that the rational tuition plan would work to reverse this trend, bringing more money back to the university for education.

The plan also includes a measure to increase TAP and Pell Grants (standard federal college loans) so that as tuition rises by roughly 3.4 percent a year, so would the amount of aid available to students. Under this plan TAP would still cover 100 percent of the student's tuition.

Hefner said that while the tuition hikes will not be mandatory, they will be tied to inflation which has gone up every year since 1933. The board of trustees could decide to raise tuition less than the rate of inflation and that inflation would merely serve as a maximum limit, he said.

"I think the new plan is the equitable way to do this," said Hurtgen, a father who is putting two sons through college.

"It just makes more sense," said Ryan Delaney, junior psychology major. "It helps you plan ahead if you have to take out loans and you already know how much tuition is going to go up."