March 18, 2026 · Higher Education · 3,750 words · 10 speakers · 27 segments
Good evening. We took a vote and it's evening, not afternoon. Good evening and welcome to the Higher Education Conference Committee. I'm Toby Stavisky. I chair the Senate Higher Education Committee and, And I'm honored to co chair this Conference committee. With us is assembly member, the wonderful colleague, Assemblymember Alicia Hindman, and she chairs the Committee on Higher Education and the Assembly. Before I introduce my colleagues, I'd like to say a few words about some of the issues and the budget negotiations. There are a number of issues that we raised in our one House bill that we passed week and a half ago. For one thing, we are committed, the Senate is committed to an infusion of funding for both the operating side, but also the construction, the capital budget as well. Yesterday, Assemblymember Hindman and I met with the four presidents of the university centers at SUNY and we heard the same. Among other issues we discussed was the need for capital. They talked about a leaky chemistry lab. They spoke about some of the infrastructure problems that exist on campuses and the difficulty they have in recruiting outstanding scientists and leaders in various areas of higher education because they need the latest in labs, not buildings that are crumbling and have leaky chemistry labs. The operating side of the budget is also very important. We've got to provide funding and for example, for the community colleges, the public community colleges. The Senate supports the floor to prevent a loss in funding as a result of a decline in enrollment. But I'm proud of the fact that both CUNY and suny, their enrollments are up, they're approaching and in some cases surpassing the pre pandemic level. So we're on the right track and we've got to make sure that we can continue. We also want to preserve the idea that when there is a budget shortfall, it shouldn't fall on the students to pay the difference. Up until 2019, there was a $200 a year increase in tuition every single year. And that stopped. And I'm proud of that fact. And in fact, in her state of the state message and in her budget, the governor commented on the fact that there's been no increase in tuition. And I think that is a very positive step. There are other issues that are important to students that we highlighted in our one House budget bill. We've got to take a look at TAP and see if it's meeting today's standards because the State Controller, Thomas DiNapoli, issued a report saying that TAP was not keeping pace with the cost of living. And he is, in my opinion, absolutely right. And we ought to take A look at tap. We don't want to increase tuition, but one of the most significant issues, and the last one I'm going to mention, is the fact that our students are facing serious cuts in their student loan options, whether it be undergraduate or even more seriously at the graduate level. We've had quite a number of meetings. I know the assembly has made that a priority in their one House budget resolution. And we've got to make sure that we have something in place so that the students can continue their education without worrying about not being able to pay off their student loans. We also heard from the presidents of various institutions about the research money that has been cut. And we've got to take a look at those issues. So those are some of the concerns that we have in the Senate. And. If there are additional issues, we will consider them. Obviously, the Senate looks forward to working with the assembly on these issues. And it is my hope that we can agree on the proposals. And.
Let's see what's next.
And that concludes my remarks as chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee. Let me introduce some of the members. We have Senator Rachel May. We have here, we have Senator Gonzalez. We have somebody texting me. And we have Senator Griffo. Did I miss anybody? And the Senate recommends the appointment of Beth La Mountain as the recording secretary.
