Hochul, King talk SUNY goals
Hope is to increase enrollment, which has declined
ALBANY – Every student has a place at a State University of New York school, Gov. Kathy Hochul and SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. said in speeches at the annual SUNY address Wednesday at the Albany Capital Center.
“We will take care of our own,” Hochul said, adding, “So it has to be affordable.”
She and King did not address in their speeches how they would make it affordable. The University at Albany costs around $20,000 a year for someone residing on campus even for a freshman who qualifies for the state’s full Excelsior Scholarship, which was designed to help the middle class afford college but does not include housing, meals, books or fees. Fees alone are more than $3,500 a year for a freshman.
But getting students to college is a priority, Hochul and King said.
Hochul acknowledged that enrollment must increase across the system. It’s been on the decline for a decade.
King called for “missionary” efforts to persuade students to enroll. In the next few weeks, the SUNY system will send out individualized letters to every 2023 high school graduate who lives near a SUNY community college, telling them they have been admitted there. Those who apply to a competitive SUNY college but don’t get in will get an offer of admittance to another SUNY.
“So everyone knows they have a place,” King said.
He focused part of his address on improving the four-year completion rate for college students.
“Too many students still don’t make it across the graduation stage,” he said. “There is mental health counseling, but often too little.”
This fall, SUNY will use increased state funding to help with housing, food, transportation and mental health services, he said. Using the increase in operating aid, SUNY will spend $10 million on additional mental health services, and $1 million food pantries and other efforts to reduce food insecurity. Every campus will designate a liaison to help homeless students with academic, financial and support to stay in school. SUNY released a 32-page policy book detailing initiatives that will be funded with the increased state aid.
In 2024, every SUNY program will also include curriculum on racial equity, King noted. Students majoring in artificial intelligence might learn about how facial recognition software struggles to identify non-white people, while prospective nurses might learn how persistent racism affects health.
King said SUNY must lean into “uncomfortable truths” and called leaders in Florida and Texas “craven politicians” for their educational policies.
But he said SUNY has more to do. He described a meeting with students in which they told him they had honest, raw and transformational discussions together about racism, but that some professors seemed uncomfortable with the topic and their stores didn’t stock appropriate hair care products.
King also wants to vastly increase research at
SUNY schools, using a new state-matched endowment fund. He hopes to eventually double the amount of money spent on research.
Also, every undergrad will soon be required to complete research or a relevant, real-world internship before graduating, he said. To help with that, SUNY will offer 1,400 more internships next year, he said.
There are currently more than 319,000 undergrads in the SUNY system.
The idea is to ensure success after graduation.
“Do graduates have fulfilling and well-paying jobs?” he said, citing Micron as an example of a successful partnership between industry and SUNY. He wants to do much more of that.
“There is no limit to the prosperity we can deliver,” he said.