* 1999-00 through 2001-02 reflect enacted appropriations.
* 2002-03 and 2003-04 reflect Executive recommended appropriations.

The City University of New York (CUNY) was established as a municipal college system in 1926. In 1961, the Legislature designated the municipal system as the City University of New York. There are nineteen campuses, including nine senior campuses, seven community colleges, one technical college, a graduate school, and an affiliated medical school.

The City University of New York is included in the Education, Labor and Family Assistance appropriation bill.

State Operations

In State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2003-04 the Governor recommends a total Senior College operating budget of $1,118,381,000. This includes General Fund support for CUNY Senior Colleges of $581,441,000 for the 2003-04 Academic Year. This represents a reduction of $81,647,000 from the prior year level of funding. This level of funding fails to support $39,200,000 in mandatory cost increases estimated to be incurred at CUNY Senior Colleges during the 2003-04 Academic Year.

The Executive proposes to increase the CUNY Senior College Revenue Offset by $124,440,000 to provide the authorization necessary to utilize increased revenues derived from an increase in tuition of up to $1,200 from $3,200 to $4,400.

The Executive proposes reducing the funding levels for the Search for Elevation Education and Knowledge (SEEK) Program by $7,303,000 or 50 percent from the level provided in the 2002-03 Academic Year. This represents the elimination of supplemental student aid that is provided to economically disadvantaged students. In addition, the Governor would maintain funding at the prior year level of $1,230,000 for child care programs for students enrolled at CUNY senior campuses.

Aid to Localities

The Executive provides a total Aid to Localities appropriation of $715,054,000 for SFY 2003-04. This represents a $158,466,690 reduction below SFY 2002-03 levels.

In SFY 2002-03, the Governor provides $108,026,000 in General Fund support for CUNY Community Colleges. This represents a reduction of $22,829,000 below SFY 2002-2003 funding levels. This level of support reflects a $345 per full time equivalent (FTE) student reduction in community college base aid, lowering State support from the level of $2,300 per FTE provided during the SFY 2002-03 to $1,955 per FTE.

The Executive proposes to reduce the funding level for the College Discovery Program by $382,000 or 50 percent from SFY 2002-03 level and would maintain funding at $865,000 for child care programs for students enrolled at CUNY Community Colleges, reflecting no change from SFY 2002-03.

The Executive Proposal would eliminate $1,000,000 in General Fund support for contract courses provided at CUNY Community Colleges.

Finally, the Executive proposal would reduce support for CUNY Senior College pension payments by $11,200,000 from $14,200,000 to $3,000,000. This reflects the elimination of nonrecurring costs associated with the employee retirement plan and special pension payments attributable to the employees of the City University of New York.

Capital Projects

The Executive proposes new Capital Projects appropriations of $1,056,500,000. This represents a proposal for a new multi-year capital investment program for CUNY and provides college facility and infrastructure improvements for senior colleges and community colleges. In addition, the Executive proposal would include re-appropriation authority of $172,000,000 for existing capital projects within the proposed multi-year plan. The proposal provides approximately $250,700,000 to support the first year of the multi-year capital plan. Within this multi-year plan, the Governor makes recommendations for the following:

• Appropriation authority providing support for up to $1,098,500,000 for capital projects at CUNY Senior Colleges. This includes $25,000,000 in hard dollar support and $1,078,500,000 in bonding authorization for such purposes;

• Appropriation authority providing support for up to $130,000,000 for capital projects at CUNY Community Colleges. This includes $5,000,000 in hard dollar support and $125,000,000 in bonding authorization for such purposes;

In addition, authorization is included within the Governor's proposed multi-year capital plan to allow CUNY to begin the planning efforts for the development of Governor's Island.

The Executive recommends altering the manner in which the CUNY finances its multi-year capital plan by converting to disbursement based bonding. As a result, the City University Construction Fund will be authorized to utilize bond proceeds from previous bond offerings to fund a significant portion of planned bondable capital projects for SFY 2003 04.

Article VII Proposal

The Executive proposes language that would provide the CUNY Board of Trustees with the ability to establish differential tuition rates for graduate and professional degree programs. In addition, the Executive proposal would remove the current statutory prohibition against the CUNY Board of Trustees from adopting a tuition increase prior to enactment of the annual State budget.