Inside the Current Issue

Proposal Will Raise Tuition 2.5% for Next Four Years

DSC denounces funding "Compact" for CUNY Master Plan

Correction appended

Peter White

Members of the CUNY Board of Trustees listen to speakers at a forum on Nov. 21. Photo by Spencer Sunshine

DSC Executive Committee member Tina Lee urged the Board to reconsider the "Compact." Photo by Spencer Sunshine

At their last meeting, the DSC voted to denounce "the Compact," the new funding scheme that CUNY has proposed to pay for its "Master Plan." Furthermore, they empowered the GC's representative to the University Student Senate, Charles Lieberman, to advocate that the USS representative who sits on the Board of Trustees oppose the proposed plan.

If passed, the Compact will raise tuition at all "senior colleges" (which by our understanding at press time includes the GC) by an average of 2.5% every year until Fiscal Year (FY) 2010.

Having just been slammed with an 18% tuition hike this year, many GC students are up in arms about the proposed institutionalized increases. Several DSC Steering Committee members attended the public forum held by the Board of Trustees on November 21 to express the GC's displeasure with the new proposed hikes.

The funding scheme is predicated on raising an additional $529.4 million by FY 2010 - $327.3 million of which will go to maintain current services, while $202.1 will cover new investments. The investments will include hiring 800 new full-time faculty, enhancing research capabilities, supporting the new Graduate School of Journalism, strengthening collaborative programs with the NYC Department of Education, and making investments in student services and information resources.

The interesting thing about the scheme is that it claims to reduce the amount of the total budget paid by CUNY student tuition. While the tuition increases are expected to yield $119.3 million (15.5%), tuition's overall share of the budget will actually also drop from 41.5% to 37.6%. The budget proposes that by FY2010, public support will increase by $367.7 million dollars, or 33.8%.

Correction:
An article which appeared on the front page of the November, 2005 edition of The Advocate erroneously stated that the Doctoral Students' Council had denounced the Chancellor's Compact. The denunciation, passed by resolution of the Doctoral Students' Council in plenary session on November 18, 2005, pertained to potential tuition increases, including those contained in the Chancellor's Compact. The resolution did not denounce the Chancellor's Compact as a whole, as the article implied.