City University of New York

Agency Web Site: http://www.cuny.edu/

Mission

The City University of New York (CUNY) has its origins in the Free Academy, established in 1847 under the auspices of the New York City Board of Education, and today is the nation’s largest urban public university system. The University’s mission is to provide affordable higher education with a focus on the urban community of New York City.

Organization and Staffing

CUNY is governed by a seventeen-member Board of Trustees consisting of 10 members appointed by the Governor, five members appointed by the Mayor, the chair of the Student Senate, and the chair of the Faculty Senate, who both act as ex-officio members. Aside from the Board, CUNY’s leadership structure also consists of a Chancellor, individual college presidents, and centralized staff. The City University includes 11 senior colleges, seven community colleges, the Macaulay Honors College, and five graduate and professional schools; all of which are located throughout the city’s five boroughs, employing thousands of academic, administrative, and facility personnel.

Budget Highlights

The FY 2019 Executive Budget recommends $4.6 billion for CUNY and projects a workforce of 13,549 FTEs consistent with FY 2018 levels.

The FY 2019 funding level represents a $192 million net decrease from the previous year, which included a one-time $254 million appropriation to support retroactive collective bargaining costs. Excluding one-time prior-year collective bargaining support, net funding for CUNY will increase by $62 million including additional employee fringe benefit support, capital project funding, and tuition revenue.

Last year, building on the State’s already generous Tuition Assistance Program, New York launched the groundbreaking Excelsior Scholarship program to provide tuition-free college for middle class families. The FY 2019 Executive Budget launches the second phase of this program. For the 2018-19 academic year, the program’s income eligibility threshold will increase, allowing New Yorkers with household incomes up to $110,000 to be eligible. To continue this landmark program, the Budget includes $118 million to support an estimated 27,000 students for the coming academic year.

The FY 2019 Executive Budget includes legislation to launch the DREAM Act, opening the doors of higher education to thousands of New Yorkers. Since 2002, undocumented students qualify for in-state tuition at SUNY and CUNY if they graduated from a New York high school or received a GED in the state. Yet, each year, many talented students who graduate from New York high schools remain unable to fulfill their potential simply because they cannot afford the tuition and lack access to tuition assistance to help pay for school. The DREAM Act will give undocumented students access to the Tuition Assistance Program, as well as state-administered scholarships.

The Executive Budget also continues New York’s predictable tuition plan which has kept public college tuition affordable. Average tuition and fees at New York’s public four-year colleges are among the lowest in the nation -- $2,030, or 20 percent, less than the national average and lower than 39 other states.

The FY 2019 Executive Budget maintains base operating aid for CUNY community colleges at $2,747 per full time equivalent student.

For more information on this agency's budget recommendations located in the Executive Budget Briefing Book, click on the following link:

Briefing Book – Higher Education (PDF)

Program Highlights

The City University of New York is the largest urban university system in the nation and offers a wide variety of educational avenues ranging from vocational courses to doctoral degree programs. Approximately 273,000 full- and part-time students are pursuing studies ranging from one-year certificate programs to doctorates.

In order to help students obtain an affordable education and graduate on-time, CUNY is expanding high impact programs across the system. In addition to launching the second phase of the Excelsior Scholarship Program, continuing a predictable tuition plan, and combating exploding student debt, the FY 2019 Executive Budget is also making other strategic investments to ensure all of New York’s aspiring students can go to college and achieve their dreams. A sampling of these investments includes the following:

Open Educational Resources

The FY 2019 Executive Budget invests $8 million to expand an open educational resource initiative that helps to reduce, and in some instances, eliminate the costs of textbooks for students. The cost of textbooks and related course material have increased at a rate far greater than most families' ability to pay. Unchecked cost increases on student textbooks have also led to a higher debt burden among college students. This funding will enable SUNY and CUNY to continue to advance the expansion of existing OER resources, making college more affordable for students and their families.

CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies

The Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies, which was established in collaboration with New York City labor unions in 1984 to meet the higher education needs of working adults, now serves more than 1,200 adult and traditional-aged students across the CUNY system in undergraduate and graduate degree, and certificate programs focused on labor-related issues. The Institute provides higher education programs in three general categories including labor, urban studies, and worker education/workforce development. The FY 2019 Executive Budget includes a $1.5 million investment to expand the institute into the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, a recognition of the invaluable role the Institute plays in the CUNY community and as a center of labor discourse.

Food Pantries on all SUNY and CUNY Campuses

To ensure consistent healthy food options are available to young adults on college campuses, all SUNY and CUNY schools will be required to either provide physical food pantries on campus, or enable students to receive food through a separate arrangement that is stigma-free. In 2009, fewer than 10 campus food pantries existed at private and state colleges nationwide, and as of 2017, more than 570 currently exist. Only about half of all SUNY and CUNY campuses have food pantries currently in place. New York State would be the first state to require every public campus to have a food pantry.

Note: Most recent estimates as of 01/16/2018