SUNY Ulster budget includes tuition hike
SUNY Ulster officials have proposed dipping into the college’s reserve account and increasing tuition to make up for revenue losses due to decreasing enrollment and a reduction in state aid.
The community college’s proposed budget for 2020-21 totals $27,362,353, which is 3.8% smaller than its 2019-20 spending plan.
College President Alan
Roberts told the Ulster County Legislature’s Legislative Programs, Education and Community Services Committee on Tuesday that fall enrollment is down 25% from this time last year and that state aid has been drastically reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, he said, the college is on sound financial footing and well positioned to weather the drop in revenue.
“We’re financially solid,” Roberts said. “We also have good enrollment and a number of other things that brought us to this point.”
He conceded, though, that the upcoming academic year will be challenging, both financially and academically.
Roberts said that in light of concerns above the spread of COVID-19, the college — which has its main campus in Stone Ridge and a satellite campus in Kingston — is working through a series of options for the fall semester that will include remote, in-person and hybrid classes.
He also said the college is launching an aggressive campaign to increase fall enrollment. Under the proposed budget, tuition at SUNY Ulster will increase by $100 per semester, to $2,440 (or $4,880 per year). Part-time tuition will increase by $10 per credit resulting in a parttime rate of $190.
The college also will draw $407,893 from its fund balance to help offset spending.
The county’s contribution to the college is to remain steady at $6,400,863.
The proposed tuition increase is the college’s fourth since the 2014-15 academic year, when the cost for fulltime students was $4,230 per year. The college board and county legislators approved tuition hikes for the 2016-17, 2017-18, and 201920 academic years. There was no tuition increase for 2018-19.
The county’s contribution to the college budget, meanwhile, has remained flat since 2015-16, when the amount rose by 1.9 percent, to $6.4 million.
The full Legislature is expected to hold a public hearing on the college budget during a meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. July 14 and vote on the spending plan on July 21.