Gov. plans to cut $190 million from Tuition Assistance Program

This is the second of two stories on Gov. George Pataki's proposed budget.

For the 8,000 UB undergraduates who receive aid from the state's Tuition Assistance Program - that's more than 40 percent of the school - it doesn't really matter how you say it.

To Gov. George Pataki, the proposed changes that would "save" $190 million from TAP are "reforms." To some legislators, those reforms are "cuts." But to students, a decrease, no matter how politicians dress it up, is still a decrease. And come April, undergrads statewide could be facing not only a $500 tuition hike, but also a serious slash to financial aid.

If Pataki's legislation passes as proposed, reforms made to TAP will save taxpayers $190 million. Last year, Pataki tried to cut TAP by about $160 million, but the New York State Legislature shot down that plan and restructured the budget to keep TAP intact.

Miriam Kramer, a higher education coordinator for New York Public Interest Research Group, said it's interesting to note that Pataki has shifted his strategy this year in attempting to reduce financial aid. Whereas in past years the idea was to cut TAP awards by 50 percent for students across the board, the new proposal, which the governor laid out in his state budget two weeks ago, will target savings in ways that are more specific.

"It's a way to supposedly, from their perspective, to save money from the budget, but in my opinion it's a way to support the budget on the backs of students," Kramer said.

One constituency the plan hits is community colleges, which would be forced to pay the costs of financial aid for a student's first 24 credits. Another reform would have wider implications and an impact at UB: raising the standard of a full-time student from 12 credits to 15. Under that change, TAP recipients who don't meet the minimum credit hours would receive a 20 percent cut to the award, which ranges from $500 to the price of full tuition.

According to Terri Mangione, UB's senior associate vice provost for student academic records and financial services, such a change would have a huge impact.

Plus, within the legislation there is another proposal aimed at the way schools certify students for financial aid with the Higher Education Services Corporation, which UB must inform each semester who is eligible to receive various money awards, not just TAP. Current rules call for UB to check students' records after drop/add, or the 21st day of the semester, but Mangione said the state is talking about changing that to the 45th day.

"What that means is that any student who were to resign a course between week three and week seven, and if they fell below that credit hours line, they wouldn't get their TAP for that semester, nor would they get it for the following semester," she said.

There are also considerations to raise the GPA criteria, but most UB students are far beyond those standards, Mangione said.

As for the TAP cuts, perhaps the best news for students is that the proposal to hike the minimum credit hours might not even make it to the discussion table. The buzz, according to Kramer, is that Pataki will have to rescind the plan during the 30 days he has to amend the budget because making 15 credits the minimum would fly against the federal standard of 12, which as governor he couldn't override.

Ron Canestrari, chair of the State Assembly's higher education committee, said he, too, heard Pataki would have to withdraw the credit hours proposal, but the assemblyman still feels the attack on TAP is a shrewd attempt that "has the potential to harm a lot of people who could fall by the wayside."

And even if that particular legislation doesn't pass, the idea to raise the credit floor is still part of a larger movement to accelerate graduation rates, which troubles Canestrari. One program Pataki wants to create, called Partnership to Accelerate Completion Time, offers SUNY schools $500 for each student who graduates on time, which by legislators' standards is four years. PACT would cost the state $10 million.

"It rewards the schools, not the students," Canestrari said. "We have found a great deal of times the failure to complete in a timely manner is not the fault of the students."

As Mangione points out, few students here graduate in four years, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

"Because our tuition is much more reasonable, students take the opportunity to stay, to do something different, to try something new," Mangione said.

According to the Office of Institutional Analysis, only 32 percent of UB students graduate "on time" by the state's definition. The general public assumes that number should be much higher, Mangione said, but it's been that rate for a long time. At elite private institutions with high price tags, four-year graduation rates reach near 90 percent, but for a SUNY school, officials say UB is where it should be and is slowly improving.

If politicians want to see real progress, Kramer argues they need to forget about ideas like the acceleration program and rational tuition plan, which would freeze an undergraduate's tuition for only four years, creating another incentive to finish sooner.

"This is not the way you're going to increase graduation rates," Kramer said.

Kenneth LaValle, chair of the State Senate's higher education committee, said the acceleration program would only be part of much discussion over many ideas, and those plans that are hurtful to students would be revisited with other, less harmful ones.

"Everything that we do should be helpful to the student, getting through the system in a way that removes as many hurdles as we possibly can and get them to graduation as quickly as we can," LaValle said.

Canestrari said he does see some good in the budget, such as additional capital funds for both SUNY and CUNY. And Kramer praised legislation to give free tuition to a limited number of students who commit to teaching math and science in-state for five years.

"It's a big victory that the governor is finally recognizing that cost is a big impediment for students to go to college," Kramer said. "It's difficult for people to enroll and stay in school, and he's trying to provide help.

Anything good in the budget, however, will also be weighed under the shadow of another possible tuition hike. UB President John B. Simpson, who opposes the TAP cuts, stressed that any changes need to be paired with suitable financial aid.

"A fundamental principle, in my view, of public higher education is that it has to give access to people who are qualified," Simpson said, "regardless of economic situation."

In Kramer's view, when Pataki drew up the budget, economic situation, in fact, was a high priority. For his taxpayers, that is, not the students.

"How dare we talk about raising tuition," Kramer said. "It's a slap in the face for students who are struggling."