Testimony by Chancellor Matthew Goldstein
The City University of New York
before
The New York City Council
Finance and Higher Education Committees

Thursday, March 15, 2001

Thank you, Chairman Berman, Chairwoman Marshall, Council Members, and Committee staff for the opportunity to testify before you and for your long-standing support. I am joined today by my colleagues from the University and would like to ask them to introduce themselves.

I am pleased to speak with pride in the progress we have made during the past year, with your assistance:

• Freshman enrollment at the senior and community colleges rose in the fall of 2000 for the first time in five years.
• Preparation of new students improved significantly, a result of the University's expansion of outreach to the high schools through "College Now" and record participation in summer immersion programs.
• Various new initiatives, including the establishment of new academic programs, new faculty hires, and the inauguration of new scholarships for academically talented students have enhanced the University's reputation among public institutions of higher education.
• New collaborations with Chancellor Harold Levy and the Board of Education involving teacher training and recruitment have produced new opportunities for student success and institutional partnerships.
• The University has opened or is currently constructing new, technologically sophisticated facilities on nearly half of our campuses. These facilities will be key to learning in the new century.
• Our Board of Trustees' adoption of a policy to strengthen articulation among the colleges is making it easier for students to transfer within CUNY.
• We began offering more flexible ways to take classes, including the expansion of weekend college programs.
• We embarked on a major partnership with the New York City Investment Fund to meet the challenge of preparing students for jobs in the 21st century's knowledge-based economy. This public-private partnership has been structured to enable CUNY to create an incubator network that will apply the resources of the University to creating a more supportive and inclusive environment for entrepreneurial ventures in the five boroughs.

These actions are consistent with our recently approved Master Plan for 2000-2004, an ambitious blueprint aimed at enhancing the academic quality of the University. I will refer to that document throughout, as it is the Master Plan that provides the vision and horizon for this year's budget request.

I think you will agree that the past year for The City University of New York, the nation's largest urban university, has been an encouraging one.

Operating Budget

We were pleased to begin the current fiscal year (FY2001) with an operating budget for the community colleges that included additional base aid support and funding for new full-time faculty from the State and funding from the City to support expansion of College Now and the New York City Council Academic Scholarship program. The adopted operating budget for the community colleges totaled $355.7 million, with City support comprising about one-quarter of the total budget at $91.3 million.

As you know, however, soon after the budget was adopted this year, the City's Office of Management and Budget instructed all agencies to participate in a PEG (Program to Eliminate the Gap) exercise, assigning reduction targets for both FY2001 and FY2002. The University's targets were $5 million and $13 million, respectively. The University responded to the City's targets, documenting the negative impact implementation of these cuts would have. After discussing our concerns with representatives of the Executive and the City Council, we were gratified that the January Financial Plan and Preliminary Budget included significantly smaller reductions of $952,000 for FY2001 and $1.6 million for FY2002.

In late February, however, the University received a letter from the City's Office of Management and Budget instructing the University to develop additional proposals to meet new reduction targets for FY2001 and FY2002. The new and additional reduction targets for the University are: $2.4 million for FY2001 and $7 million for FY2002. The colleges and the university responded to this new PEG exercise, as we did earlier this year and as we have in previous fiscal years. In addition, we are appealing to City officials, including the City Council, to reinforce the very critical nature of the role played by the community colleges in the City and the harmful impact of reductions of this magnitude.

Even as we grapple with these latest potential reductions, we are actively engaged in working with the State and City to ensure an enhanced community college operating budget for FY2002. The State Executive Budget continues the increases in base aid adopted by the Legislature for FY2001 into the 2002 fiscal year. We are asking the State to increase further per FTE base aid support at the community colleges by $175 from $2,250 to $2,425.

The City's January Financial Plan and Preliminary Budget included a mix of recommendations for the community colleges. For the current year (FY2001), the PEG reduction of $952,000 was offset by new funding ($3.7 million) to meet the rising costs of energy. For FY2002, the City Budget included language that suggested the funding of two of the University's highest priorities -- $5.5 million dollars for new faculty positions and $5 million dollars for College Now. However, a perplexing negative budget adjustment of $10.5 million, described as an action to comply with State maintenance of effort requirements, mitigated the benefit of any new funding. Maintenance of effort language does not prohibit new City funding of the University. This adjustment can be, and we respectfully request that it be, reversed.

The preliminary budget also recommended the elimination of the New York City Council Academic Scholarship program. This action, if carried out, would only invalidate the aspirations of many, many students who have worked tirelessly throughout their early academic careers but, absent the financial incentive of an academic scholarship, might forego a college education altogether. The fact is that the City Council Academic Scholarship program at CUNY has been extraordinarily successful in attracting new students to the University. Between fall 1998 and fall 2000, CUNY has awarded nearly 6,000 academic scholarships to first-time applicants through the program. When one includes renewal recipients in the tally, the number of awards conferred between fall 1998 and fall 2000 approaches 21,000. The City Council Academic Scholarship program is doing exactly what it was designed to do--it provides students of high academic promise a real opportunity and incentive to further their education at a fine institution. We are most grateful to the City Council, to Speaker Vallone, to Chair Berman, and Chair Marshall, and to each and every member who has voted to support this program. We respectfully urge you to support its continuation.

