November 29, 2023

SUNY’s landmark Tuition Assistance Program has made it possible for untold thousands of students to attend college in the 50 years since TAP started.

But times have changed since New York introduced this state grant program for students who meet the financial eligibility requirements. Now, mandatory fees for students beyond tuition can add thousands of dollars to the cost of college – and TAP can’t cover those fees.

With that concern in mind, UUP President Fred Kowal joined more than a dozen other advocates for SUNY Nov. 28 in a hearing before the Assembly Committee on Higher Education to ask that TAP be expanded to cover student fees. The committee is chaired by Albany Assembly member Patricia Fahy, a longtime advocate for SUNY and an ally of UUP.

“The increased fees, on top of tuition, are making college more and more unaffordable,” Kowal told lawmakers in his testimony. “While there is a need for these fees, there should be some control over fee hikes. Rolling fees into tuition costs would accomplish that. By doing so, fees would become TAP-eligible.”

Beyond closing the TAP Gap

UUP achieved a key legislative victory earlier this year when Gov. Kathy Hochul announced $48.8 million in funding to SUNY campuses in the final enacted state budget to close the so-called “TAP Gap” – the difference between the cost of tuition at SUNY and the amount of tuition that campuses could charge TAP-eligible students. Campuses had to make up the difference out of their own operating budgets, and UUP fought for years to have the state cover the TAP Gap.

Kowal noted to lawmakers that the income threshold for programs such as TAP has remained at $80,000 a year for students who are dependents. Enrollment for SUNY students who receive TAP and the federal Pell Grant has steadily declined, indicating that the barrier of an outdated income eligibility is blocking thousands of students from attending college.

Since 2018, SUNY has seen a 26.5% decrease in TAP recipients; Pell Grant recipients have declined by 35% since 2011.

“These decreases in Pell and TAP students are alarming, as part of SUNY’s core mission is to provide a quality education with the broadest possible access,” Kowal said. Increased state support for tuition assistance could be a major component in increasing enrollment.”

TAP expansion part of overall advocacy

The hearing served as a precursor to the upcoming budget season. In a year when New York has an estimated $19 billion surplus, UUP will be advocating hard for increased funding to SUNY, with a special emphasis on state support for the SUNY teaching hospitals, and also for 19 SUNY campuses that have faced devastating, multimillion-dollar operating deficits in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and more than a decade of austerity budgets under the Cuomo administration.

Watch the UUP website, the UUP Connect newsletter, and chapter announcements for news of upcoming advocacy events.