For three months, State University of New York students have waited in limbo as legislators continued to delay passage of a state budget. For three months, our futures, the future of SUNY, and the future of this great state have been anything but certain. We see today as a turning point in what seems like a never-ending journey, and we urge legislators to act.

Millions of dollars in cuts are on the table for SUNY campuses – our programs, our classes, our teachers, our opportunities. Public universities cannot operate without public support. As students, access and affordability are paramount in our quest for knowledge and in becoming quality citizens of our state. With deep cuts come even deeper hardships, both for our students and for SUNY’s ability to provide access to a quality education.

To make matters worse, legislators seem determined to push aside what we see as the most important set of reforms in SUNY’s history, but also for its future. The Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act allows the Board of Trustees to enact a rational tuition plan and provide the necessary aid to close the gap for the poorest of students and their families. It allows SUNY to use its already limited resources more efficiently, by ending the outdated procurement and land-use process that delays progress and forces our campuses to miss out on so many important opportunities. And lastly, it allows for SUNY to engage in public-private partnerships that will develop additional revenue sources from the private sector, preventing even more financial burden from falling on the backs of students.

We have said time and time again that SUNY students are not an ATM for New York. We have reiterated that the future of SUNY is the future of New York. And today, in one last plea to legislators as they make these final budget decisions – we ask that you reevaluate the levels at which you are cutting SUNY, and that you make the right decision to pass the Empowerment Act. Student and their families, in every Senate and Assembly district across the state, depend on it.

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