In summary, the City University requests your support and consideration of the following actions:

• Reversal of the $10.5 million negative adjustment to enable CUNY to implement the Mayor's call for 100 new full-time faculty and the expansion of the College Now program with the Board of Education.
• Reversal of the $8.1 million PEG related to the City Council's Academic Scholarship program for CUNY ($6.5 million) and to service reductions ($1.6 million).
• $1 million in funding to support economic development initiatives, that include establishing partnerships with businesses in technology-related industries and business incubators.
• $2 million to provide enhanced academic support services, including counseling, advisement, tutoring, and supplemental instruction.
• $5.9 million to cover the cost of mandatory cost increases including financing needed to pay contractual salary increases, fringe benefits, OTPS inflation, and energy.
  Similarly, we are very concerned about our capital construction program at the community colleges, and I would like to spend a few minutes talking about a few of our priority projects.

Capital Budget

In 1998 the Governor and the State Legislature created and supported an unprecedented five-year $1 billion capital program for CUNY's senior and community colleges for the period 1998-2002. The plan identified $900 million for senior college facilities and $100 million for community colleges. This latter amount, when matched (as required by educational law) by $100 million from New York City, would provide $200 million for community college facilities. So far, the Dormitory Authority has bonded $515 million for the senior colleges, for which the State has appropriated debt service. This funding has allowed the University to construct new facilities and renovate existing ones at Brooklyn, Queens, Lehman, and Baruch Colleges, as well as to pursue CUNY-wide projects for health and safety, facilities preservation, code compliance, maintenance upgrades, access for persons with disabilities, education technology and telecommunications networks, and maintenance projects.

CUNY has been fortunate to have the State's support of the senior colleges' physical plants. At the community colleges, we are grateful for the support we have already received and are eager to enhance City Capital funding. Over the past three years, City support has included the following:

• In FY1999, the City's support to match available State funds was limited to $8 million for the Academic Village building at Kingsborough Community College.
• In FY2000, no projects were supported by the City to match the $10 million in available State funds.
• In FY2001, the City provided matching funds in the amount of $4.7 million for important projects at Kingsborough Community College and Queensborough Community College.

In total, the City has matched only $13 million in State capital funds over the past three years, leaving $87 million to be matched in the last two years of the five-year plan.

In FY2002, we are entering the fourth year of our five-year plan and we are seeking your support for critical projects at our five community colleges. These include:

• $11 million to begin design and construction of Center III at LaGuardia Community College. This almost 900,000 square foot building was purchased for the college for $54 million in 1998 with the support of both the City and the State. LaGuardia Community College urgently needs to renovate this building to relieve severe overcrowding in its existing facilities and the consequent impact on building systems and maintenance associated with over-use. This request would allow Center III to be updated to provide two to three extra floors of classrooms, computer rooms, and areas for student services like admissions and financial aid. It will also allow for the infrastructure upgrades necessary for the additional occupancy load, including the high school students that will attend the proposed Frank Sinatra High School.
• We request $2 million to begin planning a new state-of-the-art classroom/laboratory building at Queensborough Community College. This facility is urgently needed to replace an obsolete building on the campus that cannot be used in its condition. Construction activity would be shared with a proposed new high school currently in the early planning stages with the Board of Education and a new "Port of Entry" facility to be built with $1 million in gift funds.
• We also seek support for critical needs of our Bronx colleges. For Bronx Community College we are requesting $6 million in design funds for the North Instructional Building. This project will replace existing classrooms that were originally configured as dormitory space and are ill-suited for teaching purposes.
• The University requests $7.3 million for a new clinical science facility at Hostos Community College. The proposed facility would build on the college's already well-established allied health programs by offering a facility to give students the opportunity for hands-on training. The facility would create approximately 35,000 gross square feet of space for classrooms and laboratories for the college's nursing, radiology, and medical technician programs.
• Our request also includes $11 million for the renovation of the Chambers Street Building at Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Finally, I want to make a special point about Medgar Evers College. I must emphasize that Medgar Evers and its capital needs must be addressed. As you know, Medgar Evers College was re-designated a senior college in 1994. One of the terms of the agreement to return Medgar Evers to senior college status was that funding of the capital program would be shared 50/50 by the City and State. Medgar Evers has outgrown its existing facilities and is the most overcrowded of our senior colleges. With support from the State and the City, the University is currently acquiring commercial property on Crown Street adjacent to the campus in order to provide sites for new buildings. The University looks forward to working with the State of New York and the City of New York to ensure that Medgar Evers College continues to upgrade existing facilities and move forward with its proposed $80 million Academic Building I, to be sited in a soon-to-be-relocated City sanitation garage.

The advocacy of the City Council for these requested items and your continuing enthusiastic support of "Reso A" capital projects are very important to the University and the students we serve.

Conclusion

It is a wonderful and challenging time for The City University of New York. I have highlighted in my testimony a number of areas in which additional resources will be key. Your support is critical to our ability to transform struggle into opportunity and to carry out the goals of our Master Plan. The University deserves this funding, for nearly 200,000 degree-seeking students and 175,000 adult and continuing education students count on us to enable them to fulfill their aspirations and dreams.

This University is prepared to guarantee, to the citizens of our City and State, colleges that are accountable, that are rigorous, and that confer degrees of genuine value. That is our end of the bargain, and those are ideals worth supporting. The advantage to all will be a university poised to perform today so that the City and the State can succeed tomorrow.

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