So Assemblywoman, thank you, Chair Stavisky. It's an honor to serve with you and being part of this Higher Education Joint Committee meeting. I am Assemblymember Alicia Hyman, Chair of the Higher Education Committee. And today we will be discussing the following proposals that we have been working with the assembly and Senate in an open and transparent manner. The following agencies will be discussed during this conference. State University of New York City, University of New York, Higher Education Services Corporation, State Education Department and Council of the Arts. I am joined today by my colleagues in government and in the prestigious State Assembly. To my left, Assemblymember William Colton, Assemblymember Lachis Walker, Assemblymember Charles Fall. And we have our alternate Tommy John Schiavone, who's behind me, and Gabriella Romero. Additionally, Assemblymembers Robert Smullen is joining us from the Assembly Minority Conference with Assemblymember Sam Pirizzolo serving as an alternate. The assembly has designated Jalen Rose as our Recording Secretary. The assembly proposal looks to increase college affordability while providing essential and ongoing support to SUNY and CUNY. And some of our highlights include providing 475.7 million to increase the income eligibility threshold for Max Tuition Assistance Program award, increasing the income eligibility from 125,000 to 150,000 for dependent students to receive the minimum TAP award. Increase income eligibility from 125,000 to 150 thousand for the Excelsior Scholarship and create a new graduate tuition assistance program. Providing an additional 12 million for SUNY and 8 million for CUNY community colleges for the 2026-27 academic year and providing 8 million to expand the Opportunity Promise scholarship to include four year colleges that offer the associate degree program. Forgiving SUNY hospital debt service costs, saving the hospitals $80 million providing 97.3 million for additional state operating support for CUNY collective bargaining costs, fringe benefits and other unfunded mandatory costs. Restoring and providing 250 million for all opportunity programs, an increase of $53 million over the executive because we know how important the Opportunity Programs are in education. Creating the New York Reinvest in Student Educational Supports New York Rises as the Senator spoke briefly about the program will provide 110 million a partnership between state private lenders and higher education institutions to provide student loans to assist all students in New York State pursuing higher education with an award preference to those pursuing graduate and professional degrees. As we know, the federal government has cut and providing 10 billion for SUNY's five year capital plan and 7.8 billion for CUNY's five year capital plan and providing 40 million for an additional round of higher Education Capital Matching Grants Program also known as hecap. Thank you.
Thank you. And I neglected to. I concur with what I omitted accidentally. All of these programs are significant. At this point we will ask our members if they wish to offer any comments. We'll start with Senator May from Onondaga County.
Thank you very much. And to all my colleagues here for standing up for higher education. I represent the 48th Senate district which includes three SUNY campuses, two community colleges, Onondaga and Cayuga community colleges and one private college. And so higher education is very important as a leading employer in my district and a major economic engine. So the investments that we're making with our one House budgets and that the Governor proposed are really important to my district. In particular, I want to lift up three of them. One is the proposal the Governor has to expand SUNY Reconnect, which is allowing students from age 25 to 55 to come back to college for free to prepare for high demand jobs. Both Cayuga and Onondaga Community Colleges have been leaders in recruiting students and getting really good teachers in developing programs that are preparing people for these careers. And I'm very proud of that. And glad that we are talking about expanding that program this year. I also represent SUNY Upstate Medical University and every year we have to fight for paying for debt service for the hospitals. All the other SUNY campuses get their debt service paid for, but the SUNY hospitals do not automatically get that. And so I'm pleased that it's in both of our one houses to cover that critical cost for them. And then finally, Chair Stavisky mentioned the capital plan. We met with SUNY leadership and SUNY is the only agency that doesn't have a five year capital plan. And what that means is if they want to engage in a major capital project, they can't really plan ahead for it. And that drives the costs up. It makes it much harder to do the kind of critical, both maintenance and build outs that many of our campuses need. So I'm very pleased that both houses have put in support, significant support for a five year capital plan and hope that we can get that across the finish line here in the budget this year. Thank you,
Senator Gonzalez.
Sure. Thank you so much, Chair Stavisky. I want to thank my colleagues certainly, and the Assembly. I know, Chair Hyman, we are very lucky to have some incredible leaders supporting our higher ed institutions. I represent District 59 in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan, which includes some incredible institutions, Baruch LaGuardia Community College as well as CUNY Law. I see this budget as a reflection of our values. And our values here are squarely that we believe that higher ed is a path to, you know, having a better economic outcome for so many working New Yorkers. And accordingly, we are making deep investments in SUNY and cuny. And I know certainly my district will be better off for it.
So.
So with that, again, I want to thank our phenomenal Chair, Senator Stavisky, for her fearless service in this space. And we'll turn it back to her.
Thank you.
