April has arrived and most students have submitted their FAFSA forms and are trying to figure out how much money they need to have saved for next year. The problem is no one knows exactly how much UB tuition will be. The New York State Legislature will not include a $500 tuition increase in proposed by Governor Pataki in its 2005-2006 SUNY budget, but that doesn't necessarily kill the idea. Pataki can still veto parts of the budget, adding the tuition hike back into the budget, effectively deadlocking with a State Assembly and Senate that oppose the increase with a rare showing of bipartisan support. If Pataki wants to maintain any support going into the 2006 gubernatorial elections, he should allow the budget to pass as is, maintaining tuition levels until a reasonable tuition increase plan can pass with it.
The budget passed by the Legislature does not raise tuition at all, and neither Democrats nor Republicans seem to be willing to back down. The Republican-led Senate is favors both, but only if they are added to the budget together and the Democrat-dominated Assembly is opposed to any increase or indexing whatsoever, so this time around, both groups' political motives are served.
While no college student wants tuition increases, it is not fair to expect the costs of living and maintaining successful universities like UB and irresponsible to not create a plan to address this issue. While the State Legislature Democrats are against transferring any additional costs to students, expecting the state to absorb these costs forever without raising tuition is irresponsible, as eventually tuition will need to be raised. Irregular and expensive increases such as the $900 increase of a year ago are far more difficult to adjust to than a regular, smaller increase. Unfortunately, this no-tuition-increase posturing seems to be more political posturing than anything else. While it is admirable to rail against tuition increases, and their positioning has long kept SUNY tuition among the cheapest in the country, it is too idealistic to believe tuition increases can be stopped in today's political and economic climate.
This is where the indexing plan presented by SUNY and backed by Legislature Republicans makes sense - it takes politics out of the tuition equation, adjusting tuition costs in relation to inflation and locking that tuition level for each classes' four years of undergraduate education. This is not to say the plan doesn't have its flaws, but it seems a modest increase coupled with a reliable index plan is the best course of action in preserving SUNY solvency without taxing New York citizens into oblivion.
The thing is, there currently is not a cohesive plan for establishing an index plan for tuition increase, and Pataki still wants to add $500 to SUNY tuition, and no one outside his office can give an answer why. SUNY and State Legislature officials say the SUNY system is okay for the time being, as last year's almost $1000 increase added a substantial influx of money into the system. SUNY officials said the index plan and tuition increase are being dealt with as two different issues, but the two are and should be intrinsically linked.
Pataki and Legislature Democrats have separated the issues, the former by pushing for an increase outside of a responsible increase plan, the latter by creating a standoff against any tuition increase at all. As is usually the case, the right course of action is somewhere in the middle. Another State Legislature deadlock will do nothing to solve the issue, so for the short term, Pataki should let the SUNY budget pass. In the future, it is our hope political posturing can be set aside to work out something similar to SUNY's tuition-index plan, a plan that will save SUNY students money not only by regulating the escalating cost of higher education, but also alleviating fears by making inevitable increases easier to plan for.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
