CUNY tuition hikes hit hard

NEW YORK--Some 200 students and other activists protested at Baruch College on December 8 against proposed cuts at the City Universities of New York, as the CUNY board of trustees voted on a budget for the coming year.

The board is pressing forward with a recommended $600 annual tuition hike at CUNY schools, starting with a $300 tuition hike in fall semester 2009. This would bring the annual cost of full-time enrollment to $4,600.

CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein has gone to the media to say that he is looking for ways "to protect our most vulnerable students," but the administration has nevertheless been working to intimidate students into accepting the tuition hike as a done deal. Students registering for the recent term received bills headlined with the warning "BILLING POLICY: Tuition and fees are determined by the CUNY Board of Trustees and are subject to change without notice at any time."

Meanwhile, despite talking about the need to sacrifice in a financial crisis, the same CUNY board voted in September to give hefty raises to vice chancellors and college presidents. Chancellor Goldstein received a staggering $55,000 raise--a 14 percent hike--bringing his annual total compensation to $550,000.

For CUNY students who often struggle with multiple jobs on top of schoolwork, these are staggering sums. Average annual pay for CUNY chancellors and presidents at the various schools is now more than a quarter of a million dollars each--meaning that each could cover what the proposed tuition hike will raise from some 650 students!

Since Goldstein was hired as chancellor in 1999, his pay has almost doubled, even as previous budget cuts have eliminated adjunct teaching positions and increased class size, according to the Professional Staff Congress.

Speakers at the December 8 rally noted that CUNY schools like Brooklyn College, Queens College and Lehman College were all founded during the Great Depression, and that the correct response to a recession should be to invest in education, not cut it. Others noted that, until the 1970s, tuition at the CUNY schools was free, and talked about the need to rebuild a movement that sees education as a right and not a privilege.

Though some participants expressed disappointment that the demonstration wasn't bigger given the urgency of the issue, most agreed that it was a good first step in an ongoing battle.

As a next step, students, staff and activists are mobilizing for a demonstration at the governor's offices at Third Avenue and 41st Street at 4 p.m. on December 16, when a new state budget likely to include more cuts is expected to be announced.