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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

President's Wednesday Message


Governor Cuomo released his Executive Budget last week. This budget provides the starting point for our advocacy on behalf of community colleges. 

The budget did not include any additional base aid for our colleges, but this is not new. In past years, the Assembly and the Senate have worked to restore aid to the community colleges, and we will again advocate with a unified voice across all SUNY community colleges for an increase in base aid. It is our number one — and, really, only — priority. Our request, which has been endorsed by the SUNY Board of Trustees, is for an additional $250 per full-time equivalent (FTE) student. Currently, we receive $2,497. Our request would move community colleges to $2,747 per FTE—which would finally take us back to funding levels we last achieved in 2009.

In his budget, the Governor also included a move to performance based funding for all community colleges. In his plan, 10 percent of our base aid would be tied to “Performance Improvement Plans” with metrics addressing access, success, completion, transfer, job placement, program linkages with local employers, and alignment with the Regional Economic Development Councils (REDC).

The REDCs play a major role in another initiative launched in the budget: the creation of Regional State University of New York Community College Councils. These councils would bring together the community colleges on a regional basis with a goal of setting program development and transfer goals, aligning education and training programs with REDC activities, and establishing goals to improve student outcomes. As an example, the Finger Lakes council would include MCC, FLCC, and GCC.

The Governor’s budget removed some existing budget items: the SUNY funds for child care, educational pipeline activities, and GAP programming related to remediation reduction. In previous years, the ratified budget has restored child care funding, but we recognize that getting this restored is a bit more difficult each year.

The Governor’s budget included some new funding: a grant competition to bring the “Community in Schools” program as a pilot to community colleges, creating a “one stop” approach to meeting students’ basic needs. And, it continues the expansion of Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools and Job Linkages incentives.

The final budget requires agreement of the Executive, Assembly, and Senate, so our focus is now meeting with our Albany delegation around advocacy for MCC and our students. I know that many of you also engage in similar meetings, sharing the significant good and real return on investment that MCC provides for our students, our community, and our state. Should you need any information to support this work, please do not hesitate to reach out to Clayton Jones, Assistant to the Provost and Government Relations Liaison. MCC’s mission to provide access to high quality higher education has never been more critical for our students. Know that I am dedicated to sharing our message.Please share your thoughts on the
blog.

Anne M. Kress
Office of the President
01/28/2015