City University of New York

Agency Web Site: https://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 17-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. CUNY includes 11 senior colleges, seven community colleges, and seven honors and professional schools located throughout the City’s five boroughs, employing thousands of academic, administrative, and facility personnel.

Budget Highlights

The FY 2023 Executive Budget recommends $5.8 billion for CUNY and projects a workforce of 14,016, which is a 540 increase from the FY 2022 workforce level.

The FY 2023 funding level represents an overall $789 million increase to appropriated levels from the prior year. The increases include: $326 million for capital projects, $339 million for the Enterprise Fund appropriation that supports operations of CUNY senior colleges, and $124 million in local assistance appropriations that provide General Fund support to CUNY senior colleges and community colleges.

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

CUNY 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 261,000 full- and part-time CUNY students are pursuing studies ranging from one-year certificate programs to doctorates.

Responding to the Pandemic

COVID-19 confronted New York’s public university systems with unprecedented challenges that threatened their progress in providing New Yorkers with access to a college education. Both systems rose to the challenge in maintaining course offerings and helping to support the State's COVID response. CUNY and the State University of New York (SUNY) offered in-person learning at all 84 campuses, providing approximately 610,000 students the opportunity to continue their education uninterrupted in the Fall 2021 semester.

During the pandemic, SUNY and CUNY oversaw the timely distribution of a combined $1.4 billion of emergency grants to students from three federal stimulus bills, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act, and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act.

CUNY students returned to campus in Fall 2021 helped by the VaxUpCUNY campaign and measures that made CUNY campuses among the safest places in New York City. SUNY and CUNY campuses hosted vaccination sites that put shots in more than 2 million arms.

CUNY instituted the CUNY Comeback Program, a debt-forgiveness initiative that erased nearly $100 million in unpaid tuition and fees for more than 52,000 students.

Increase CUNY Operating Support by $62 Million

The Executive Budget will increase operating support to CUNY senior colleges by fully reimbursing colleges for the cost of "TAP Gap" tuition credits, providing additional State support of $59.6 million. CUNY will also receive additional operating revenue from Executive Budget legislation to raise the amount of State support that campuses receive for Excelsior Scholarship recipients, increasing operating support by $2.8 million to CUNY senior colleges.

Invest $53 Million in Full-Time Faculty

The Executive Budget provides CUNY $53 million to hire additional full-time faculty at both four-year colleges and community colleges. This investment will fund an estimated 540 additional full-time faculty at CUNY, including the conversion of adjuncts to full-time positions.

Raise the Community College Funding Floor

The Executive Budget will maintain a funding floor for community colleges at 100 percent of prior year funding, up from the 98 percent floor enacted in FY 2022. Without a funding floor, CUNY community colleges would face a $35 million (16 percent) loss in formula aid due to enrollment declines.

Expand Childcare to All CUNY Campuses

The Executive Budget includes $4.8 million in start-up funds for CUNY to establish childcare centers at all CUNY campuses, including $3.6 million for CUNY senior colleges and $1.2 million for CUNY community colleges.

Capital Plan

The FY 2023 Executive Budget advances a $2.1 billion five-year capital plan to support infrastructure improvements at CUNY. For FY 2023, the Executive Budget provides: $709 million in new capital appropriations for State-operated campuses (a $315 million increase) and $45 million in new capital appropriations for community college projects (a $9 million increase).

Note: Most recent estimates as of 05/11/2020