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City
Council Committee on Higher Education
Hearing on CUNY Board of Trustees Resolution to
Increase Community College Tuition
June
12, 2003
Testimony of Dr. Anne Friedman
PSC Vice President for Community Colleges
Professor, Developmental Skills,
Borough of Manhattan Community College
I speak to
you in my official capacity as PSC Vice President for Community
Colleges. Yet it is my
many years of experience, working with CUNY’s most at-risk
students, that informs my remarks.
I have just completed a summer immersion session at BMCC
teaching students who are entering our nursing program.
These students, predominantly women, exclusively people of
color, many returning to school as mature adults, are truly
awe-inspiring. I am
humbled by their aspirations and determination, and by the
sacrifices they make to improve their lives.
They jump hurdles, which so often seem overwhelming to me, as
they support themselves, raise children, grandchildren and younger
siblings while pursuing their degrees.
Most work full-time at Beth Israel, Metropolitan or other
hospitals. They serve
the people of this city in underpaid, increasingly demanding
essential jobs.
Yet
CUNY community college students pay tuition that falls in the top
10% of states nationwide. Our University Budget Office argues that
we haven’t raised tuition in eight years, but that nationally
tuition has risen by up to 60+ %.
However, even though tuition at other schools went up
dramatically, as of 2002 their tuition was still less than CUNY’s.
Per capita, the percent of income needed to pay for college
expenses MINUS financial aid at CUNY’s community colleges is 35% -
the HIGHEST in our 50 states where the national average is 22%.
YES,
we desperately need more full-time faculty and YES, we need to
enhance academic and student support services.
But this cannot be on the backs of our students.
There comes a point when we must just say “NO.”
NO to turning public colleges – colleges that serve the
community – into private institutions.
NO to tenuous and short-lived sources of funding.
NO to forcing our students to take loans to fund their
studies, NO to cutting off access.
A recent report released by the National Center for Public
Policy and Higher Education reminds us that raising tuition
threatens access. Our community colleges have already lost 20,000
students because of punitive workfare rules.
My
students, our students, are on the front line as city and state
fiscal and political policies place increasingly onerous obstacles
in their way. Community
college students are deserving and tenacious.
WE, the PUBLIC must support them.
The ARE our city and they are our future.
It
is heartening to know that this City Council honors its commitment
to serving its populace. You
are an inspiration in these times when so many elected officials
have broken their covenant with the poor and working people of our
city, state and nation. The
PSC joins with you in fighting the good fight and doing the right
thing. |
