LC Meridian

Issue date: 2/1/06 Section: News

Media Credit: CUNY - Lehman College [Click to enlarge]

Think you're paying too much tuition now? If the CUNY Compact goes into effect, all Lehman students can expect tuition increases each year. The CUNY compact is a four-year contract between students, the state and city legislature, philanthropic organizations and CUNY schools, where each party provides financial contributions toward the city university system to fund academic initiatives. The compact proposes tuition increases for the next four years as a main source of financing its programmatic initiatives.

The CUNY Compact is a financial and academic initiative proposal from CUNY Chancellor Goldstein. Initiatives include expanding full-time faculty, improving undergraduate and graduate education, investing in student services, and improving workforce development, as well as improvements in information management systems and facilities infrastructure. The CUNY Master Plan's initiatives are critically needed; however, plans cannot flourish without sufficient funds.

The Compact's largest source of funding is from the proposed annual student tuition hikes, averaging $100 per student, per year. By 2010, a full year of tuition will total about $4,400, instead of the current annual tuition rate of $4,000. This figure excludes the climbing expenses of books and supplies, the student activity and technology fees. The CUNY Master Plan states, "No student in need of financial assistance will be put in harm's way." There are claims that the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and Pell grants will cover the Compact's tuition hikes and be readjusted for CUNY students, although state and federal aid aren't tailored to CUNY tuition increases. In contrast, many students at Lehman College will be placed in harm's way because they are ineligible for state and federal aid. Due to the restrictive TAP and Pell guidelines, members of the Lehman College student body who are part-time, require more than four years to graduate or have family incomes above $50,000, automatically do not fall into the Compact's financial safety net. The Lehman College student body will be affected as a myriad of technicalities causes each student to respond to their sharply increased tuition bill, not to mention each students "out-of pocket" expenses.

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