ALBANY (AP) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders said Wednesday they're negotiating what could be a 5 percent tuition increase for the State University of New York and more for its university centers.
If the deal is reached in the final 10 days of the legislative session, most of the 64 campuses would see the $4,970-a-year tuition increase by 5 percent - or nearly $250 - as early as the fall semester. University centers in Buffalo and Stony Brook have already requested an additional 3 percent because of added costs for equipment and faculty. University centers at Albany and Binghamton haven't proposed their plans for growth and any "differential tuition" from base SUNY tuition.
The negotiations follow proposals by the SUNY board for what they call a "rational tuition" policy. That would regularly increase tuition to avoid larger, irregular spikes.
Even some student groups have supported the long-standing proposal as more predictable. But the New York Public Interest Research Group has opposed it because most of the plans wouldn't prohibit spikes in addition to regular increases and removes the political pressure to keep tuition low. State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick has noted that a 5 percent increase, if applied annually, would mean that students would pay 20 percent more for their senior years, a steep jump.
Cuomo, however, said Wednesday that a predictable, scheduled 5 percent increase would be less than the average increase of over 6 percent done through irregular spikes over the last 20 years. He said those spikes, often when the state government needs revenue in hard times, wreak havoc on families and colleges.
"It makes a tremendous amount of sense," Cuomo told reporters Wednesday. "I support rational tuition this session."
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he could support a 5 percent increase if the revenue went to the cash-starved SUNY system, which saw a 30 percent cut in state aid over the last three as Albany sought to address deficits.
On Thursday, Republican Sen. James Seward will promote the Senate majority's bill to have a five-year tuition plan that protects the revenue from raids by Albany for the general fund.
Full classes prompted SUNY Stony Brook to accept 300 fewer students this year, but the tuition increase could expand opportunities so 1,500 more students could be admitted over the next five years, school officials said.
With fees and room and board, SUNY costs more than $15,000 a year.
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