Report: Let SUNY schools set tuitions
A state proposal to let SUNY schools set their own tuitions could draw more students to local SUNY schools and community colleges, some school officials said.
A state commission report, submitted to Gov. Eliot Spitzer Monday, called for sweeping changes to the SUNY system including allowing schools to set their own tuition levels based on the demand for entrance and their needs.
"It could actually allow institutions to differentiate themselves, not just in cost but in focus," Morrisville State College President Raymond Cross said.
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<td>WHAT THEY SAID</td>
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<td>A state commission has offered suggestions on how to improve the SUNY system including letting schools set their own tuitions.
Here's what local college officials think about the proposal:
Morrisville State College President Raymond Cross: Plan could help schools differentiate themselves in cost and focus.
SUNYIT interim president Peter Spina: Proposal wouldn't have great impact on school.
Mohawk Valley Community College spokeswoman Joan Andrek: More students may attend smaller SUNY schools if larger schools hike their tuitions.</td>
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The commission hopes to make SUNY schools more competitive with other public schools nationwide and New York's private colleges and universities.
But SUNYIT interim president Peter Spina said he was unsure that varying tuition rates would have any effect on his school and was skeptical the recommendations will make it through the Legislature.
"While I applaud the effort," Spina said, "I'm not terribly optimistic."
The recommendations will now go to Spitzer, who said he will include many of them in his State of the State speech and executive budget proposal in January.
"New York State's public higher education institutions face a chronic problem - they have too little revenue and too little investment," according to the report.
Affordable tuition
Officials at Morrisville and Mohawk Valley Community College said tuitions that vary from campus to campus could attract more students locally if larger SUNY schools charge higher tuition rates.
"Students who are looking to earn ultimately a four-year degree have greater opportunity to start with us where tuition remains affordable," said Mohawk Valley Community College spokeswoman Joan Andrek.
Officials from Herkimer County Community College were still reviewing the report Monday and were not available to comment.
The state commission also recommends regular, predictable increases in tuition that supporters say help families and colleges plan better.
This would be a drastic improvement over previous state policies, Cross said.
"If you look at how our tuition has been set in the past, it's one-size-fits-all and it's also been in a balloon model," Cross said "That's not very good to parents or students."
Impact limited
Spina said the effect of the recommendations on SUNYIT would be limited.
Larger SUNY schools often support varying tuitions because they stand to bring in more revenue, he said. While increased tuition would benefit SUNYIT, it's unlikely to have a drastic effect, he said.
And the concept of varying tuition doesn't make sense, he said, because the schools that could charge more are often schools that also can cut costs by having graduate students teach large classes.
"I'm not sure that raising tuition is going to impact the quality of education at SUNYIT," he said. "I'm not sure that it isn't either."
SUNYIT professor Ron Sarner doesn't believe smaller, and potentially less expensive, SUNY schools will see more students if they can charge different tuition rates.
The different in cost won't be significant, he said.
"Is a rational person going to make a choice on one campus versus another because one is $500 less expensive?" said Sarner, who has worked at the college for 34 years. "No."
Observer-Dispatch