CUNY Chancellor: We Need Albany to Help Bridge Funding Gap

James Milliken, chancellor of the City University of New York, said he's hopeful state lawmakers will help him find a way to keep tuition low and reach contract deals with his staff and faculty, all while maintaining program quality.

His comments come just over a month after Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed reducing state support for CUNY and sought about $485 million in cuts, or "efficiencies," across CUNY's campuses.

"Our view is the real discussion needs to be about the stability, the security of funding for CUNY and the adequacy of funding for CUNY," Milliken said on Monday. "And today, frankly, it's not adequate."

With regard to cost cutting and efficiencies, Milliken said: "I'm all in." 

But he said he no plans to make major changes to the low tuition, which is about $6,000 annually for the four-year colleges although he said most students don't pay tuition at all because of federal and state support.

"It's still one of the least expensive higher education propositions in the country and we aim to keep it that way," Milliken said.

On faculty and staff raises, he said settling outstanding contract talks was a high priority but depended on Albany.

"I hope the way forward is through discussions that are now seated in Albany, with the state senate, the assembly, the governor, to try to provide funding that will help us bridge that gap."