The University at Buffalo is one step closer to making UB 2020 a reality.
On Wednesday, a bill sponsored by Republican North Buffalo State Senator Mark Grisanti, entitled the "UB 2020 Flexibility and Economic Growth Act," passed through the New York State Senate and was sent on to the Assembly. The bill, co-sponsored by four local senators – George Maziarz, Patrick Gallivan, Michael Ranzenhofer and Timothy Kennedy – still needs to be passed by the Assembly and signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo before it is enacted into law.
If passed, the bill would allow UB to establish a rational tuition increase policy starting in the 2011-2012 academic year. The revenue raised from the rate increases, which would be limited to a $375 increase for undergrads and a 15 percent increase for graduate students, would go toward funding UB 2020 initiatives. Families who make less than $60,000 a year would be subsidized by additional financial aid programs to defray the effects of the tuition increase.
In addition to allowing UB flexibility in determining tuition rates, the bill allows for future expansion on UB's three campuses by altering state law and allowing the university to raise additional funding through the use of campus-related nonprofit organizations.
Local leaders like Grisanti support UB 2020 because the plan not only pledges to revitalize the UB campuses, but promises to spur economic growth throughout Western New York by pumping money back into the local economy and creating thousands of jobs in construction and in the educational industries.
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