Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli (D-Syracuse) strongly urged the SUNY Board of Trustees to reject Chancellor King’s proposed $950 tuition hike when they meet June 30, and to follow the lead of the City University of New York, which announced it was limiting its tuition hike for this year to $800.

“If CUNY can do it, there’s no reason SUNY can’t,” Magnarelli said. “We all recognize these are tough times for universities, but they’re tough for students, too. Saving $150 or more can make a big difference for many college students.”

The process of setting tuitions for the upcoming academic year has been repeatedly marred by controversy, beginning with the SUNY Board of Trustee’s call for a $1,400 tuition increase. The governor proposed a 38%, $1,200 hike and cutting some $703 million from higher education programs. The Legislature then passed its own bipartisan budget, capping tuition increases at no more than $950, restoring much of the governor’s cut and subsequently overriding his veto.

“To prepare our kids for the future and strengthen New York’s weakened economy, we must make higher education affordable and accessible for all students,” said Magnarelli, who is chair of the Assembly University-Industry Cooperation Taskforce.

After the Legislature passed its bipartisan budget accord, the SUNY Board – which is controlled by the governor – repeatedly put off setting the tuition level for next year, deeply worrying the scores of students and parents who need to know how much to budget. Meanwhile, CUNY managed to cut costs and hold the hike to $800.

“SUNY’s delay is inexcusable,” Magnarelli said. “Details of the Legislature’s budget have been widely available for well over a month, and the board has an obligation to let students know how much they’re going to pay as quickly as possible. The board has simply ignored that responsibility.”

Further controversy erupted when the media reported that the board has been holding their meetings in such a way as to circumvent the state’s Open Meeting laws – laws meant to ensure that government bodies aren’t making decisions behind closed doors. The board would reportedly split into two groups, so that neither meeting would have the number of people necessary to trigger public notice under the Open Meeting laws.

“Our Open Meeting laws are meant to prevent just the sort of activity that the SUNY Board seems to have engaged in,” Magnarelli said. “What are they trying to hide?

“It’s clear that something needs to change as far as the SUNY Board goes,” Magnarelli said. “But more than that, the attitude of this administration – the governor and his appointees alike – toward higher education has to improve if New York is going to dominate the 21st century’s economy as it did much of the 20th century.”