The New York State Legislature agreed on a state budget last Thursday that does not include a tuition hike, but the price of a SUNY education could still increase next fall if Gov. George Pataki rejects the legislature's proposal.
Pataki has until next Tuesday to either pass the budget or make changes by using his veto power. In January, he proposed a $500 increase to SUNY tuition, and some officials believe Pataki still might try to add it to the budget.
SUNY Chancellor Robert King proposed a $600 hike along with a plan that would see tuition rise for each incoming class, but students would pay the same amount for their entire undergraduate tenure.
Under that plan, annual increases would be based on a cost index, which proponents say would help students better plan for college costs.
But now, neither increase is in the budget, nor is the indexing plan. And according to some officials in the legislature, Pataki would have a hard time changing that fact.
"It would probably be difficult, considering the bi-partisan agreement and the bi-partisan support for maintaining the fees at current levels," said Bob Anderson, a legislative aide to Assemblyman Herman Farrell, who is the chair of the Ways and Means Committee that largely handles the budget.
If Pataki does veto for tuition, his proposed change would then go back to the legislature, which could override the governor.
According to Ron Canestrari, chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, the Democrat-controlled Assembly is "staunchly against" both an increase and indexing. The Republican-controlled Senate favors both, but wants to vote on them together. Right now, they are being dealt as two separate issues, so the Republicans are temporarily on board with the Democrats, Canestrari said.
Anderson said "it was the governor who solely wanted to raise tuition this year," and it would not be "the wisest move" for him to go up against both houses.
Last year, an increase was possible because the Assembly and the Senate disagreed on the issue, Canestrari said.
As for the index plan, Canestrari said although it has been a hot topic of debate, he doubts that it will become a reality for SUNY in 2005-2006.
SUNY spokesperson David Henahan said it is important for people to keep in mind that the increase for the fall and the long-term tuition plan are two "separate and distinctive issues."
"The university will continue to advocate for a tuition plan," Henahan said. "I can't speculate on what tuition may or may not be in the fall. We will have to wait and see what the state decides to do."
"It very well may be that a tuition plan will be included as part of the final deliberations," he added. "We will have to discuss tuition after the process is concluded."
While SUNY plays the waiting game, Henahan said the indexing plan is an intriguing one.
"We think that having a freeze in place really does help provide students and families better way to plan for college costs," he said.
Critics of the plan question the benefits of an annually increasing tuition. Right now, in-state tuition stands at $4,350, and if it goes up every single year, opponents ask, how long will it be before many students can't afford a SUNY education?
According to Henahan, the revenue from the increases would go towards benefiting SUNY and on expenses like hiring new professors.
UB President John Simpson said he favors tuition increases and the index plan, but only if SUNY gets a bigger piece of the pie.
"You have to look at a tuition increases in terms of where the money is going to go," Simpson said. "One proposal the governor made was that tuition would increase for students and that money would be used to put into the state general fund and not come back to the university."
The net result at UB of such a plan, Simpson said, would be students paying more for the same services, which he is against.
"I would rather have there be no increase than a student increase that goes entirely to the state," he said.
Simpson added he doesn't think the index plan will finalize in this year's budget, but he does see the possibility for other changes to tuition.
"That kind of no increase has been true for quite a while," he said. "Students pay more and more where state pay less and less."
According to Henahan, both the state and SUNY recognize the increasing burden on students, and if tuition increases, so will financial aid.
"New York provides the most generous need-based aid program in the nation, the Tuition Assistance Program," Henahan said, adding that if tuition were to increase $500, then only one-third of TAP recipients would need their aid increased as well.
Henahan said the biggest problems under any tuition plan could come if the state fails to pay its part of the bill.
Among other rising costs, SUNY is looking at $30 million in "unexpected energy costs" next fall, which could force tuition to balloon above the Higher Education Price Index, Henahan said.
"Our hope is that this does not occur, or would not occur, and that the state would be reluctant to see a larger increase," he said.
To Simpson, the bottom line is that students should benefit from the state's decisions.
"As students I want you to understand there's a difference in you paying an increase in tuition and what students receive," Simpson said. "Just because you pay more tuition doesn't mean you will see better resources at UB."
News Editor Jennifer Fusco contributed to this story