Thank you, Senator Griffo.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to thank Chair Stavisky and Chair Hyman both, as well as the members of the joint conference committee here today for your work and advocacy on behalf of SUNY and cuny. And I think we just need to continue to remain our focus and our prime objective and goal is to make sure we do everything possible from a standpoint of higher education to ensure that it's more affordable and accessible. While we provide the necessary support to many of these universities and colleges that have been highlighted, we can't allow any of these schools to fall behind SUNY schools such as in my district, like SUNY Poly, SUNY Morrisville MVCC and many others are becoming premier centers of learning, innovation, research, workforce development. They're offering training a variety of fields including high demand ones like nursing, engineering, computer science. So it's imperative that we ensure that these schools and the community colleges receive that sufficient operating and building aid. We talked about some of the critical maintenance aid, additional operating aid and the long term capital I think is an essential part of that. I also want to thank the Chancellor for his being actively engaged in his work over the budget process over the last couple of months. So I also think, and I agree with Senator May here that we need to support our medical skills. They are so important in so many ways. They need to receive special consideration and support from the executive and the Governor. We've seen some of that. In addition to the debt service though, I would hope that we could see additional operating assistance especially for Upstate Medical Center. There is some additional money for other institutions and I think it's critical and important that we do likewise again so that they don't fall behind because there's so many needs that they have and that additional operating money would be significant and important to continue their role, not only from an educational perspective, from a clinical perspective in the region. So again, there's a lot of work to do. Look forward to working with everyone on the budget subcommittee here and thank you for the time.
To my colleagues on the right, I'll
start with Assemblymember Latrice Walker.
Thank you Madam Chair. And to of course our Chair in the New York State Senate. The Assembly 1 House Budget Resolution demonstrates the commitment that the body makes to higher education as well as making it more affordable and more accessible. We've proposed significant investments, of course, in public colleges and universities to make sure that everyone who seeks a degree can have the opportunity. I was told and I believe that education is a great equalizer. It is the one thing that allows for a kid from even the most disadvantaged of backgrounds to be able to seek an opportunity for the highest mountains. And for starters, you know, we want to of course commend the joint wine houses for the budget plan which invests over $97 million in SUNY's operational aid as well as adding $8 million to expand the New York Opportunity Promise scholarship for students pursuing associate degrees in four year colleges at SUNY as well as at cuny. We did see a number of schools who provide associate degrees who was not included in that and they have certainly explained that many of their students want to have that opportunity. We see expansions in foster care as it relates to Educational opportunities. We know that that's a particular catchment group that sometimes we count them out before we ever really give them a true opportunity to be successful. And so I want to commend, of course, for that expansion. Of course, expanding pre k to. To 3 year olds was a huge success, definitely in the 55th assembly district where I represent. And it's just amazing to be able to see that this early investment in young people will now be available all across the state of New York. Adult literacy, we know, is important and we need to do everything that we can for 201 schools. Increasing tap and seat grants is always something that even as a SUNY student and EOP student, we've always fought for. And so, of course, you know, I love the idea of expanding EOP programs, but SUNY Downstate is undergoing a huge transformational plan in Brooklyn. And as we're transforming healthcare delivery all around the state of New York, but particularly in Kings County, I want to commend everyone who's involved for the $100 million on the SUNY Downstate Transformation Plan. Resources for the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium. Force the expansion of My Brother's Keeper. We should also support a My Sister's Keeper as well as supporting the Contracts for Excellence. So thank you so much for being a part of this auspicious occasion and definitely to be able to provide our input as it relates to the New York State budget in this critical area. Thank you.
Assemblymember Colton.
Yes, higher education is always critical, and the affordability of higher education for the students and their families is becoming an increasing problem. So I'm glad to see both the Senate and the assembly, you know, are putting that as priorities that need to be done. The changes that are being proposed by, you know, in terms of the TAP program, I think go a long way to making it more affordable for students. We also need to be aware of and to promote high need specialties. The High Need Nursing program is a program that I think, you know, deserves support in meeting a critical need in New York's health care industry, Downstate in particular, and the upstate SUNY teaching hospitals are very important. And Downstate in particular is under a tremendous amount of stress because of debt and retransitioning them. So we need to pay attention to that. And we also need to, you know, deal with things like the Opportunity programs, which will allow some students to be able to get a college education where otherwise they might have been neglected, and programs that help students with disabilities, which I think is something very important that we include in this budget. So I look forward to the discussions that will be going on, the negotiations with the governor and hopefully that we will be able to meet many of the needs of our students and our families in terms of this year's budget.
