I’ve been holding a bunch of things in my Bloglines account that I’ve been meaning to discuss, so let’s hit a few of them today. First, from FJ Gaylor‘s Photography Blog.
New York State is indeed on the right track. For years, we’ve been asking for more resources so the SUNY system could take its rightful place among the top public university systems in the country; looks like Governor Eliot Spitzer gets it. An interesting facet of this whole debate has been the discussion of allowing individual campuses to set tuition prices independently; since the system’s inception, tuition has been set by the system. Campuses have their own fees and other charges, but the basic tuition has been the same.
I see both sides of this debate… there are going to be different expenses involved in running campuses of different sizes; it costs more to run Stony Brook than it does to run Old Westbury, for example, even though we’re in the same geographic area — and that’s purely from a size standpoint. Accordingly, we get more money from the state already; that’s fine. But it might make some sense to have our students foot a little more of our bill, putting a little less pressure on the state.
I wonder, though, if it creates other inequities, especially considering similarities among campuses. What happens if Cortland raises tuition $500? What does that do to, say, Brockport, a similar campus? I think there’s a lot more discussion to be had on this subject.
Chris, thanks for the mention.. Great post, at least Spitzer is still funding the SUNY system and not cutting funding like many other states including FLorida nad California..