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On Demand

College Choices

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

As students and their parents decide which college to attend in the fall, Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny, retiring president of Stony Brook University, says SUNY and CUNY students are being hit with unfair tuition hikes.


Comments

  • [1] Che from Soho April 21, 2009 - 10:49AM

    is there any advice you can shed on colleges and child services?

    I have a younger cousin whom was just admitted to Georgetown, but is now expecting.


  • [2] hjs from 11211 April 21, 2009 - 11:10AM

    ugh BL you're making sick. I HATE ALBANY!


  • [3] jkl from manhattan April 21, 2009 - 11:15AM

    sorry, but sounds like a pr move to call it a tax--state funding was cut and you had to raise tuition--isn't that what is going on? Is it really fair to call it a "tax" on SUNY students?


  • [4] Alison from Manhattan April 21, 2009 - 11:16AM

    It blows my mind to think that parents refinance and get themselves into so much debt in order to send their child to these "private" universities! Listen to Suzie Orman - take care of yourselves and your retirements and let your kids take are of their higher education!! Crazy world!


  • [5] Chris from Brooklyn April 21, 2009 - 11:18AM

    My child is a junior in high school and we are considering SUNY (Stonybrook & Binghamton). How exactly is a SUNY school like Stonybrook funded? What percentage is tutition, state aid, and what are other resources.


  • [6] Richard Lee from Park Slope April 21, 2009 - 11:18AM

    With due respect to Dr. Kenny... while it may be true that the "takeback" engineered by the State is unprecedented, it would hardly be unusual for a major university to syphon off some proportion of a dedicated gift intended for a specific department or school, in order to fund general operating expenses of the institution as a whole. Can Dr. Kenny discuss the difference between the two situations?


  • [7] Andy from Brooklyn April 21, 2009 - 11:25AM

    Maybe they don't have that stigma in California because Berkeley is a top notch internationally recognized university. The comparison was very poor.


  • [8] Daniel from Munich April 21, 2009 - 11:26AM

    Can they really say they aren't using state money for the Football scholarships if the person who searches for the funding works for the university and is paid by the state for that service?


  • [9] Susy from manhattan April 21, 2009 - 11:27AM

    As far as the 'prestige' of certain private colleges....

    I went to SUNY. And I'm the director here at my company. I do the hiring.

    For me, it makes no difference where someone went. They have to be smart and qualified.


  • [10] Joan Greenbaum from CUNY Graduate Center and laGuardia Community College April 21, 2009 - 11:27AM

    The overwhelming majority of CUNY students are working and paying their own way. Financial aid such as it is, covers most community college students only up to a certain number of credits because the majority of students are required to take language and/or remedial courses.

    Tuition hikes hit the over 200,000 CUNY student directly in their hourly-wage (mostly minimum wage) pockets. let's talk more about this vast and often invisible number of students more.


  • [11] Patricia Rudden from Manhattan April 21, 2009 - 11:40AM

    My freshman composition students at New York City College of Technology (CUNY) are writing about the tuition increase for their research papers at the moment. Discovering how things are actually funded and who gets what part of what money has been eye-opening for them, and I hope this leads to better citizen participation as they move through school and for the rest of their lives. For those of us who attended CUNY schools when tuition was free, this situation is particularly sickening.


  • [12] Emily from CCNY April 21, 2009 - 11:59AM

    Tomorrow at 2pm, CCNY students and faculty will walk out of classes and rally with supporters in the NAC plaza on the CCNY campus (138th St. and Convent Ave), to protest primarily the tuition hikes. Students are working on maintaining a quality and affordable education for themselves and future students. Come out to support us!

    for more info, contact radicalwomen@ccny.cuny.edu


  • [13] Shana from Forest Hills, NY April 21, 2009 - 12:04PM

    I am currently a student at CUNY Queens College and I feel that the tuition hikes for SUNY and CUNY are unfair. Many students who attend SUNY and CUNY schools do so because they are pursuing a good education at a fair price. However, due to the planned tuition hikes, student loan limitations and scholarship reductions this dream is moving farther into the horizon for many prospective students. In addition to the tuition hikes, programs are being cut and professors are being let go. In an educational community that boasts high standards at a fair price, this proposal is unacceptable. If you want to get involved and join the movement to stop the tuition hikes, please find the following information:

    WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22:

    Protest and walkout at CCNY against the tuition hike and budget cuts:

    2pm: students and faculty walk out of classes and immediately converge outside in (NAC) North Academic Center's Plaza (138th and Convent Ave)*

    3pm: march to the CCNY Administration Building across the street

    4pm: take the 1 train together at 137th/Broadway up to 237th st. to join the Stella D'Oro picket line.

    *(For directions to the CCNY campus, see: http://www1. ccny.cuny. edu/prospective/ about/directions .cfm)


  • [14] Shana from Forest Hills, NY April 21, 2009 - 12:05PM

    WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22:

    Protest and walkout at CCNY against the tuition hike and budget cuts:

    2pm: students and faculty walk out of classes and immediately converge outside in (NAC) North Academic Center's Plaza (138th and Convent Ave)*

    3pm: march to the CCNY Administration Building across the street

    4pm: take the 1 train together at 137th/Broadway up to 237th st. to join the Stella D'Oro picket line.

    *(For directions to the CCNY campus, see: http://www1. ccny.cuny. edu/prospective/ about/directions .cfm)

    THURSDAY, APRIL 23:

    12-1 p.m., New School/Parsons, 66 W. 12th St. (between 5th & 6th Aves.): UAW Local 7902 (part-time faculty union) is calling a protest against mass dismissals of arts faculty at the New School/Parsons. It is important for us to build solidarity with these colleagues. This is also an opportunity to protest the police brutality against students whio re-occupied the New School earlier this month.

    4:30-6:30 p.m., MTA headquarters, Madison Ave. & 44th St.: We decided to mobilize people from CUNY to go to the "emergency demonstration" called by the Transport Workers Union against the fare hike, jobs cuts and service cuts. Since the TWU is officially calling for "thousands" of workers to come out to this protest, this can be an important opportunity to connect up with the enormous potential power of the city's transit workers.


  • [15] Carina Nieves from CUNY LaGuardia Community College April 21, 2009 - 12:24PM

    Over half of the students that go to LaGuardia CC are part time students that work full-time. They can't do this to hard working students who just want a degree to make a career and life for themselves. Many students are just coming to the country and are working their asses off and trying to learn english to work and go to school here too. Chancellor Goldstein just got a $50,000 raise and wants to raise tuition on us without even considering that he should cutback himself. Eighty percent of our tuition goes to the state and only 20% comes back to CUNY. Mayor Bloomberg is cutting funding for community colleges well you know what he isn't getting my vote this November!


  • [16] Kathleen Barker from Medgar Evers College from Manhattan April 21, 2009 - 12:49PM

    There are many ways to institutionally discriminate, as my social psychology students are discovering. The substitution of tuition increases in lieu of tax levies on the extreme rich of NYS is one such example. It is an ignominious chapter in the state's history of funding higher education and one that will not just affect the poor, but also working class and middle-class families in our state during these very tough times.


  • [17] Greg from brooklyn April 21, 2009 - 01:07PM

    I think it is wrong that we, as students, have to pay more especially in an economy like this.

    I feel that it is the result of bad budget management, needless spending and abuse of the system by bad politicians. We, are stuck with the bill.

    We can not afford to borrow more to pay for an education that may not even get us a job in these recessional times in NYC.


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