Assemblymember Fall thank you Chair Hyman for your leadership and thank you to the Senate Chair as well and as well as all my colleagues for their work as it relates to higher education. You know, an investment in higher education is an investment in our future and an investment in our children, which is why it's important that this budget really addresses the capital needs for our CUNY and suny's. I have two cunies in my district. On the Lower Manhattan side of my district it's the Borough of Manhattan Community College and on the Staten island side of my district it is the College of Staten Island. And in Article 7, you know, it states that, you know, the assembly proposes to modify the New York Opportunity Promise Scholarship Program that the executive proposal expanded by included nursing school students with post secondary degrees. The proposal would be modified to include associate degrees at four year public college and cuny. And this is important for our students at those institutions and those that are interested in pursuing a career in those subjects. So, you know, I look forward to a budget that includes these items as well as the items that were mentioned by my wonderful colleagues to my right and to my left. Thank you.
Assemblymember Smollen well, thank you very much Chairs.
It's good to be here at this Joint Conference committee. For me, it's good to speak today on behalf of the Assembly Minority Conference, which represents over 6 million New Yorkers. As we enter the final stages of our budget negotiations, we urge the importance of those discussions happening on a five way basis to ensure that the diverse perspectives of all New Yorkers are fully represented and valued, including the rural areas that I so proudly represent. Higher education remains one of the most important pathways to economic mobility and the state must ensure that college remains affordable and accessible for students and families across all of the areas of New York. New York's Tuition Assistance Program, or tap, has not kept with inflation or rising tuition costs since the 2008-2009 academic year. While we appreciate the proposal to expand eligibility for the Tuition Assistance Program, adjustments to maximum TAP award levels are needed so that the program can better reflect the true cost of attending college. Today. Without meaningful updates to the award amounts and relinking TAP to tuition rates, many families will continue to struggle with the rising cost of college and the burden of student loan debt. Next, I want to turn my attention to community colleges which continue to serve as the critical entry point into higher education and workforce training. From 2019 to 2025, community college enrollment is down 9.8% across New York State. One of the reasons I think this is the case is because the funding structure remains tied too closely to fluctuating enrollment trends. The proposed increases in community college base aid for SUNY and CUNY are a welcome step, but we must continue working towards a more stable long term funding model that allows these institutions to plan and invest in students with greater certainty over time. We should also continue strengthening the partnerships between higher education institutions and employers to ensure that those programs align with workforce needs and lead to careers that allow graduates to successfully repay loans and build long term financial stability. I look forward to working together through an open and transparent process to enact an on time budget that exercises fiscal restraint and addresses the growing challenge of college affordability impacting students and families across New York. Thank you. I'd like to introduce my colleague Sam Pirazzolo for comment.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon to everyone that's here. I'd like to thank the chairs for the ability to participate in this discussion. I am a new member on the Higher Education Committee and I'm very happy to see that our membership is talking about the investment in higher education. I would like to point out one particular investment and just to show you how well we have benefited from that. On Staten island in my district we have the College of Staten island and recently they were given a $7.5 million donation from the Lucille and Jay Chasanoff foundation. And that donation has given us a ranking of the AACSB International Accreditation, which is less than 6% of business schools globally have this accreditation. So I'm just using that as an example of what investing in our CUNY systems and our SUNY systems and all of our higher education schools can do when the proper investments are made. I'd also like to point out that there is one threat that I do see that we're having, at least in my opinion, in higher education, and that's the fact that many employers are looking to grab their students directly from high school and have them skip the higher education process altogether so that they can give them the training that they need for their type of manufacturing or their type of business. So I know that our colleges have been working more in trade education, but I think that is something that we need to keep at the forefront of this conversation and recognize that if we don't give these students the trade skills that they desire they will get them somewhere else, and that will leave us flat. So thank you very much.
Are there any other comments? Well, we'll do it together.
This concludes.
This concludes the joint conference committee meeting.
Thank you.
Meeting. Thank you.