CUNY News In Brief (May, 2009)
by Advocate Staff
As the economic crisis continues to deepen, many New Yorkers are choosing to return to school, and are looking to do so as cheaply as possible. CUNY has enjoyed a sharp 12 percent increase in applications over the past year, which will likely lead to CUNY’s highest enrollment ever next semester.
According to CUNY overlord Matthew Goldstein, rising numbers of applications are to be expected during moments of economic turmoil. Speaking with the Daily News–Advocate staff was too busy adjuncting to take his call – Goldstein noted that “When the economy takes a dip [people] run to higher education institutions to shore up their skills.”
Goldstein also notes that the financial squeeze suffered by working class citizens makes CUNY schools particularly attractive. At $4,000, CUNY’s annual tuition for four-year colleges stacks up nicely against other American universities, where school fees can run as much as $50,000 a year.
CUNY officials expect a total enrollment boost of 25 percent by year’s end, and made sure to note that the system’s colleges have more than doubled the number of incoming freshman graduating at the top of their high school classes, while also increasing the number of graduate students by roughly 25,000 since the start of the decade.
CUNY community colleges have also enjoyed a significant bump in enrollment, where the number of incoming students has jumped 6 percent already this year. Increased enrollment makes sense, as the job skills offered at CUNY’s community college campus are in high demand right now, among employers and employees alike.
Even on the Cheap, Education Costs are Difficult to Bear
While rising numbers of first-time and returning students to CUNY campuses is news to be cheered, incoming students face the unpleasant task of figuring out how to pay for their educations – a particularly daunting challenge in the current environment.
CUNY officials reported that while the number of applications to the system have increased at a healthy clip, these numbers are dwarfed by those of students seeking federal education assistance. In the past year, federal financial aid requests have ballooned by 33 percent, a striking departure from the usual annual increase of 13 percent.
Congressman Anthony Weiner, representing parts of Brooklyn and Queens, chose Baruch College in Manhattan to highlight the importance of increased demand for federal assistance. “We now have another indicator of how difficult it is for middle class New Yorkers,” Weiner said. “The number of people asking for financial aid to make ends meet has gone up as the economy has gone down.” Despite money allotments set aside for financial aid assistance in the recent federal stimulus package, Weiner argued that the government must take further action to continue insuring that working-class Americans have the opportunity to pursue their education. “We need students being able to come here. We need Baruch to be able to sustain its programs. And the federal government needs to take an active role.”
While Students Struggle to Make Ends Meet, CUNY Fundraising Goals Exceeded…and then Some
Students struggling to find money for CUNY might want to get in touch with Matthew Goldstein. Our esteemed chancellor can’t seem to stop people from throwing their money at him.
In late March, Goldstein announced that he had reached CUNY’s fundraising goal of $1.2 billion…three years in advance. The chancellor noted that over 200 donors have agreed to hand over at least $1 million each, the largest gift coming from City College graduate Bernard Spitzer. The father of ex-governor Eliot lavished the university with a gift of $25 million which he asked be funneled in its entirety to his alma mater in Harlem.
CUNY expects that by 2015, the chancellor will have extracted over $3 billion from potential and continuing donors. Others are skeptical, noting that the economic downturn will likely tighten the amounts philanthropists would otherwise consider.
Whatever the result in three years’ time, the current flush of money is to be welcomed…we think. While CUNY promised to direct spending to student services, scholarship endowments, and new faculty hires, full details have not yet been articulated. Stay tuned.
