New York Budget Cuts Aid to Private Universities with Large Endowments
A provision in the recently approved New York state budget will eliminate aid to private colleges and universities with endowments of at least $750 million — including Columbia University and NYU. The $18 million cut in aid whacked 16 different schools throughout the Empire State, leaving some higher-education officials fuming.
The budget reduced NYU’s funding by roughly $4.7 million and Columbia’s by $3.25 million, according to esitmates by the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU). Both schools have been engulfed by anti-Israel demonstrations that have provoked tensions and hostilities on campus, triggered arrests and subjected Jewish students to rampant antisemitism, critics said.
Aid to New York’s upstate Ivy league school also grappling with protests — Cornell University — was trimmed by $1.8 million, according to CICU. Universities such as Fordham in The Bronx and St. John’s in Queens whose endowments just cleared the $750 million endowment mark were upset with being singled out for cuts, sources said.
State aid to Fordham is reduced by $1.3 million and St. John’s by $1.2 million, CICU said. “New York has long benefited from an outstanding network of colleges to attract students as part of a robust higher education sector, which is critical to our state and requires investment,” St. John’s spokesman Brian Browne said. “It seems counterintuitive that the executive budget would target a select group of schools for disinvestment as New York continues to see population decline.
“This budget decision will ultimately hurt the hardworking families that St. John’s University serves and provides a transformative education.”
Others facing the scalpel include Hochul’s alma mater Syracuse University, whose funding was reduced by $1.6 million; the University of Rochester (-$1.135 million), the Rochester Institute of Technology (-$945,106), and Hofstra University (-$808,406), according to the CICU document.
Bundy Aid is performance based, linking funding to the number of degrees earned by students. The funding is invested back into programs that help more students graduate, said CICU president Lola Brabham. Nearly half of endowment funds were used by colleges for student financial assistance in the 2021-22 academic year, CICU said.
“This cut will increase costs for hardworking students and their families who rely on the financial support provided by Bundy Aid to help them achieve their dream of a college degree. New York should not be balancing its budget on the backs of these students,” CICU president Lola Brabham said in a statement.
The University of Rochester also slammed the cut based on the “arbitrary size of our endowment.”
“Sadly, after more than 50 years, our students will no longer be able to rely on this important financial aid program,” said Rochester spokeswoman Sara Miller.
Lawmakers said the aid to the “wealthy” private universities was hard to defend given competing priority to boost funding to the public colleges part of the SUNY and CUNY network.
“It was a tough-trade-off,” said Assembly Higher Education Committee Chairwoman Patricia Fahy (D-Albany). But there are a lot of tough trade-offs in the budget. You win some, you lose some.”
Hochul’s office defended the cuts to well-endowed schools.
“Governor Hochul is committed to ensuring New York’s colleges and universities have the resources they need to help students succeed and the enacted budget targets financial resources to institutions in need of the most support,” a spokesperson for the governor said.
The budget provides $16.9 million in aid to about 100 colleges. Hochul and lawmakers also relaxed the family income eligibility for the college state tuition assistance program from $80,000 to $120,000, which would aid students considering enrolling at private colleges.
Meanwhile, a few of New York’s public colleges also receive sizable donations. SUNY Stony Brook University last year received a record $500 million donation from the Simons Foundation, founded by billionaire hedge funder James Simons and his wife, Marilyn — both of whom have long ties to the school. Mets owner Steve Cohen and his wife, Alexandra, recently donated $112 million to LaGuardia Community College to create a workforce training center.
