Facing budget crunch, CU trustees approve a tuition increase

By Jacquie Powers

Recognizing the seriousness of the proposed $183.5 million reduction in tax dollar support for the 34 state-operated campuses of the State University of New York (SUNY), including the contract colleges at Cornell, Cornell's Board of Trustees, at its regular meeting March 7, approved a tuition increase of $1,360 for undergraduate resident students in the contract colleges for the 2003-04 academic year.

Cornell trustee Paul F. Cole, center, makes a comment during the open session of the Cornell Board of Trustees meeting in the Trustee Meeting Room of the Johnson Museum, March 7, while trustees Sheryl WuDunn, left, and Kevin M. McGovern look on. Charles Harrington/University Photography

Last year Cornell's four contract colleges -- the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Human Ecology, the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and the College of Veterinary Medicine -- received $131.5 million from the state for their operations. While SUNY has yet to advise campuses of their specific allocations under the proposed budget, past practice suggests that the proposed cut potentially translates to a $20 million to $26 million reduction for Cornell.

"We are facing a very serious financial situation, not just in the contract colleges but universitywide," said President Hunter Rawlings.

Rawlings said the $1,360 tuition increase would offset only about two-thirds of the $15 million in increased costs estimated for the contract colleges in 2003-04, in areas that are not supported by the state. These include financial aid, library operations and acquisitions, accessory instruction, student services, admissions, and central computing and network services. To cover what could reach a $26 million state reduction as well, tuition would have to be increased a total of more than $5,600, he added.

Rawlings also noted that the state allocation supports research and extension as well as the cost of student instruction. "Such an increase is beyond any reasonable amount for tuition," Rawlings said. "And as a matter of policy, student tuition cannot be expected to take up the potential loss to research and extension."

He said $140.9 million was appropriated for the contract colleges in the current 2002-03 year from the state. Of that, $58 million from SUNY funded state research and extension in human, animal and plant health, economic and community development, and in management and labor relations. He added that every state dollar provided for research and extension leverages 3 more dollars from other sources, so that a $26 million cut assigned proportionately to research and extension would mean about a 27 percent reduction in these statewide research and extension activities, with an additional loss of millions of dollars in leveraged funding from other sources.

Rawlings said that to cover the expected budget shortfall, cuts would have to be made to non-instruction services and through workforce management, use of reserves and selective program changes. He added that because salaries constitute a majority of the university's budget, layoffs might become a necessity.

In addition to the expected budget shortfalls, the university faces cutbacks in financial aid. Cornell students receive about $5.2 million in state Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) aid, available to students at certain income levels who live and go to school in New York. The proposed reduction in TAP funding would cost CU students $1.4 million.

Proposed cuts to the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) total $11 million, or 50 percent, while cuts to the SUNY Education Opportunity Program (EOP) total $8.2 million. Cornell's estimated HEOP cut would be $150,000, while the EOP cut would be $60,000. About 200 Cornell students receive financial aid from these two programs.

The proposed state budget also includes a reduction of $18.7 million, or 42 percent, in Bundy Aid, the unrestricted aid from the state to private institutions. Cornell received about $2 million in Bundy Aid in 2001-02, and would lose about $900,000 under this proposal.

Provost Biddy Martin noted: "Despite these financial constraints, Cornell remains committed to attracting and retaining a student body of the highest quality, and we will maintain our policy of need-blind admission to ensure access by students with limited means who have the ability to succeed at Cornell." She said appropriate adjustments are being made in Cornell's institutional student financial aid allocations to adjust for the rate increases adopted by the trustees.

The increase of $1,360 is the same increase approved by the trustees in January for the endowed colleges.

The new contract college tuition rates are: