When the SUNY Board of Trustees approved the 2008-09 budget on Tuesday, Nov. 27 they had the future in mind. Among changes discussed were a five percent increase in tuition to enhance SUNY education, improve security, expand research and decrease energy consumption.
Carl T. Hayden, the chairman of the 19-member Board, feels that the new budget will not only help students and faculty, but the state as a whole.
"Sustained investment in the SUNY system will dramatically strengthen the state economy and greatly enrich the cultural and social fabric of our state," Hayden said in a SUNY press release.
UB's Melody Mercedes, vice president of the SUNY Student Assembly, feels that SUNY's improvement plans are falling in the wrong place.
"That's insane. This should not fall on the students' backs," Mercedes said.
Mercedes and her colleague from the University at Albany, President of SUNY SA Don Boyce, concurred that the students' vote on the Board should be against the proposed budget.
"Our trustee vote is a No," Mercedes said. "It's more of a statement that we're making."
According to SUNY's Web site, 417,583 students are currently enrolled in the system. The tuition increase, amounting to $220 per year, will swell SUNY's budget by over $90 million.
The plan, called SUNY Compact, has appropriated $25.2 million for increasing and strengthening the faculty across the state. Just under $10 million will go toward the safety and security of campuses.
While Mercedes wants to improve security across the state to prevent tragedies like the shooting at Virginia Tech, the principle of protecting students' interests comes first.
"It (the resolution) is not 100 percent, it's a No," Mercedes said. "We do want an increase in security...we do want an increase in quality faculty."
Mercedes went on to say that UB should benefit immensely from SUNY Compact due to the school's status as a University Center; smaller universities will not see the funding that UB will. However, the improvements for UB are falling on the students of other universities.
"You go to Morrisville...their campus doesn't look like ours," she said.
Along with the SUNY-wide tuition increase, Buffalo students will also have to endure an increase in fees, part of which is meant to counteract the effects of inflation.
"It has to be at least a three percent increase," Mercedes said.
She added that the increase in fees could be as much as five percent, mounting to a 10 percent hike. Some paying students and parents were not happy to hear the news.
"That's bad for me because I pay my own way through school," said Angelica Rivera, a freshman undecided major.
Brad McCourt, a sophomore media study major, felt indifferent to the increase but suggested that the money be put to good use. He expressed a desire for more "green spaces" on campus as an example.
Mercedes blames "the system" for designating the costs to the students. She feels that there must be a better way for SUNY and the students to get what they need.
"We need a partnership; that's what we're fighting for," she said.
The future of SUNY as a whole was the issue at hand when Hayden and the Board of Trustees voted for the SUNY Compact.
"SUNY must aspire to be the very best system of public higher education in the nation, if not the world," Hayden said.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
