Cornell officials, pleased with the final show of support for higher education in the federal tax bill approved by Congress last week, also expressed appreciation for the legislative restoration of funds for higher education and Cornell in the New York state budget finally approved Aug. 4.
The nearly $68 billion 1997-98 state budget was 126 days late, eclipsing last year's record of 104 days late. But the end result was a budget much more supportive of higher education than the one initially proposed by Gov. George Pataki in January.
"We are grateful for the support the Legislature has shown for higher education in the state of New York and for Cornell University," said Henrik N. Dullea, Cornell vice president for university relations. "We are particularly pleased with the increase in Bundy Aid, which recognizes the valuable role played by independent institutions in the state, and with the additional funding for necessary improvements to the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva, so vitally important to the state's agricultural industry."
While expressing relief that the Legislature restored the proposed cuts and tuition increase, Dullea noted that the end result for 1997-98 was essentially a stand-still budget in comparison with 1996-97.
"At a time when the governor and the Legislature are adopting the largest increase in state aid to elementary and secondary education in the state's history, and when the president and Congress just came through with unprecedented support for higher education in a historic tax bill, the lack of forward movement for New York state's entire public higher education sector remains a serious concern," Dullea said.
Pataki's initial proposal left a gap of $64.1 million in operating support for the State University of New York (SUNY), called for an increase in tuition of up to $400 a year for SUNY students that amounted to $60 million in revenue and proposed cuts in the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), Bundy Aid and operating support for both the City University of New York system and the community colleges.
The budget approved last week restored most of the Executive Budget recommended cuts and eliminated the proposed SUNY tuition increase. Overall state operating support for SUNY increased by about $118 million over the governor's proposal.
For Cornell's statutory colleges the College of Human Ecology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and the College of Veterinary Medicine the final budget appropriation was $122.7 million, $5.7 more than was proposed by the governor.
That increase in funding for Cornell closed what would have been a $5.2 million gap in minimum statutory college operating requirements for 1997-98 under the governor's proposal, according to Nathan W. Fawcett, Cornell's director of statutory college affairs. And, Fawcett added, had the proposed SUNY tuition increase been approved, tuition for students in Cornell's statutory colleges would have had to increase even more than it did.
"The actual operating budget allocated by SUNY to the statutory colleges will be determined by SUNY's 1997-98 Financial Plan and will likely reflect adjustments for energy savings as well as allocations from certain SUNY-wide programs," Fawcett said. "For the first time in more than eight years the statutory colleges can look forward to stable state operating support, although no new funds were included in the SUNY budget to address emerging priorities or opportunities for enhanced service to students and the state."
The final budget includes $44.3 million for Bundy Aid, $5.3 million more than the $39 million allocated in the governor's proposal. Cornell's share of the total, about $2.3 million, funds student financial aid.
Among other highlights, the budget includes $600,000 for improvements at the Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva; renewed funding of $250,000 for the Cornell Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors in New York State; renewed funding of $240,000 for the Labor Studies Program and $220,000 for the Program in Employment and Workplace Systems (PEWS); renewed funding of $350,000 for North Country Agricultural Research; renewed funding of $25,000 for the Women and Work Institute; new funding of $262,000 for the Alternative Dispute Resolution Center; $75,000 for apiary research, $100,000 for onion industry research and $100,000 for a Deer Contraception Program; and level funding of $2.9 million for the Cornell County Cooperative Association program statewide.
Also included is $1 million for the Center for Advanced Technology in Biotechnology at Cornell. Pataki first proposed eliminating $13 million in funding for the state's Centers for Advanced Technology (CATs) but later restored that funding when he amended his budget proposal.
See story on the grassroots effort that led to a positive federal tax bill for higher education.