The New York State Association for College Admission Couseling (NYSACAC) is encouraging legislators to support financial aid opportunities to open doors for college participation. Susan Cohen, associate director of admissions at The Cooper Union and NYSACAC Government Relations Committee chair, is leading the advocacy effort.
New York Governor David Paterson is calling for state agencies to make mid-year budget cuts of $500M. This would result in $90M in cuts at SUNY and $53M in cuts at CUNY, at a time when SUNY and CUNY are seeing record enrollments and increased applications. In addition, cuts will be made to the Higher Education Services Corp. (HESC), TAP funding, HEOP/EOP programs, Liberty Partnerships programs and other opportunity programs for students.
At a time when unemployment is at a high and skilled workers are needed in New York State, it is important to increase support for higher education institutions instead of imposing cuts. The action alert for New York constituents to contact their legislators is available in the NACAC Legislative Action Center.