Legislative committees back college budget
The proposed SUNY Ulster budget for 2018-19, which calls for no tuition increase and no increase in the amount of county funding, sailed through legislative committees following a public hearing that drew no comments.
Members of the Ulster County Legislature’s Ways and Means and Legislative Programs, Education, and Community Services committees unanimously approved the $28,336,237 spending plan Tuesday, and lawmakers lauded SUNY Ulster for the budget and the services the community college offers.
“This budget is something I think we’re all very happy with,” said Legislator David Donaldson, who heads the Programs, Education and Community Services Committee.
Donaldson, D-Kingston, said new programs at the college designed to encourage people who might not otherwise think they could go to college are “changing people’s lives.”
“This is a gateway to the middle class for many people,” he said. “You’re changing their lives and the lives of the people who come after them — their children.”
The budget is 2.7 percent larger than the college’s 2017-18 spending plan. Tuition will remain $4,480 per year for full-time students and $170 per credit hour for part-time students. The county’s contribution will hold steady at $6.4 million.
SUNY Ulster President Alan Roberts said the college was able to maintain the current tuition and county contribution levels due in large part to an increasing enrollment.
Roberts attributed the increased enrollment partly to a new emphasis the college is putting on its athletics program, as well as such initiatives as adult education, veterans programs and outreach to local high schools.
He also said the college is looking to open a small satellite campus in southern Ulster County to better serve potential students in that area. The college already has a satellite campus n the city of Kingston. The main campus is in Stone Ridge.
The proposed college budget now goes to the full county Legislature for consideration, and it also must be approved by the state.